Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-02-04
OPPOSITION TO
INSURANCE BILL.
Prudential and Other Com
panies Call Assembly
Measure Unjust.

TRENTON. N. J., Feb. 4.-Oppos-
ing views regarding the merits of
Assemblyman Rowe's bill to tax the
Prudential Insurance Company and
what that measure would accomplish
If it became law were set forth
before the House committee on banks
and insurance yesterday afternoon in
a public hearing by representatives of
the city of Newark and of the in
surance company. Mr.. Rowe, of Es-
sex, is chairman of the committee.
BY City Attorney Boggs, of New
ark. it was held that the bill would
tax the company itself, rather than
the deferred dividend fund of that
corporation, which belongs to the
policy holders. Edward d. Duff1eld
and Richard V. Lindabury, speaking
for the company, argued that the
bill would impose tax directly upon
the fund; that such a tax was an
unjust one and would have to be
paid by the policy-holders, who, it
was claimed, are in the main poor
people.
No new arguments were presented
by the counsel for the company, their
grounds for opposing the bill having
been given several times before In
connection with suits brought to in
clude this fund in the net surplus
subject to taxation and in thousands
of letters which the company has
sent to policyholders and to mem
bers of the Legislature, and being
mainly that the company holds the
fund merely as a trustee getting no
profit from it. The city of Newark's
arguments, as presented by Mr..
Boggs, were substantially those given
in the statement issued yesterday by
City Counsel James r. Nugent, of
that city, in the form of an open
letter to the. members of the Legis-
lature and the deferred dividend pol
icyholders.
In addition TO the arguments pre-
scented concerning the Prudential
Company the committee heard Ed
ward E. Rhodes. representing the
Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Com
pany, of Newark, and f. ]. Heppen-
heimer, representing the Colonial
Life Insurance Company, of Jersey
City Both of these gentlemen
argued that the provision in the
present law, that securities not ex-
ceeding 100000 should be exempt
from taxation, should be included in
Mr.. Rowe's bill. This provision is
omitted in the measure as it now
stands.
Mr.. Heppenheimer, in speaking of
the Colonial Company, said it was
the smallest and the youngest of the
life companies in this State and that
if it was not to enjoy this half mil
lion exemption, it would be very
seriously affected. He voiced his OBJ
lection to the section of the bill af-
fecting the deferred dividend fund,
saying that while his company had
no such fund now, it would have In
the future.
City Commissioner LaBarre, of this
city, who said he spoke for the de-
ferred dividend fund polieyholders of
Mercer County, declared that no bill
had aroused such Statewide comment
since the race track legislation of
former days.
In answering the objections to the
exclusion of the half million exemp-
ton Mr.. Boggs said that If that pro-
vision was put in the law originally
for the purpose of helping weak and
struggling companies to get on their
feet, then there might perhaps be
some justification for including it in
the present bill.
Mr.. Linda bury, in replying to Mr..
Boggss statement that the city of
Newark's proposal was to tax the
company and not the specific fund,
declared that this declaration was
something new to him, and he called
it "preposterous scheme" He as
serted that if the bill went through
the Prudential would be paying
taxes on over one-third of the whole
personal assessment of Newark.