Bisbee daily review., 1916-07-21
CARL HAYDEN MAKES EARNEST EFFORT ID
 KILL COPPER EXCISE
Arizona's Congressman Is Beaten In Effort To Have Division Of Revenue Bill Stricken Out.

oLA(nSAk OoAs
 When the revende bill was before the House on July 10, Congressman Hayden offered an amendment which had it been accepted. would have eliminated the unjust tax proposed to be placed on copper under the pre- text that it constituted war muni. tions. Mir. Hayden ably supported the amendment. but after the debate closed it was lost by a vote of 90 to IS. The Arizona senators will try to have the Hayden amendment. or it's provisions, adopted in that body.
 Mir. Hayden. MT Chairman, l offer the. amendment which send to the clerks desk
 The Chairman. The gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayden) offers an amendment, which the clerk will re- port.
 The clerk read as follows: Amendment offered by Mir Hayden: Amend by striking out all of lines 23. A and 25 on page 61, and all of the lines l to 10, inclusive, on page 62. which read as follows:
 Every person smelting copper ore and copper concentrates, refining metallic copper. or alloying copper, shall pay for each taxable year an ex- else tax equivalent to the following percentage of the gross receipts dur ing such year from the sale or dispo- sition of refined copper or copper al Joys and from the sale or disposition of crude or unrefned copper if sold or disposed of for any purpose except for refining or allowing:
 One per cent of the amount by which such receipts exceed $25,OOO and do not exceed 1000 GOO.
 Two per cent of the account by which such receipts exceed $1 ,0OO. GOO and do not exceed S1O,OO0 900.
 Three per cent of the amount by which such receipts exceed $1O,0OO,- O0O.'
 Mir. Hayden. MT Chairman, I have offered this amendment because. after careful consideration, have reached the conclusion that the proposed tax on copper is unjust in that it discrim- mates against the leading industry of my state.
 It is true that the bulk of this tax will be collected from the refiners and alloyers of copper, but I trust that no member present will insist that the revenue thus obtained will actually come out of the pockets of those who manufacture" copper. as the'bill describes it. The refiners and alloyers can not pass the burden on to the consumers by adding the tax to the price of their products, because refined copper and brass are sold in a world market. where the price is regulated by supply and demand. But the refiner can. and will, recoup him. self by either increasing the refining charges of by reducing the price paid for unrefined copper Therefore, this is tax upon production that must ultimately be paid by those who mine copper ores.
 This tax dates back to January 1, 1916. and the amount due for this calendar year must be paid on or be- fore April l, 1917. The United States Geological Survey recently estimated that at the present rate of production over 600,000,000 pounds of copper will be produced in Arizona in 1916. This
 
 CT state, and represents over one-third of the copper produC :G in the United States. Six hundred million pounds of copper at an average price of 25 cents a pound equaS gross receipts aggregating S150,000,000 that will be subjected to taxation. The maximum tax under this bill is per cent, but presuming that advantage is taken of that other provision of the bill which allows a net profit of 10 per cent on the amount actually invested in the manufacture" of copper, still it is safe to assume that this tax will yield a return of per cent on the gross output. In that event, at least S3,000,- 900 will be collected from the copper produced in my state.
 Now, htose who mine copper in Ari- .zona are as patriotic as any other body of Americans. They are willing to pay fair share of the cost of pre- paredness, but they do object to hay ing copper singled out for double tax ation while no such discrimination is practiced against any other metallur- gical industry. As a matter of fact. this bill provides for triple taxation of large quantities O fcopper First, the refiner must pay a tax on the gross receipts of his business. Then the alloyer, who purchases the refined copper that has once been the basis of tax. is taxed on his gross receipts. The alloyer sells brass to intuition maker, who must pay a tax on the gross amount he receives for the cartridges and other war materials he