Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1916-07-06
GREATER IOWA

GREATER IOWA
Three or four mysteriously in
spired politicians around the State
of Iowa are busy organizing the
farmers into taxpayers leagues. The
main purpose of these leagues, as
announced in their various sets of
tresolutions, is to do away with the
highway commission because of its
enormous expense.
Tax reduction was the cry of the
Egyptians when they wanted to re-
move Ptolemy from his job of being
king. And, unto this day it has been
a favorite vehicle upon which a
| certain calibre of politicians have
| ehdeavored to ride into public of
flee. a,
In Iowa today Messrs. Doran, Pitt,
and others, are demanding the elm
| ination of the highway commission
as a mat erial reduction in taxes.
But, do the farmers of Iowa real
ike that if Messrs. Doran and Pitt
are successful in getting into the
next Iowa legislature a majority of
tax reductionists,- (and if they get
in there themselves), and, if they
| abolish highway commission, that
the actual reduction of taxes to
1.-THE average farmer, by reason, of
all of this wonderful reform, will
IIbe about twenty-five cents year.
A great many of these well intend
ing farmers are paying 81 a year as
dues into these taxpayers leagues
| i'm order to effect this reduction
! in taxes, which amounts to only
twenty-five cents a year. Spend
ing dollar in an effort to save
twenty-five cents is bad economy.
The total amount of taxes coll
lected in Iowa last year was a
trifle in excess of SAT, 100000. The
total cost of the highway commits
sion, including salaries, expenses.
and everything else, was approxi-
mately $4,000 is just about one
| sixth of one percent of SAT 1000, 900;
| therefore, if all this hubbub about
! ataX reduction is successful and To-
wa is relieved of the scientific and
technical cooperation of corps of
| expert. road and bridge engineers,
the average farmer of the State of
Iowa will notice a reduction in. his
taxes of just one-sixth of one per-
cent, or twenty-five cents.
A farmer living in Scott county,
and owning 234 of the best acres of
land in the world came into the Of
fices of the Greater Iowa Associa-
tion, at Davenport, the other day
and said he had joined one of the
| taxpayers leagues, believing that
| what Mr. Doran, Mr. Pitt, and 9th
ess, said about tax reduction was
correct. 1t so happened, however.
that this particular farmer was one
| of those business men who thinks
| for himself. He had attended a
meeting at Upton where Mr. Pitt,
in high-flung w,athful oratory had
declared the highway commission
was costing the taxpayers OF the
state the tremendous amount of
$4,000 a year.
continued
And so this farmer wanted to
know how much he would save if
this $4,000 expense was eliminated.
He brought along his tax receipts
and they showed that his total
taxes amounted to S247. "a, includ-
ing a school tax of $105.7. He fig
ured out for himself that the elm
nation of the highway commission
would reduce his taxes just forty
one cents a year, and he left the
offices, after having signed an ap-
plication blank for membership in
the Greater Iowa Association, and
declaring his intentions to re-
nounce the taxpayers league.
This farmer saw through the po-
litical scheming and the misrepre-
sentadon that is being indulged in
by those who set Iowa back twenty
years in the matter Of road building.