The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1920-08-06
VALIDITY OF
NINE OUTPUT TAX
LAW QUESTIONED
Coal Company and San
ta ISe Railway Take
Opposing Sides

'"' N"""'NHilonhlliN OF the New
Mexico Mine output tax law IL oues.
TONED and sweeping allegations OF in
justice In taxation and irreguInrlfy I'm
administration Of the mine tax law I'm
ColfaN county are made In an nppenl
from assessments made hy the nssnss-
or OF COlfaN county ana Sustained bv
tne board OF equalization of thai Couu.
w nied yesterday before the State
TAX commission ut Santa 70 by GCorpe
?, b"Wner, aasiStnnt attorney for the
Santh Fe railroad In New Mexico.
whose offices are In Aibuuuprotle MIR
powher returned from Santa l'r yea
itrdny The appeal viii be heard by
me thN commission IN August ~ ana
Is likely To attract wide attention
The appeal iiled II that Of the Cher
okee and Pittsburg Coal and Mining
company. subsidiary corporation az
lhe SANTA Fe railroad company. which
owns flbh acres Of land In ColfaS
county, approximately l.2O0 ncres OF
which are classified as non productive
coal land.
Sustained Assessor.
The assessor Of Colfax county re-
turned a valuation OF s46 an acre
against 100 acres Of this lend and
tlO9 an acre against 400 acres. When
the coal company appealed the county
equalizhtion. sustained the assessor.
IN Its appeal to the State Tax COM
mission the Cherokee and pittsburp
company alleges In effect that gross
discrimination has been practiced
against II In that while It's non-pro-
ducing coal lands in the county are
assessed at S4G ana $1Os an acre, hun
ureds OF thousands NJ acres OF similDr
non-producing coal lands are not
taxed at all or are assessed as grazing
land at from 81 TO 81 an acre. these
evnsions being mede possible by reu
son OF the contiguous land clause of
tho mine tax law, which provides In
effect that the output tax upon II pro.
ducing mine shall operate to cover all
taxes upon the land contiguous to the
mine when owned by the same own.
ership as the mine.
II is also alleged in the appeal that
approximately 100000 acres OF min
eral reservation" lands In Colfnx coun-
~ escape fair taxation because the
owners are permitted to make their
own assessment returns thereon, fN-
Ing the valuation without cooperation
or supervision by the assessor "AIin-
eral reservation" lands are lands ON
which only underestimate or mineral
or coal rights are owned
The principal owner OF these Com !
tiguous" and mineral reservation" /
coal lands. as well as other non-pro- I
ductive coal lands, In Colfax county
is the st. Louis and Rocky Mountain !
coal company and Its associated inter- /
ests, OF which Charles Springer Is one !
Of the heads. Authorship of the con- I
tiguous land clause OF the mine tax
law has been generally attributed to
MIR. Springer, who ia an active partic- 7
ipant In Legislative work at Santa lie.
Big Interests at Grips.
Thus It appears that the inequali- I
ties and injhstices long alleged in con-
nection with the New Mexico mine 4
output tax law are to he threshed out
before the State Tax commission In
u contest between two OF the states
largest property interests. the Santa
Fe railroad and the big Colfnx county
coal mining interest.
After citing the facts as to the as
and regarding the appeal to
the county board ana Its action In
sustaining the assessor the appeal OF
the Cherokee and Pittsburg company
to the state tax commission recites
that the valuation assessed against its
lands is In excess of the actual value
OF said land and is likewise unjust.
and discriminatory as com 7
pared with the valuation placed upon
other lands OF like character In the
county for the following rensons and
because Of the following facts:
t1ayN NNFt
IA Appellant is Informed and be
lieves and upon such information la
belief states the fact to be that there
nre large tracts of land containing
many thousand Of acres in Colfax
county OF similar character with the
respect to being underlain with coal
is the so-called non-producing mineral
land OF appellant. hut Notwithstanding
such fact such lands OF similar char
acter are not assessed for thcir min
eral value. but are assessed solely
upon their grazing or surface value.
that IL to say that In addition to the
four hundred aeres OF appellant as
iessed at $fO9 per acre only five hum
ired and fifteen acres belonging to
other tax payers are assessed at the
same value whereas In truth and In
fact there is an excess Of one hundred
thousand acres OF land OF the same
class which should he assessed at the
same value: likewise IN addition TO the
seven hundred acres of appellants
land assessed at sac per acre only two
acres OF land belonging TO
other tax payers are assessed nt the
same value whereas In truth and In
facts there is In the county In excess Of /
one hundred thousand acres OF land
u the same class which should be as
sessed at the same value.
Clnrge Land Owners Make Own As
sesslnents.
"B. That coal lands to the extent
N two hundred and hfty thousand
lcres or more are taxed only at a nom
NAL value OF few dollars er acre I
through system OF returning such I
ands OF the mineral right thereto for ,
Lhe taxation without n statement Of I
he numberOf acres embraced within
such return ana a general valuation
hereof under the head or designation
II mineral reservations" such value I
being fixed by the parties returning
Continued ON page two.) Ii