The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1921-01-03
TAX PROBLEMS
In BINGHAM
Government vs.. Private
Business; Shelley
Teacher Talks
Chapter vi.

s Conducting the public business Il
q generally more expensive than con
Quoting private business or corpora
q tions. While we're talking tax mat
ters we want to explain to you some
of the chief reasons why the govern
ment business Is more expensive. The
. different parts of the business are
done by different individuals or com
mittees and necessarily there are
many questions that are laid over
T from time to time awaiting the ac-
t1on OF the person having jurisdiction
over it. Whenever things get laid
: over for any reason, or delayed, it is
pretty sure to cause sacrifice of
something and if there is anything
wrong or troublesome about it or
any injustice about it, those features
OF it usually grow DINNER as the
time drags on. 1t Is always easier to
give the individual the benefit Of
, the doubt and give the public treas
ury the worst of it because the loss
does not fall on any particular in
dividual, but upon the public as a
whole. The public is ]ike an mex
haustlble mine, 1t can always yield
up something more and we do not
have the painful spectacle of seeing
any one individual hurt by it.
For example, last Friday when the
two county boards were going over
the bills that had been dis-allOwed
or that there was any question about,
a gentleman appeared before the
board with a complaint, saying he
had done some work on the road and
his bill had been cut. 1t came about
IN this way: One day last August,
Commissioner Bills asked the man
to go out and do certain piece OF
road work. He did not give Mr..
Bills an answer for a day or so, not
knowing for sure that he could get
time to attend to it. He asked Mr.
Bills what the pay would be and Mr.
Bills replied that it would be $3.50
an hour. That is the price they were
paying for man and four horses
as most of the work was done in
that way. This other man was think
ing of man and two horses so he
accepted the offer and took his span
of horses and went out and did the
work, put in his bill for $3.50 an
hour, Mr.. Bills O. KID it and the
man sold 1t at the bank. Mr.. Bills
probably 0. KID dozen or forty
others at the same time or maybe
this was the only one. Just what his
understanding of it was. none of us
can say, but somewhere in the pro-
cess, the bill reverted back with a
claim for $40 to be refunded. This
would be allowing the regular prica
of 81 an hour for man and two
horses. That, of course, was not in
accordance with the understanding
OF the man who did the work. When
he came before the board about the
matter, he had to either refund the
$40 to the bank or he had to get the
consent of the commissioners to let
the matter stand as it was Having
established a rate Of pay that was
plenty and having let mistake like
this get by, If, you were member
OF the board what would you do
about it at holiday time when poor
man was asked to dig up the $40 out
of an empty purse and refund it to
the bank?
The business of private enterprise
or corporation is carried on differ
emily and has to be. A private enter
prise is in business to make as much
money as it pays out or it quits,
ruined. The government is not a
money making business and it can
always increase its revenues by tax
ing the people more heavily. What
ever are the expenses of government
the people have to pay them. In
commercial venture there is limit
to the income and no matter how
much the needs of the treasury may
be that is no reason for assessing the
people or charging them higher
prices just because the firm needs
the money. Conducting the govern
ment business is a bad way to edu-
cate people for private enterprise
because they get to feeling that the
people are an inexhaustible supply
from which to draw money.
A good many people are honest
and If dealing with neighbor in
where they can see him
face to face, they would not take
advantage of him or overcharge him,
but some Of these same people
would take advantage of the county
II they could, and overcharge it;
some would do it on the theory that
Il any body could get the best of the
county 1t is allowed; some would do
1t on the theory that everybody else
Is doing it when they have a chance.
Nobody is more than half baked in
their honesty who would do either
Of those things. Some people are
less conscientious on such matters
because Of the fact that they never
have to look the county in the face
as they would an individual they had
County Clerk Fisher says
he feels that there is a great need
for an improved public conscience
applying to all these matters. He
says that if there was some one per-
son to handle the business of the
county to act as county manager, had
full authority to buy and to employ
and It was up to him to O. X, the
bills according to his orders placed
for goods and service, it would save
the county lots of money. He said
that If he had the management Of
he county business with such author %
(ty ae that and were permitted t0 I'll