The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1921-05-06
SCOFlELD MAKES TALK o.
THE RECENT LE<:IsL aTVRFs
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SCOFIELD MAKES TALK o.
! THE RECENT LEGtsL. AZURE
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and wished to bring about readjust.
msnt Of the tax leyie, SC, as to trans
carrying an equitable. part OF the
f and while We Qua nave en sfen pre-
gram In effect mere real construc-
tive legislation has been accomplished
along these lines at the regular and
| special sessions than during the past
70 years Of Montana legislatures.
At the pecial esssion we again pass.
by vote Of IS to IS and sent it to
eens By wa vote eo 81 % e e. How &C.
ever, after three conference commit
tees had. worked upon the matter. a
compromise was made sSs, that hat gives us
| thereafter. The income from this tax
will be approximately for $ls:i. $a6.-
900 Thereafter df the oo wells de, develop
The metailiferous tax under which a
| 15-miN levy has been made on the net
I proceeds Of the mines for the benefit
s.asd 100000 the sase.
TAX On coal mined At 5 cents per ton,
$1,000. :, License on selling coal
ton, $4,000.
Now in regard to the coal tax will
say that the ccal mines nave been
| taxed the same as metal mines in the
amounted to practically nothing as
most of the mines operated in Mon
tana belong to the railroads and are
which sold the coal they mined to the
parent companies at a cost of produce
tion, consequently there We're no net
to tax thonsh Of tons
The tax on cement Of cents per
barrel and 20 cents g ton on plaster
will produce annually If the same
$4,000. Increase fer. fling fees for
corporations in the office Of Secretary
Of state and minor fees annually, $685.
nuaily, 100000. 1t should be remem-
bered that every dollar raised from
these special indirect sources will lift
homes. the farms. the live stock and
To give, you an idea how the senate
Sat- bills Hat sent n It By he the spea aoqss
sion bill from which had been elimin-
ated the points that the senate object
ed to in q bill Of the same character
When the hill was received the sem
ate ate COMMENCED operations atoms upon it.
tions until finally after several hours
labor LAT, there was nc ncth,tng LEFT f Of of the
on but part of the title ara ar thu the
liamentarians moved that the enacting
clause be stricken out. which was car
risa thus u.s., giving It it,. the soo tinishinE
the bill this way instead of killing
it at once was presumably the fact
that the leading opponents. of the bill
a
which they got printed in the big
daflies to show their masters how
faithfully they worked for their inter
number of high powered stenographers
en- hand to take down the proceedings
the same as they had during the rib
sry Mn paid for the
have never bsen able to find out ana
side Of those in the combination.
more than remedy the defect in the
law making all pipe lines common
carriers. and pass the Inheritance tau
taeH asps On by the ny a.
ate. it would have been Il paying
proposition, But in addition to these
and the , Other revenue, revenue measure :. that
bill making the Montana liquor law
conform to the Volstead act. a bill
providing for the coditicaticn Of the
vs.
selling Of 5000 900 of tax certificatss
to enable the state to- pay her out
of her state officers and public insti-
tutions until the taxes fer 1921 are
collected. Also. referendum bill for
board to be voted upon BY the eiec.
tors at the next general election, and
I am satisfied that when the. people
a
to the constitution will carry by an i'm
mense majoriy.
One reason why our taxes are SO
heavy is because so much property in
the state escapes taxation Take the
railroads the amount of property on
the tax books last year was valued ~
s1s;o0O.ooo: less than the physical val
eminent. The Montana Light & Power
Co. paid taxes on s6l,623947. less than
the valuation shown in the balance
registered automobiles escaped taxa
ton last year. The Hansens Packing
company property in Butte is valued
at s425,o09 and carries insurance pol
icies for $42l 900. was taxed as worth
Butte is valued at $.5o,ooo. andscarries
Insurance policies for SiSooee. was
q sample of how taxes are levied. 1t
is claimed that net over half of the
actual valuation OF property in the
Stdte IL Oh the lSA uoOKS IL All lIlS
property was taxed. would it not lift
the burden from us who are paying
taxes on every dollars wcrth Of prop
erty. that we own or have in our pos
session? l believe that Il permanent
tax commission will solve this prc5-
lem for US as it has done for II states
that have adopted it. The stock argu-
ments OF the opponents of the perma-
nent tax commission is that the state
board of equalization has all the pow
ers necessary to adjust taxation meas
ures in Montana. Let us consider this
contention for a moment and l will
show you the fallacy Of it, The state
board Of equalization consists of the
governor. the secretary, of state, the
attorney general and the state audi
tor and treasurer. All hese officers
have all they can do it they properly
attend to- the business OF their office
and have no time to go all over the
state and hold equalization meetings
and in some cases personally examine
property In order to determine it's
value.
In addition to this. the state beard
Of equalization must act as an entire
board before they can act upon tax