Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1921-03-18
SENATE RAISES
CEMENT TAX To
FOUR CENTS bb[
Deadlock Threatens as
House Refuses to Con
cur in Amendments.
Upper Body Kills Gov
ernor s Bill Elininat-
ing One District Judge.
BY w. w. MOSES,
Staff CORRESPONDENT.

Staff Correspondent.
Helena, March 17.-With the threat
of deadlock between the senate and
the house over the oil production tax
measure throwing cloud over the as
sembly, the situation has been further
fffsitddilled by By the action ef the senate
Thursday in quadrupling the tax which
the house had proposed to place upon
cement and plaster and in which action
the house subsequently refused to
concur.
When the two bills, II. B. Il, one
imposing a production tax upon 90
nestle cement and plaster AID the
other tax upon import cement and
plaster, were reported out by the
senate committee on finance and claims
they bore committee amendments rails
ing the tax on cement to four cents
per barrel and upon plaster to 20
cents per ton.
House Refuses to Concur.
These committee amendments were
adopted and later the bills were re-
commended for passage in committee
of the whole after motion by Senator
I. p. Stewart of Deer Lodge county
to amend the bills to the figures alop-
ted by the house, had been defeated
10 to %.
When the bills were received back
in the house for concurrence in the
senate amendments, the house refused
ko Il
ton of Representative K. c. johnson
of Deer Lodge county, and the chair
was authorized to appoint confer
ence committee. For this task Repre-
sentative C. A. Brasier of Silver Row
County, J. d. Ray of Saltwater coun
ty and c. f. Boorman of Cascade
were appointed but as the SEN
ate had already adjourned for the day
the senate members OF the conference
cannot be named until Fri
day.
Old Fight Renewed.
The fight between the senate and the
house over similar measures during the
regular session had been one of the
lively scraps of the session. At that
time the senate stood for a tax of five
cents per barrel on cement and % cents
per ton on plaster to which the house
finally agreed. However, the tax was
held to be too high and out of proper
lion with taxes levied upon other in
1ustries and it was vetoed by the gov
nrnor who urged the passage of a law
carrying a lower rate as one of the
reasons for the calling of the extra
and the bills which were intro
tuced in place of the ones vetoed by
The governor carried rates of one cent
and five cents.
The senate also received from the
committee. considerably, al
.ered from the form in which it had
been received from the house. the ia
nous tax commission measure, Fl. B. s,
This had been amended IN committee
o such an extent that it was ordered
'e-printed before being placed on gem
,ral file.
Limits Experts Pay. /
The principal amendments made to
he bill provide that it shall be with
he approval of the state board of
equalization that the governor slla1l
lppo-nt such number of tax experts as
,e may deem necessary but these ex-
'erts are to be employed only for sach !
ength of time and at such rate Of
compensation as shall be fixed by the
'oard OF equalization. It is also pro-
-ided that these experts shall make in |
,estigations when ordered SO to do BY !
he board of equalization.
AS originally drawn and passed by |
he house the bill provided for the ar
continent By the governor of three tax |
xperts at salaries of 5000 per year. !
ach. together with the appointment of |
ttorneys. The provision for the en- |
'loyment of attorneys was stricken out |
y the senate committee. The report |
I the-committee was adopted without
pposition.
JudseshIp Blll Killed.
The senate slaughtered II. b. Z. by
Hara, which was intended to abolish
ne judgeship in the Fourth judicial
,strict, this action being taken in the
doption OF an unfavorable report from
ne Judiciary committee.
Ihe judiciary committee also report
q out ): Hy by Lowe, to bring the
tate under the operation of the Vol
tcad act, the bill having been 80 gen.
rally amended In the committee that
was ordered to be reprinted and then
laced on general file. In it's present
orm the bill substitutes the federal act
'r the state law instead Of making it
and in addition provides
" q dry law enforcement squad Of not
lore than six deputies to be appointed
the secretary of state instead Of BY |
le attorney general, the latter being
ven the authority only to prosecute
ases when SO requested. Compensa-
On Of these deputies would be fixed
the state board 81 examiners.