The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1914-09-22
A Wrong ImnreSSion.

|. A Wrong Impression.
e The Philadelphia papers, yesterday
q contained an item which seemed to in.
Il dlcate that the banks of Burlington
county were conspiring or striving to
: evade taxation on their capital stock
The statement was that 13 of the II
: banks OF the county had, about the time
: for assessing, May 20, secured a large
amount of bonds in order that they might
claim exemption from assessment The
idea conveyed was that these bonds were
to be held temporarily, to be converted in
: to cash again after the 10Th of Nav. One
case cited was bank whose capital.
surplus and undivided profits amounted
: to 1882, 900, of which sum $3.50, 900 had
been invested at the time of making the
assessment in order to secure the reduc-
ton.
i The discovery of this state of affairs is
attributed to William f. Morgan, presi
dent of the Burlington County Board of
Taxation, who is credited with this re-
mark:
at was evident on the face of it that
there was something peculiar about the
transaction" said President Morgan in
discussing the case the other night.
Most of the holdings were per cent.
bonds, which no financial institution
could afford TO carry to such an extent.
and 1T was preposterous to think that
nearly all the banks of the county would
tie up so much of their money in bonds
OF this character. The transaction, while
the purchase of such bonds would have
TO appear on the books of the institution.
seems to have actually amounted to the
bank borrowing the bonds for the occa-
sion in order to evade taxation. Thir-
teen of the IL banks in Burlington county
tried the operation"
The officers of eleven of the seventeen
banking institutions in this county were
called up by THE News, and each one
denied the actions set forth by the news
paper report. Each banker said his
Dank or trust company owned some
ponds, out not one of them had been
purchased as late as the 10Th of May or at
any recent date, especially for the pur-
pose OF evading taxation. Many, if not
all, OF the officers spoken to, said they
had no bonds except those which had
been carried for period of at least two
years, and many of them much longer
IMAM that time, and, with the exception
OF some government bonds, there was
not three per cent. bond in possession.
rms explodes the statement that 10 of
tne IL banks had tried to evade the law.
After calling IL of them, we gave up, and
>.
pealed to, would show the same state of
AFFAIRS that the IL show Under the new
law 1T would not make any difference
now many bonds were held, they would
not aid in exemption. The law passed last
Wlnter was that the capital, surplus and
undlVlded profits of bank should be
added and the value of real estate de-
Quoted from the total of those items and
no deduction or exemption shall be al
lowed or made from the value deter
mined as herein provided" This pro-
vision is not entirely clear on the sub
lect OF value OF real estate, many banks
taxing u to mean any and all real estate
owned by bank, including not onlv
the banking house but such other
property owned by the bank. L
Just prior to time for assessment the
banking institutions considered the SUBJ
lect and there being a doubt as to the
constltutionality of the new law, the
State Bankers Association decided to
test the question. 1t was decided that
banks make out two statements and re-
turn them to the County Boards of
taxation. One was to be under the new
law, the other to conform to the old
statute which provided that after adding
the capital stock, surplus and undivided
profits, there might be deducted, in
of securities which were exempt from
taxation. Nearly, if not all, of the bank
ing institutions in this county, rendered
the duplicate statement.
The newspaper article alluded to saws =
the alleged efforts of 10 of IL banks in
burlington county to evade payment of '
the state tax on their holdings were
thwarted at a meeting of the Burlington l
County Board of Taxation, held on Sat
urday evening, when, acting under in
structions from the State Board, the
former took action. William HI. Absa- I
lom, secretary of the Board, was called
by telephone, and said he did not know d
anything about the matter. When ask
ed if he was not present at the meeting A
ne said he did not know of any meeting.
This seems rather peculiar as decision t,
On such an important matter and ruling !
which reflects on many institutions q
whose officers do not feel very kindly
over the situation, ought certainly to 0
have place on the official minutes of
she county Board. Mr. Absalom is also
clerk in the Mechanics National bank q
ana he was very emphatic in his asser-
non that the statement that was pub
ished did not apply to the bank where 7
ne is employed and that no effort had i
Oeen made by that institution to do any,
In response to telephone call Mr.. d
Morgan, president of the Burlington u
County Board, said he could not be re- a
'ponsible for all stories that were put ia d
circulation. He said the Burlington y
County Board instructed it's secretary, a
Mr.. Absalom, to get statements from the e.
various banks, and that he gave the n
BOARD only one set of papers, and they y
we're evidently the figures made up to
cover the old law. Mr.. Morgan said this
vas the basis for request that the State
Board give an opinion. That body, how
ever, will not give decision in advance
IN any question, and merely called the
burlington County Boards attention to Ell
he law on the subject. 10
Another member of the Burlington a,
county Board said there was meeting Il
evening at which Mr.. Absalom
vas not present, and while there was not in
my specific decision rendered, it was p
practically decided to go ahead under y,
he last law adopted. Some one proba-
ply got hold of the ideas expressed at
his conference and elaborated on them
ind there is possibility that more was
published than was talked about The
inference that some of the bonds indi-
lated were three per cent. bonds was an
entire conjecture on the part of some one.
The banking institutions of the county
10 not relish being placed in the class OF
borrowing or temporarily buying bonds
or the purpose of escaping taxation, and
he publication in the papers yesterday NJ
certainly put them in light which was ct