The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1920-08-20
INCOME TAX PLAN
MEETS OPPOSITION
W. l.. Hawkins Vigorous
ly Fights Graduated
Levy at Hearing.

SASNIA fbt ". M, aug.
OF the people OF New Mexico In adj
opting a constitutional amendment on
Nov. q, 1914, made IL impossible for
the Legislature TO enact an income
tax law, with a graduated or pro-
gressive scale, that the courts Will
hold to be valid, In t.e Judgment OF
W. A.. Hawkins, Of Three Rivers,
general counsci for the El Paso and
southwestern ayatem.
All Of Thursday afternoons session
OF the special revenue commission
was used by Hawkins in his address.
In answer to a question by w. u.
Hayden, OF the commission, Hawkins
said that In his judgmeny another
CONSTITUTIONAL amendment Will be
needed to confer upon the legislature
authority to enact a progressive IN
come tax Law that can be enforced.
Hp declared that even then there was
a doubt in hts mind that under such
u law II would be possible to tax a
business upon its physical valuation
and then tax that business upon It's
income. This, In his judgment, would
be double taxation.
Vigorous Opposition
While there had been little specific
mention of a progressive income tax,
except by DR.. A. ID. Grille, who OPP
posed the measure on the ground that
the producers having the privilege OF
fixing prices OF their products, would
redlstributa such Ia TO the consum-
ers, Hawkins Is the first witness be-
fore the special revenue commission
to make vigorous and we'll organized
imposition. He quoted numerous
thorlties in support OF his ground.
He gave special attention to~the Mis-
souri, income tax law. reading several
supreme court decisions, In his effort
to show that the Missouri law CLASH
flcs the several business enterprises.
with a different rate to abe paid to
each, but liz not IA progressive or
graduated law. Just before the close
OF the session. Charles Springer spoke
briefly to the effect. that II was held
the Missouri law Is not u tax on prop
crty, but q direct tax against persons.
Article VIII, Taxation and revenue,
of the New Mexico constitution. as
ratified by the electorate, prescribes;
Section /. The rate OF taxation
shall be- equal and uniform upon all
subjects Of taxation.
Section 2. The legislature shall
have power to provide for the levy
and collection OF license, franchise,
excise. income, collateral and direct
inheritance, legacy n succession
taxes; also graduated income taxes
graduated collateral n direct IN
herltance taxes, graduated Legacy and
succession taxes, N other specific
taxes. including taxes upon the pro-
duction and output OF mines, oil u
and forests bun no double taxation
shall be permitted"
These Two sections Of this. article
were entirely superseded by an a
mendment that vas adopted in the
election on November 3. 1914, by "a
majority OF 1875 votes. The vote on
adoption OF the amendment was 49,
46s for; l3,593 against. 1t VIII be
noted that in the original article there
was this expfesS authority for n grad
uated income tax: " also grad
uated income taxes . " "
The article. as amended. and as
now standing in effect. reads:
section /. Taxes evied upOn tam
glble shall be In proportion
to the value thereof, n taxes shall
be equal and uniform upon subjects
Of taxation OF the same class"
Opposes Ceding of Lands
Hawkins contends that under u
graduated tax. the rate OF taxation
upon the first thousand dollars woulu
DO at u given percentage; on the see
ond thousand dollars a higher percen-
tage, and so IN, and that this woul
violate the pr Jvision that taxes shall
be equal and uniform. He claims n a
each thousand dollars OF income, or
whatever the unit OF the division
may be. should be subjected TO the
hAlnt IdNtf III oiaNA AhaN ~ - ~
be equal n uniform"
Near the Gloss Of his address, Haw-
kins made direct reference 20 Gov
ernor Larrazolo's campaign to nave
the congress pass an act to cede
ali federal lands to the several states
in which such lands are situated. He
asserted that the ceding OF the fed
oral lands TO the stntes would result
In i~ncalculable harm TO New Mexico.
For Que thing. he said, such an act
would mean disaster to the man VINO
has bought land at 50 an acre and
is making n bona fide effort to assist
in the material development of the
states resources.
j. Van Houten made the first vol
untary suggestion for a possi-
bile Improvement In he reyls,
ion of the mine tax law, II
Is for the limiting OF contiguous lai,6,
that limitation to be arrived at on tho
basis of the mines life. and the aver
age coal content per acre. Another
suggestion was that the gross output
OF the mine be substituted Tor the
net output. n an equitable rate
worked out. Van Houten, answering
Prof. Haig. said he believed the
spread between the gross output anu
the net output was fairly uniform
throughout the state. q. A. Kaseman,
OF Albuquerque, expressed the belief
that the cost OF production is much
greater In Gallup and Madrid than
In the Colfax fields. There was not
Il general discussion OF Van Houtens
sugestlons by mining men at the time
tho suggestions were made to the
commission. partly because only n few
OF the mining men were present at
the time. That session had been de-
voted mainly to discussion OF cattle
and land valuations, and Van Houten.
near the close OF his remarks on
general taxation matters, took oc-