Arizona republican., 1915-02-11
The Bacon-Graham Bill

The Republican has pet scheme for the tax ntion of the mines or any other class of property It shares the unconcern of the average citizen ih any special method of making assessments but it shares the of all good citizens in results the arrival at valuations of all classes of property that will be just to all
 The assessment of mines is of the most difficult if not the difficult of all the prob lems of taxation for several reasons. In the first place. there is the admitted mpossibity of asccr- tainng the extent and value of the contents of | mine The life of a mine only be guessed at We only know that it is limited. We also know that each year productive mine is worth less than it was the year before, and that next year it will be worth still less. Students of taxation, therefore have generally agreed that mines can be fairly taxed only upon their production, their income
 But, here another problem presents itself Should the tax upon the income of a mine be equal that upon the income from other classes of prop- erty? The mines of Arizona, even during the last years have paid smaller percentage Of taxes incomes than other classes of property have paid saw about s7OOO00 on s19,OOO,O0O. But the mines point that the property yielding this great income is constantly decreasing in value, steadily approaching the vanishing point where there will be no income at al while the values of railroads. lands and most other classes of property stead y growing in value. Against this argument of the mine owners is the undsputed statement that no other great industry yields great profit on the investment.
 We mention these various views only to illus trate complexity of the mine tax question which was given a temporary solution in this state two years ago Under d law providing for taxing the mines on their production, they paid more than one third of the taxes of the state that is, they pao
 little than 36 per cent of all the taxes. The mine said that that was not too much and they satisfied and, believe, owners of other classes of property were generally satisfied
 The Republican, therefore favors the continued application principle by which the mines have been taxed for the last years. That principle is contained in the Bacon Graham bill, though, as the bill has been drawn, not sure. and we do not think that anybody is quite sure yet that it will distribute the burden of taxation in the proportions it has been distributed during the last two years The factors proposed i2h cent of the gross production and four times the net But we know that the gross production will moi be as large been either of the last two years and the net will be still further reduced oy new and we believe a correct way of arriving at it.
 It is. therefore, opinion that there should le a change in the factor for finding the multiple of the net; that it should be not less than Az, or whatever factor may be necessary to give the mines a taxable valuation that will place upon them at least heavy share of the burden as they bore in 1918 and 1914
 According to MT Dowe, the statistcian of the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining company. whose statement recently printed in The Republican, the tax from the mines produced by this bill. (ad- ding to the assessment the valuation of improve ments within the year), would not fall far Ielow the tax of the last two years. Mr. Dowell of property except livestock 10 per cent. that, according his figures and estimate the mines share of the taxes under the bill would be 3S per cent of all the state taxes. We do not think that this percentage is toe large
 This bill is designed to become permanent law for the taxation of the mines. and to that end the price for computing the value of the product is the ten year average instead of the price for the previous year. under the temporary bill This seems an eminently just and fair arrangement, bet ter for both the state and the mines. it avoids Fluctuations ill the volume of the taxes consequent upon annual fluctuations in prices.
 We believe that such legislation will meet the approval of the great majority of the people of the state who are not interested in fads and politics, mining companies and who recognize that the prosperity of the mines depends in a very large measure the prosperity of agriculture and every other Arizona industry