The Delta independent., 1922-12-15
TAXPAYERS MEET AND DISCUSS
PROBLEMS CONFRONTING ALL
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taxes when they have got the money
to pay them. The situation is this:
They haven't got what we would say
in common sheep herder parlance, a
d cent to pay these taxes, and it
doesn't matter how big or how little
they are.
bill McMurray told me the other
day that the D. & R. G. could have
furnished cars for every car of apples
that were shippable in this country,
if they had been willing to take cars
from the Santa Fee Railroad, and they
could return these cars to the Santa
Fe. We have a statute that there is
a dollar per day penalty for failure
to furnish FAIRS, and my idea is to put
teeth into the law and into the mar
keting, and then we can come back
here and pay these taxes. We can
reduce our taxes by getting rid of our
useless boards and bureaus, and
when the people of Colorado want a
thing there IS nothing ii the world
| that can deny that thing. In Ohio the
civil service bureaus have been re-
duced from 60 to 9. Why can't one
/ board run the financial institutions
one board the charity institutions.
etc"
Mr.. Rockwell said: along the
line of taxes, may I remark that when
it comes to the question of doing
away with the boards and bureaus,
we all admit that that should be
done. but the situation we have in
Illinois under Governor Lowden
comes to the point that these boards
are a very economical thing, and /
find that in this state about two
thirds of the boards are created by
constitutional amendment. And the
same condition exists with most OF
the boards and bureaus. That is the
reason some of the people favor a
constitutional convention.
1893 per cent Of our taxes are paid
on property We have laws which
seem to try to make a man pay taxes
on mortgages. bank deposits. etc,
but it. seems absolutely impossible to
force them, SO it it quite difficult to
reduce taxes, and the only way we
are going to reduce the property tax
is to better equalize the taxes.
THE man who owns property and
pays direct taxes is a booster. We
bigger salary than any of us, who do
not pay any taxes at all.
IAN income tax law will do away
with the property assessments in the
state. The balance. that is left after
the state departments are taken care
of, shall be divided proportionately
among the counties of the state. An
income tax law will equalize the
money and make the man who gets
his money out of stocks and bonds,
etc, help pay the expense. One
third Of our taxes go for institutions
of higher learning; one-third for
roads; and there are SO many institu-
tions in the state-one insane asy-
lum, two feeble minded institutions,
the penitentiary, and the boys and
girls industrial schools, all main
tanned by taxes.
III man has got a good bill It
will go through. Most OF the taxes
are for schools and roads. The aver
age person is not for cutting down
our schiols II we are going to build
up our country as a democracy; we
have got to have good schools. but
we can equalize these taxes II we
we will try.
Zone question you should think
over is whether you want to keep up
the State Tax Commission and the
State Equalization Board. They are
both doing the same work anu 1t
seems to me one ought to be abolish
ed"
In closing Mr.. Sylvester compii-
mented the organization on the high
type of men 1t contains and declared
that 1t compares very favorably with
any body of lawmakers he had seen.