Great Falls daily tribune., 1919-02-11

Each commissioner Is W u VIZ r.:
entire time to the duties OF lhe oilie .
and shall not hold any posl,loI - ,,.He ';th
or profit. such as shall interfere Witn
his duties on the commission, and snall
not engage in any political actlvi1les.
Not more than two of the COMMISSIONERS
to be aDpointed shall be from any one
political organization. They shal re,
ceive salaries of 5000 year and shatf
appoint d secretary at salary not 20
exceed $4,000 and such other ASSISTANTS
as may be necessary, providing that Tue
total expense for such assistants may
not exceed $4,000 per var.
Hathaway Attack Fails.
The first attack upon the tax program
was made by Maggie Smith Hathaway.
who moved an amendment to tne OH
provide for the creation of the office oi
tax commissioner instead of tax com
mission. She explained that experience
had taught that ii such matters the Work
usually deyolved upon one member ana
she argued that it was a useless ex-
pense to employ three, that with one
member there would be better ehancc
to obtain uniformity. that what the tax
PAYERS wanted was efficiency. not g.
pense, and said that I'D ashIngtph
state they had started ont with three
commissioners and after two years triai
ing also had but one member. she SAID
Rasmussen replied that during the 18th
I legislative assembly. system of single
! commissioner was adopted but that this
was wiped out two years later. ie
| showed that most Of the states have full
! commissions and claimed that a COM
mission Of three would have all it could
| handle as the state would soon have ~
| counties and. besides. the commission
would have TO sit almost continuously
| as state board Of equalization. he
| said he believed the commission would
| save the state not only $4,000 year,
but 100 times $4,000. When put 70 vote
| the amendment was lost Mrs. Hatha-
| ways being the only vote heard III IT.
support
Equalization Big Task.
Following a motion to report favor
/ ably Scharnikow moved substitute mo-
| ton that it do not pass and explained
| that unless house bill T. vet To be con-
/ sidered. should pass and the people vote
| to amend the constitution as reiahng
| to this subject. the legislature would be
| Just wasting the money of the state let
| ting this commission operate.
| Higgins opposed the substitute mo-
ton upon the grounds that the bill was
| long step in the right direction ana
| replying to Scharnikow's statement that
| the present board of equalization could
/ ha ndle the situation il given proper sup
Dor and assistance, said the board 81
eruaJization is too busy with it's duties
on other boards to get down to the MI
mute details of the tax question.
/ Kelly of Silver Bow said that as at
/ torney- and member Of this board
/ two wears ago he had good knoWtedge
/ III tile duties, the board consisting Of the
Il raj 1t
| state, state auditor and state treasurer.
He said he, as attorney general, had
| heen n member of 16 boards and denied
that the members could devote sufficient
time and attention TO this one subject.
Re said: IF you want TO put this system
| into effect you have got TO adopt all OF
| these bills
The substitute motion was then re-
| iected and the bill reported out for pass
age.
! Amendment Bill Passes
| House bill Z. providing for submission
/ 70 the voters of an amendment to the
constitution to provide for county boards
of equalization, was then taken up. rms
| bill provides that the boards Of county
commissioners shall constitute the county
board Of equalization, their duties beng
TO eoualize and adjust valuations OF the
/
ties, subject to the supervision. review,
increases or decreases by the state tax
commission This bill was reported for
! passage with no opposition.
Then came house bill II, which pre-
scribes the duties and powers OF the
state board of equalization. and it was
recommended for passage without DIS
cussion. similar action being taken il re-
CARDS to house bill IL. providing method
| for the assessment and taxation Of tele-
fone. telegraf, electric power and trans
mission lines, canals. bitches, fumes and
other property owned or operated in
more than one county of the state and
constituting single and continuous prop
erty thruout more than one county.
/ Some opposition developed to the vari-
GUS features of house bill 80, which clas-
sites the various kinds of taxable prop
erty in the state and fixes the percent
age of the true value Of the property to
| be taken for assessment.
Tax Classification.
! Glass l, which shall be assessed at