Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1922-05-16
UNFAIRNESS TO PEOPLE OF G. 0. ?. TAX
PROGRAM SHOWN BY DR.. MccLINT|c
Careless of State Funds by Last Republican
lature and Efforts Now To Make Up Deficit Which Has
Resulted Exposed BY Member Of House Of Dele
gates; Farmers Are Hardest Hit

assessment purposes, DR.. G. F. Nc
Qintic. prominent physician of Will
uamsburg and q Democratic member
u the House OF Delegates from Green
brier county, has made an exhaustive
Etudy Of state finances and taxation.
He Includes his work on this sub
ject In a series of articles on what
Patriotic State Administration can
do for West Virginia"
His criticism Is constructive, In that
be suggests remedies for the present
hax evil
The state Of Michigan" he cites,
reached the point where its taxes
had become so unequal, and its re-
sources 50 depleted, with a continuous
Increase In state expenditures, that
something had to be done. At the
hast legislature, a tax commission was
appointed for a term of ten years to
devise fair system Of taxation. SO
let West Virginia act now
Boost In Salaries
1.-THE state elective officers In 1921"
says DR.. McClintic, "received $780,
B8Oo, or ga per cent and appointive
officers received $551, 8o697, or 1901
per cent or a total Of 1894, e75.06 or
1867 per cent Of the total revenue de-
voted to state purposes
The state department Of commits
gioner Of agriculture lists IA per
SONS as receiving salary or pay for
services at a cost Of $76,943.51, and
81 other persons per diem" ranging
as high as $4,000 each or a total
expense and salary account of $143,.
1857. II took the taxes from prop
erty valued at $5,732,7 1000 to pay
this item. In other words, 1t took
the taxes of of 4,d19 farms to pay
this bill. There are 1929 farms In
West Virginia, so II takes all the
taxes of one In twenty 81 the farms
Of the state for salaries and expenses
Incurred by the staff Of the commits.
sioner Of agriculture. Did one farm
in twenty In the state benefit to the
amount u tax paid by contributing
to this fund.-
IAN item Of 500, 230e4 appears for
a community packing house. Why
was not this work done by the agri-
cultural extension department Of the
university
"The commissioner Of agriculture
urged the passage, at the last Legts.
lature Of law to prevent disease
among honey bees. The bill called
for the appointement Of an entomolo-
gtst 10 enforce the Law or to do the
inspection. His duty Is to look for
bacteria (for which a bacteriologist
Is needed) When the commissioner
made the appointment the appointee
was neither an entomologist nor a
bacteriologist.
us this typical Of the way the
peoples money is being spent? The
money spent by the state department
and for public institutions accounts
for 1858 per cent Of the taxes paid
for state purposes.
No knowledge Of Assets
But what would you think Of a
business that did not know the value
Of Its assets? Yet when the ques.
ton was before the last legislature
the office of the state tax commits
sioner could give nothing definite as
to the value of the assessabIe prop
erty of West Virginia. There were
estimates" another term for guess
eS," Of the amount Of business done
by wholesalers, jobbers, manufacturers
etc.; it was current knowledge about
not know within billion dollars of
the wholesale business of the Charles
ton district The most reliable source
Of Information was gained through
bureaus of the United States Govern
ment at Washington. This is not in
tended as a reflection upon the pres
ent tax commissioner, but it is intended
to show that state officers Of West
Virginia have persistently failed to
establish a scientific basis upon which
to estimate property values.
These unscientific methods have
resulted in a haphazard tax legisla-
ton. First one party and then the
other will come out with new
scheme for raising revenue. These
schemes seem to be more for the pur-
pose of gaining votes or serving as
campaign thunder, than for solving
in scientific way the question Of
taxation.
The Tax Arrangement
I'm the last session of the legisla-
ture, the Democrats proposed as a
matter of political expediency and
strategy that a tax of one-half to
one per cent be levied on coal, Oil.
gas, lumber, ETC., and that a tax be
placed on net incomes, graduated
from one per cent on 5000 to $4,000
up to four per cent on incomes of
$4,000 and over, and that a tax of
one-fifth of one per cent be placed on
public utilities, banks, etc. This was
counter to the Republican proposal,
which passed, placing a tax of three
fifths (61O of one per cent instead
of the Democratic proposal of one
half (510) of one per cent on coal,
oil, gas, lumber, etc. (this had been
increased from two-fifths to three
fifths by amendnhent). On these
items, you Will note that there was