The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1922-07-13
THE GOVERNOR AND TAXES

to get rise out of the governor when he came
to Kenosha but we had hardly expected tt
have been honored with his giving the major
portion of his address to us. Of course the
Governor has taken to himself credit for al
of the work of the state tax commissions with
which he could have had but a very small part
I'm his effort to arraign class against class the
Governor wandered far from the facts in Ke
nosha. AS to the assessment of income taxes
against Kenosha corporations and Kenosha In
sdividuals the charges of the Governor that We
have suppressed the news is either deliberate
faisehOod~ or due to the fact that he never
knew what the News had to say in this regard
'Whenithe income tax statements were handed
down by the state tax commission back in DC
bober, of 1921 the Evening News gave to then
the same consideration as it gave to every
other matter of news and the report of these
assessments were published in the Evening
Newssjust the same as they were published ir
.anylother paper in the state The News com.
mentel pertinently on the willingness of the
,stateAo} exact the last pound of flesh from the
industries of Kenosha and on the fact that Ke
nosha county contributed to the state the sec
ondlaEgest amount of income taxes paid by any
county in the state It pointed out the fact
!
.moreifor income taxes than some forty Of the
other counties in the state. The News has al
waysinsisted that every corporation and every
individual pay its or his full amount of the
taxes fbutiit has protested against the gouging
of some industries with view of lifting the
tax burdens of others. 1t has asked for fail
assessment of taxes and it has not sought tt
bring an unequal burden or to arraign one
class against another.
No statement of any "re-assessment of in.
come taxes" has ever been furnished to the
News or to any other paper in the state so fal
as we know.
That the facts in regard to the reassessment
of industries and other corporations has not
been made public by the governor or any one
else is shown in an Associated Press statement
/.of his address at Kenosha given out in advance
by his own manager, in which he says: "Ir
the course of his address Governor Blaine car
Eried out for the first time his promise to revea
the names of corporations which the tax com
mission has found to have failed to pay then
complete income taxes"
Evidently the Governors manager Thought
that he was giving out a piece of real news
andtthat it had been held in the office at Mad
dsontup to the psychological minute before il
was sprung. ,..-........,,...
The Governor shows his ignorance Of Ke
fosha, and its expenditures in suggesting that
thescollection of this tax would have paid the
generaleXpenses of the city for term of two
andSaf half years
If the Governor in his announcement hac
Sought to do great service for the state his
words might have carried more weight but il
is evident that the sole purpose of the governor
was to further arraign class against class il
Wisconsin rather than to show efficient ser
vice onsthe,part of tax commission
reinstatement of the governor does not prove
that these Kenosha organizations are crooks
or crooked. Errors have been repeatedly made
in the making up of income tax statements =
corporations have contested against the state
taxing unissued capital stock and the,
will continue to contest against what they
consider unfair assessments Men and corpor
atoms have in the past and. in the future viii
claim the largest possible exemptions under
the tax laws and many of these exemptions arr
found to be entirely within the law. Hundreds
of citizens have had both federal and state in
come tax figures revised but it could hardly b,
said that these people had deliberately sough
to defraud.
The Governor himself admits, that so far al
ne knows, but one paper in the state has givel
any publicity to these operations of the Wis
consin Tax Commission and that paper is tn,
one which is particularly connected with tn,
propaganda of the governor. It is expected
that the Governor for the advancement of hi
own propaganda can make the same charge.
IN every city in the state of Wisconsin includ
ing the state capital
The "obey" is being taken out of marriag,
rites Some take il ont of the nrnh ihitin,, 1nr,