The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1916-08-23

said the speaker. is paid BY you
voters. Now, IL there were mil
lion OF you in your particular terri
tory II would cost you s. a year in
state taxes for every man. woman
and child. That is an exorbitant
tar as you can readily appreciate
wesselius spoke of Gov. Pingree's
hard fight TO place part OF the bur
den OF state taxes on the corpora
tons OF the state. declaring that as
railroad commissioner under Pin
gree he had a hand in the fght. He
| said that Gov Ptngree saved the
voters OF the state $4,000, 900 year.
Under this corporation tax. the
speaker said. Wayne county re
ceived sl.Os4. 900 last year from the
railroads toward the primary school
| fund.
But, gentlemen. we must get
down 10 business and stop the JOB
that Is now going on IL we want -
continue 10 share this tax burden
with the railroads" shouted Wes-
selius. And what Is this job
Why, the state tax commission now
proposes TO come 10 your county
and raise your tax valuations $500
900 900.
AT the time we put our present
| tax bill through the legislature. Pin
gree and those who assisted him,
including myself, were not strong
enough 20 completely best the op-
posing powers al Lansing. and the
result was as imperfect q tax law
as ever graced the books OF any
state. but We gained what We par
ticularly wanted and that was the
primary school fund We succeeded
in changing the method of taxing
corporations By shifting the assess
ment from their incomes 10 their
valuation.
Ever since there has been a con
slant effort by the corporations 10
shake of this burden. See how IL
is working out The corporation tax
rate is fixed by dividing the total
taxes OF the state by the total as
sessed valuation OF The state. Now
along comes your tax commission
and doubles the assessed valuations
and as a natural result halves the
taxes that will De required OF the
corporations Look over your tax
records and you will End that. while
the railroad taxes OF this state have
remained stationary, your taxes
have Increased 80 per cent IN the
last 10 years.
To remedy this situation Vessel
lus proposed that the present state
| tax commission be abolished and a
new tax body created, consisting OF
the governor, auditor-general and
the attorney general as a majority
OF the board. He cited the cost 81
the present tax commission as all
out OF proportion 10 its service and
declared that II far surpasses he
expense Of similar board IN IL
diana.
The speaker raped the proposed
Pere Marquette railroad NOR gaze.
He said the assessed valuation al
This road il t26.000.U00 They are
now seeking TO stock and bond Oats
property for four times tha' much
or sl05 900 600 said The speaker
Can you go out and mortgags yogr
property for four time- .fs assessed
valuation? Indeed YOU can't, anl
why should this old road rNb,ch has
become the FOO 1all o. politics. boo
allowed 20 o. 20 az your expense
Ben Hanchett, Who is connected
with this deal b. trying 20 dictate
the politics Of this state n ~
wants me to prove this statement al
any time. will be glad TO do -
DIVE b Duifeld candidate for
Republican mayoralty nominations
made an impressive speech and was
warmly applauded.
My opponent. Mayor Marx tell
us what be has done by way Of get
ting street r'lroad fare reductions
and a city hospital. but does he tel
you anything about the Belle Isle
bridge proposition? he said Meth
er does ne say anything about the
poor police administration which the
city has today. as a result Of which
Detroit has become the gathering