Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-04-08
W|LM|NCTON'S PLEA
FOR TAX POWER
Explained and Debated by City
Officials Before Members of
the Legislature.
staff Correspondence of Every Evening
STATE HOUSE Dover April I

Wilmington's plea for home rule in the
matter of licenses on business and auto
mobiles was presented by Mayor Taylor
and practically the entire City Council
Yesterday afternoon at a hearing before
| the Joint Senate and House Committees
| on municipal corporations, The bill,
| which would permit the City Council TO
establish such licenses by a two-thirds
vote, was substitute which met certain
objections to the original.
Sharp charges of mlsstatements IN the
campaign against the bill were made by
the citys representatives. Representa-
| tive McNabb said he had received about
| 100 letters condemnlng the bill on the
|. Ground that it would annul reciprocity
| agreements by which other states do not
| tax Delaware cars operating within their
| limits. Mayor Taylor said this objection
was entirely groundless, as the substitute
bill specified that only residents of Will
mington should be required to take out
| the proposed city license.
The objection which seemed to have
the greatest support was that the council
! has not exhausted the means of taxation
allowed it under the present law. Senator
Thomas F. Gormley read sections au-
thorizing personal taxes and charged city
officials with SEEKING to substitute for
these more popular means of getting
revenue.
CITY Solicitor Huxley replied that the
question was not what was popular but
| what was practicable. He said that
personal property taxes would nccessitate
/ additional employees and would be very
difficult to collect in any case. Hc offered
to give the Job of collecting them to
Robert & Harman, who drew up the exist
h,,,, fnw tnn "a hn roys
collect them Mr.. McNabb warned
him that his offer might be taken up.
Representative William III. Danzen-
baker expressed the thoughts of several
rural members when he said why not
collect a poll tax in Wilmington He
was told that such tax had been declared
unconstitutional.
Several down-state members expressed
approval of poll or personal tax rs put
ting the burden on all the people. Mr..
McNabb protested that IT Is the poor
renter who pays the taxes now. After
the conference Sussex county repre-
sentative held to the poll tax idea, saying
They claim that a poll tax would drive
people out of the CITY. Well let them go.
They GO from the country TO Wilmington
now for the same reason.
Another question raised was why the
railroads were exempted IN the substitute
bill. Senator Gormlev charged that It
was done to win votes IN the Legislature.
''Not to win votes to pass il City Solicitor
Huxley corrected him, but TO prevent
votes from killing it.
Representative McNabb said that if
the city government made the same
fight to get back part of their state tax
that they did to lew this new one, thew
would accomplish a better end. Senator
James w. Robertson pointed out that
this had been tried in other years without
success. and that Wilmington was now
seeking what she could get, by proposing
something that would not cost the rest
of the State a cent.
Senator Gormley and Mayor Taylor
agreed ON the necessity of relieving the
burden upon Wilmington real estate,
and the president and other members of
the City Council emphasized the difficulty
of meeting the citys needs without more
money.
The argument upon which the Will
mington men laid most stress was summed
up BY Representative John J. Mulvena
who said IF we can't trust the City Coun-
Gil of Wilmington to run the citys affairs,
that is no reason WHY the Legislature
should trv to run them. It's up to the
people of Wilmington 10 elect a CITY
Council that they can trust, and believe
there is enough judgment In the present
CITY Council to manage licenses wisely"
Mr. McNabb fred a random shot at
TIVE close of the hearing when he said
IF YOU are going to tax businesses, don't
forget the lawyers. They are allowed to
do everything but rob. for SO year"
Mr.. Huxley promised him that the
lawyers would not be forgotten.
Peanuts are being produced in increas-