El Nuevo mexicano., 1917-08-23

SO provide. To continue under thu
present system makes 1t very diff
cult for those who are sincerely at
tempting to better conditions to pro
duce results"
Who Pays the Taxes
Governor Hagerman presented fig
ures to show that in 1915 the railroads
paid 81 per cent Of all the taxes, lands
80 percent, and livestock 10 percent
OF the land percentage grazing land:
paid IA percent, which, he stated
could be properly credited to the live
stock interests as the grazing lands
were only productive in connection
with those interests. Concerning the
mine tax law he said:
"Chapter So OF the laws Of 1915
places the product of mines on a diff
ferent basis, as far as taxation is con
cerned, from other property in the
state. This law seems to have been
passed in accordance with the provis
ion Of the amended constitution which
reads as follows. Taxes levied upon
tangible property shall be in proportion
to the value thereof and taxes shall
be uniform upon subjects Of taxation
OF the same class The amendment re
placed the following clause of the orig
inai constitution: The rates of taxa
ntion shall be equal and uniform upon
all subjects of taxation The amend.
ment was accepted and confirmed by
a large majority of the voters of the
state"
Continuing, Governor Hagerman
said:
"In the matter of levies, this asso-
citation has, we believe, been of great
assistance to the tax commission and
to the state, county, school and NUM-
cipal authorities during the past two
years. The director of the assOcia-
tion has devoted a good deal of his
time and that of his assistants to
helping the tax levy authorities bring
about a strict compliance with ) the
i rather intricate, but, on the whole,
highly beneficial, provisions of the tax
limit laws. ALI this has been pointed
out in detail in numbers of the Tax
Review and it is unnecessary to again
go into it here. Suffice it to say that
we believe more distinct progress has
been made in this very important
phase of the tax problem of the state
than in any other and that, through
1.-THE cordial cooperative work that has
been done by the association and the
officials, not only great saving has been
made for the taxpayers guidance, but
A. f&.wl[ta. fAn HAfhnrs md fnonpn
far,reaching improvements has been
laid. The saving accomplished by
these reductions amounted in 1915
alone to nearly $3.50. 900.
Better Collections
"This association is In entire accord
with the Tax Commission in believing
that one Of the greatest present needs
of the situation are more stringent
provisions for delinquencies and less
opportunities for abuses Of the rebate
law. There is nothing so demoraliz-
ing, for those who are disposed to pay
their taxes promptly, as to see the
slackers persistently escape their just
share of the public burden even after
their taxes have actually been assess
ed and extended on the rolls. 1t will
always be difficult to secure a proper
public spirit for clean tax administra
ton as long as this condition exists.
ut was the announced intention of
this association and has been its en-
deavor from the beginning to encour-
age, in every way possible, the econ
omical and efficient use of the taxpay-
ers' money, and, with this in view,
much time has been consumed in the
study of state, county, municipal and
school spending, and of the general
administration Of public funds. We
have pointed out, always after careful
inquiry, how, n many cases. specific
saving could be achieved. 1t is, per-
baps, too soon to expect very decided
results, but the rate at which results
are being obtained are discouragingly
slow. Two years ago | quoted Stats
tics which showed that the cost OF Our
state government in 1908, based on a
population of 236,523, was $1.89 per
capita, and that in 1918, based on a
population of go 1856, it was $500 per
capita. According to this years state
appropriation, amounting in all to
Fz.lff,lOf, IL viii DC PD.zU psi Cupitai
based on an estimated population of
410, 900. There was an increase of 81
percent between 1903 and 1913 and
an increase of So percent between 1913
and 1917, and the figures do not in
olude the $750,000 emergency appro-
priation of the special session. This
shows an annual average increase dur
ing the last five years W twice as
great as the annual average increase
during the previous ten years. The
cash Increase this year over 1918 is
81, 900, 902. Now this sort of thing
cannot go on indefinitely. In a private
business it would mean bankruptcy.
What would happen il there were no
restraining Influence it would be hard
to tell"
After reviewing the activities of the
association and specifying the iinvesti-
cations made Of costs and administra-
tion, President Hagerman said:
GAS was inevitable, through its ex
animation into some OF the matters
above enumerated, the association has
incurred some antagonism and made