The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-11-11

The association seemed not to be en-
thusiastic in favor OF the SomeUs
system
A general discussion on taxation OF
Intangible properly such as notes,
bonds, mortgages, etc, was had led by
Oliver c. L.ockhart, Ohio State Uni
versity, followed by Fred r. Fairchtld,
Yale university. and member special
tax commission OF Connecticut, and
others. 1t was the concenSus OF Opin-
ion that the present effort to get this
class of property returned for taxa
ton is a failure everywhere thereby
placing the burden of taxation upon
those who own tangible property and
who re as q general thing the poorer
elias It was agreed that this
shou Re remedied. It seemed to be
the o. inion of the speakers that there
would Of necessity have to be a. differ
ent method of taxation for this class
of property from other classes to get
il on HE tax books and that legisla--
ton should be had for that purpose
where the law does not already allow.
That it is better to have this class
of property bear portion OF the taxes
rather than none as it now does, on
account of the assessors inability to
discover it.
There was a general discussion as
70 whether it is right to tax the in
crease in the value of land above the
regular tax, those favoring this plan,
arguing that the increase in value was
added by no effort of the owner but
by its location; there was much dis
cussion of this point and widely ~41i-
vergent views. It was strongly OPP
posed by many, led by c. H. Shields,
president Washington Equal Tax
League.
Methods OF reducing taxation were
discussed, led by Adelbert Moot of
New York city. One of the ideas adj
vanced is that a budget should be
prepared before the convention of the
legislature for all branches Of the
government and published and that
appropriations for the various
branches should not exceed this.
There were some splendid discus
sions on income, Inheritance, and corr
poration taxes, 1t being the opinion Of
the great majority Of the convention
that these laws are good ones. Many
of the more progressive states have
already enacted them and find them
eminently satisfa Glory, being a solu-
ton of the intangible property tax
A splendid report on the taxation
Of mines and mining property was
made by C. NJ Zander, chairman OF
the tax commission of Arizona as
chairman of the committee on taxa
tfon OF mines.
Taxation of banks was ably treated
by Thomas B. Patten. general coun-
sci American Bankers Association.
Taxation of Public Service Corpor-
atoms was well handled by Prof
Charles j. Bullock OF Harvard univer-
sity.
1t was the pleasure Of the degelates
from Florida to be present at all ses-
sions and to get much benefit from
the papers and the discussions. Con-
tact with men who have for years
studied the tax laws and needs has
given US many things to think about.
We Joined the association MEM
bers which gives our board the bene-
fit of all literature gotten out by the
association. which includes all ad-
dresses delivered at this conference IN
printed form and all previous lttera-
ture at a nominal charge.
Senator Neel was made q member
OF the executive committee of the con-
ference, whose duties included cleo
ton of officers for ensuing year and
Mr. Edwards was made a member OF
TIN nominating committee, whose duty
Il was to select and recommend to
the conference the officers of the as
ISOLATION for the ensuing year.
On Saturday afternoon the mem
bers of the convention went out to
Niagara Falls by trolley.
We believe that we Got much benefit
as tax commissioners from attending
the conv ention and that we can use
nsny of the ideas that obtained in
clearing up the tax situation in Flor
ida. We put them on notice that
Florida would expect the convention
in 1916. 1914 and 1915 already being
provided for
The commission extends an invita-
ton to the public to be present on the
goth. when the state convention is