Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-10-22

| WutCU u 10 oVuShk - H"-
compared.
BY No Means "AgricuEtuTai'
A further instance of rhe governor
method may be noted. In the reports
Of the state board of equalization by
the county assessors, the assessed value
on improvements on lands, title TO
which is vested in another than the
person listing the land for taxation, is
given at SS,274,37S.00. The governor
attributes all of this valuation to the
agricultural and livestock interests. 1t
Is q well known fact that a large per-
centage of these improvements has
been erected under leasehold interests
on lands used for flour mills, packing
plants. sawmills, metal mines, coal
lands and many other industries, IN no
way connected with agricultural opera
tons of any kind.
The comparisons attempted by the
goevrnor are equally misleading. After
crediting the farming n livestock ~
dustries with practically all of the
property in the state, outside of towns
and cities, and the railroads, and strip
ping the mining industry of all but a
small percentage of the assessed valu-
alton which it is paying upon. Cover
nor Dixon asserts that in 1921 the agri-
| cultural and livestock interests were
paying Alb per cent of all taxes levied
in the state, the mining industry 3.92
per cent.
Reckless ~lnaccuracy"
Illustrating the reckless inaccuracy
of Governor Dixon's statements, in
the table of the distribution of taxes
submitted in his speeches, he credits
~"sites, improvements, dams, smelters,
ETC. with the payment of $4OO,545 in
taxes in 1921. The taxes on the smell
tiers of the Anaconda company alone,
in 1921, exceeded this amount; the
Montana Power company paid on its
plants taxes of over $685., 900. To
these amounts must be added the taxes
on all other smelters, power plants,
ETC., in the state.
In the same speeches the governor
states that the mining industry has
never contributed more than 10 per
cent of the total tax budget in any
one year.
In 1917 the total tax budget. includ-
ing corporation license tax. amounted
to ~$1S.349.327: of this budget the
Anaconda Copper Mining company paid
in taxes, including corporation license
tax. S2,0S6, 055, or more than IL per
cent of the budget.
When one mining company out of
over 400 operators pays more than
the governor credits to the entire in
dustry, his u~nfairness is apparent.
The governor quotes certain figures
of gross production values of miner
ais, agriculture, livestock and lumber
for the years 1918 to 1920. claiming
the gross production of the agricultural
and livestock interests to have been
SO per cent of the total produced by
the four industries mentioned and the
mining industry 80 per cent. He then
proceeds to compare these percentages
of gross production with the taxes
pair. not In the years for which the
the year 1921! The unfairness of this
is p%alpable.
Production, Without Profit, VaiueIess
In the first place, for comparative
purposes, the gross production fig
ures of any industry are worthless.
The purpose of any such comparison
is to learn whether each industry is
bearing a tax burden in proportion
to it's gain. To ascertain this, stat
ing the gross AMOUNT produced with
out figures giving some idea of the
profit made Is worse than valueless.
>. The governor would undoubtedly
claim that the agricultural and live
: stock interests have not been profita-
bic during the past few years. As to
Z many engaged in those industries, this
is undoubtedly true: as to others it
? is not true. 1t would certainly be
surprising If the financial result has
been as discouraging with those indus
tries in the past three or four years.
As an illustration, n mine opera
tor in his Montana operations in 1919,
1920 and 1921 incurred a loss of over
SIG, 900 900. Despite this fact, in the
same period. he paid in taxes in the
state of Montana the sum of So
S71.672.
But even if the figures of net re-
turns from these industries were
available, before comparisons could be
made, on the authority of the governor
himself, the actual profit deductions
from the net returns of the mining
companies would have to be made to
offset the portion thereof which is
not profit, but a return in part OF
the actual capital invested.
The capital of a mine consists OF
Its ore. When that Is extracted the
capital Is exhausted.
{ 1t is universally conceded that in de-
termining the net profits from a min
ing operation, as you would determine
them from a farming OF livestock ven-
: ture, allowance must first be made for
this capital return.
|, Dixon Knows Production.
: The governors own words: This
: position is recognized by Governor
: Dixon himself in his message to the
! Montana seventeenth legislative assem-.
! bly,, which was issued in printed form
> daed January 4, 1921. We copy from
, pages II to Is thereof:
"In responding to this one per
: cent corporation license tax, it may
3 fairly be suggested that the mining
: companies are not in the same
. position as the ordinary trading or
industrial business, corporations of
r the state. A substantial amount of
the net returns upon which the
: mining companies license tax in
figured is made up of the value of
the ore extracted: or, in other
words, in part consists of a return
Q of capital and not profits. This
: situation is clearly recognized in
our federal income tax law.
Provision is made for the deduc-
ton from proceeds before arriving
h at net profits. of a reasonable