The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1915-03-10


Under the present laws governing
taxation Ia thi, state it /, impossible
to levy Il tax m any petroleum pro
duccd In the Usage nation or ON the
royalty interest uf departmental lru-r-
In the Osugr nation the owner of the
surface ot the land does not own the
mineral rights because the fedora.
government has reserved them for
benefit uf the Usage nation
Under the present law. the uN i-
placed on the producer. bat u- the
producer, when operating uu Indian
lands tx considered nm agent of the
federal government he is therefore
exempt from all taxation nl the state
ON all oil In which the luluu- have
an interest
II the foregoing statement be- true.
cnn the state tax aud collect any rev
enuc from petroleum proposed within
It's borders II the sta e. cannot levy
and tax all petroleum within Its huuu
darics, can only part Of II be- taxed
Whit about uniformity ou the same
class NJ subjects; Is this raising the
question Of coustiutiouulily " the
tax ON petroleum In the hands " the
producer We know not
/ j. - Cox. Am eminent lawyer of
IahIrquah iu introducing This unique
revenue bill. had Il keen and thor
ough appreciation Of the conditions
which obtain In oklahoma by rcnson
Of the large percentage NJ Indians
within its boundaries one unique
feature Of Mir CoXs bin Is the fnrt
that II loyirs and collects the tax
| from the purchaser relieving the pro
duccr from paying any taxes ou pee
trolrum
This feature will mo- doubt appeal
To the producers at the present time
when oil prices ARE very low.
Another unique feature Of the Cox
| bin Is the establishing of rcasOna
bic price per barrel for oil ON which
the minimum tax will be- levied and
collected The price ns given in the
Cox hill Is ~ cents per barrel with
O minimum tax N cents per barrel
n the price paid the producer Is less
! than ~ cents. the tax Is practically
the difference between ~ cents II md
the price paid the producer Al th,
present time t. price Is 10 cnts pen
barrel Tor all oil produced In Oklaho
ma, outside ~ Henldtun for which the
| Cox bill would collect tax of q
cents per barrel for the state
The price Of Ilealdton oil Is 80 cent,
per barrel which under the Cox bill
would pay tax to the state " ~
cents per barrel
Another unique feature " the bill
Is the classification " petroleum by
gravity aud from wells producing
lOO barrels per day of twenty four
hours. by which au additional ta'
will hc levied and collected
Mr Cox evidently believes In okla
homn for Oklahomans- that is, h'
does not believe that It's two milliOr
citizens should be- exploited by greedy
private corporations for excessiy,
profits or FOR even the benefit Of IN,
ninety.cight million federal citizens
without its borders Mr. Cox u,
doubt realizes that It is necessary for
the state 10 handle the problem II
this view we agree with him, for IN,
counties would he about as capabl,
Of handling the problem ~ n popgul
would be- Ia meet an attack " a hil
German gun.
For the purpose NJ making the anal
ysls II is assumed the Gushing field Il
producing az the rate " 2SO0OO bar
rels u day aud the rest " the stat,
IL producing ut the rate Of l2O,OOi
barrels II day making total uf 100
900 barrels a day. This Is NJ the rat,
" 10000, OOO barrels wear
Assuming the average price Is n
cents per barrel, with n gross produc
tlon tax Of two per ccntum, woul,
Weld revenue to the amount NJ SllGS
OWO II the price should be- ~ cent
Der barrel the revenue Weld vml,
I've only 1884 900 n the rate wa
one half of one per centum the rcvc
nue. Yield Mt 40 cents per barrel woul,
500 900; fdr l9O cents per only SliG.
900
tnder the Cox hill, with the assum
ed conditions, the gross revenue woul,
range between twenty-five aud thirty
four millions, while under the presen
law assuming every barrel can IN
taxed which Is not true the maxi
mum gross revenue Is less than ON
and two.tenth millions In othe
words the Cox hll viii produce frou
twenty "a twenty eight times IN