The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1921-01-20
A MORE EQUITABLE SYSTEM
OF TAXING PROPERTY
Citizenship Series No. a. Taxation
Article No. 2

The first mistake pointed out i
the Montana system of taxation
the practice of raising too large
part of the expenses of the state
counties and school districts by
general property tax. A second ant
no less serious mistake is that of tax
ing different classes of property BY
different methods. According to Sec
II, Art. XII, of the constitution OF
Montana taxes "shall be uniform up
on the same class of subjects within
the territorial limits of the authority
levyingthe tax" This allows differ
ent classes of property to be taxed
by different standards. Farm lands
mines, railroads, tangible personal
property and credits may each be
taxed upon a different basis, such as
the true value, net income, mileage,
or franchise. In fact, the coustitu-
ton makes special provision for tax
ing two kinds of property, that of
ing two kinds of property, hat of
Article XII says all mines and mining
claims shall be taxed at the price
paid the United States, therefor, I'M
less the surface ground or some part
thereof has a separate and indepen-
dent value, in which case said surface
shall be taxed at it's value for such
purposes as provided by law; and
that all machinery used in mining
and all surface improvements and the
net annual proceeds shall be taxed
as provided by law. This method of
taxing mining property differs from
that of any other class of property
in the state. The same method APP
piled to the taxation of farm prop
erty would mean that the farmer
would pay taxes on his personal prop
erty, such as live stock, machinery
and grain, and on his permanent i'm
provements including all buildings.
might be required to pey the
price paid the government, which
would be a matter of a few dollars.
But he would pay no taxes on the
value of the land, but in lieu thereof
he would pay a tax on net income.
In years of crop failure there would
be no net proceeds and therefore no
tax on the land. Now the farmer
pays a tax on his land just the same
as he does on his personal property
and improvements, whether he raises
a crop or not. The other exception
IS that made in Section 16 of Article
XII, which provides that railroads,
operated in more than one county, s
shall be assessed among the coun- t
lies, cities, towns and school districts, {
n proportion to the number of miles c
n railway within the several coun-
les, towns, and school districts. /
The National Tax Association in y
.ludes in it's membership many of a
he best tax authorities in the United a
States. They are tax officials, mana
gers of big business enterprises and t
teachers of economics in the best col
eyes and universities. This associa- t
ion advocates a uniform method of t
property whether it be a mine, a
! railroad, land, live stock, or credits.
The basis of the taxation of all kinds b
# property should be the true value. t.
f all property is assessed at it's true a
nd full value there is no objection 0
0 using slightly different percentage n
# this assessed value for tax pur-
But there is a serious objec- t.
to taxing one class of property Ct
its true value and another class of a
property on its net annual proceeds. II
he true value of one kind of prop
rty can be as readily ascertained as o.
mother, whether it be land, railroads al
+ mines. No piece of property can
sold without a value is fixed upon e'
!. The fact that a piece of proper a
Y has been sold is evidence that a b.
alue has been fixed upon it, and W
is nc class of property but II
hanges ownership almost daily. The b.
est measure of value for taxing h;
is the cash price. p;
Mont. State Teachers Assn. "