Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-12-04
inference of Nezv England 7dx Officials

treated alike in the different institutions
Second. that a more uniform method
and rate should prevail among the diff
ferent states.
w. j. THOMPSON.
Charles Sweet, chairman of the city
| assessors of Bangor, was the next
speaker His subject was Taxation
of Automobiles" and he spoke as fol-
| lows:
Taxation of the Automobile.
With the general introduction of the
automobile, for pleasure riding and
commercial uses, assessors of taxes
found themselves confronted with a
new tax problem and up to the pres
| ent time, there has been more or less
| difficulty with the assessment of the
tax on automobiles.
The general court of Maine, early.
| began to legislate against the auto
mobile and owner, until today we have
as complete a set of rules. with one
possible exception. governing this class
of property and its use, as any State
in the Union, and the exception is,
the so-called property tax.
Assessors in Maine are more or less
at sea concerning the proper tax value
of automobiles, and 1t is undoubtedly
true, there are more tax values on the
car of a given make than there are
cars in the state.
One and it may be the greatest
claim made by owners is, that they
| are paying a double tax and that the
automobile is the only property to be
| thus taxed.
The Legislature of Maine evidently
! looked upon the automobile as a dan
gerous machine. Dangerous to run
! on the highways of the State and
| equally dangerous to other travellers,
either on foot or by team, and resulted
in the passage of Section % of Chap
ter %, of the new revision of the
| Maine laws, which provides for the
registration of all motor vehicles, as
some protection to the public. Sec
ton IS of the same Chapter, provides
for the payment of license fee be-
| fore any motor vehicle can be law
| fully used on the highways of the
! state. This section was intended as
a further protection to the public.
| The fees for registration and license
are not referred to in the statute as
a tax "a 8.
Some persons with the purchase of
a car in view, postpone it until after
! the first of April. thereby escaping
a tax for one year. With the coming
of the next year when the car can
| legally be taxed, there is much diff
Guilty in arriving at a satisfactory
tax value. In such case, the owner
claims his car is an old car and while
admitting that, for his purposes it is
as good as when he bought, yet he
/ says its market value has deprecated
greatly and demands a nominal tax
value. urging as his strongest reason,
the double tax claim.
| In some instances, cars escape tax
alton altogether, for the purchase is
made after April first used till fall,
returned to the maker, its value cred
tied against. the purchase price of a
car of the next years output, the
new car being shipped in the spring.
! but too late to be taxed under the
present laws of Maine.
Such an owner has the use of the
highways of the state, he pays The fee
for its registration as we'll as the fee
for his license, granting him permission,
under eertainzrestrictions, to operate
the machine on the roads of the
| state.
| Generally
Owners of cars over three years old,
claim they have a small or no in
surance value and urge that as fur
Their reason why the tax value should
be nominal
That the insurance value of cars is
a factor in determining their tax
value, yet It's common knowledge there
are many cars. with no insurance
value in daily use and giving their
owners good service.
That the law makers of Maine are
willing to grant relief in all cases
where necessary, is evidenced by re-
cent legislation respecting good roads,
caused primarily by the increased use
| of the automobile and by the demands
| of their owners for better roads and
the new law relating to the Taxation
! of Intangible Property" and it maybe,
that if this question, over which there
I is so much dispute can be submitted
to the Legislature in proper form, that
| it will be deemed of sufficient import
| ance for action.
| With the end in view, that all the
property of the state shall be taxed as
| the Constitution provides, lat its fair
and just value" some similar pro-
vision to the following would act as
remedy.
"All motor vehicles. whether pro-
PEELED by the power Of steam, gaso-
| line or electricity, operated on the
highways of Maine. for pleasure. COM
mercial uses or for any other purpose.
in addition to the registration and
license fees now fixed by law, there
shall be a property tax levied which
shall be paid to the Secretary Of State
at the time Of the registration and as
condition precedent to the issuance
of the license, the amount of such tax
to be credited to the town In which
the licensee lives, against the state
tax of such town.
The tax should be assessed on a
level value on cars Of the same make
and horse power, and if the car be
new, the tax shall be based on it's
list price and at rate not exceeding
| two per cent, The tax for the second