Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-09-03
Tax REFORM Demands Public Economics
unno Exren5tures and Increasing Indebtedness Are Staining Nations Pmse-Buiness
~ poathing Spell Which Cannot Come Until Tax Burden Is LightenM-Pmtest
N" Lodged Against TaxConsuming Agencies

Guiding indebtedness of the federal
government, had increased from $5,-
1874, 900 900 to an amount estimated at
approximately $4,000, O00,0 00.
II state and local governments had
been forced to depend upon taxes to
cover the cost of new undertakings
and growing disbursements, taxpayers
would have been aroused early to a
realization of the disastrous conse-
quences in prospect before the matter
passed beyond their control; but the
ease with which bonds were marketed
must have lulled them into an attitude
Of security. The idea seemed to pre-
vail that they were getting something
for nothing, and that in any event the
additional burden would be borne by
special taxes on some particular class
which would not affect the people gen.
orally.
A Rude Awakening
With the depression following the
war came a rude awakening. Taxing
authorities are finding that present
business conditions preclude special
levies which would tend to tax an in
dustry out of existence, drive capital
from the state, and otherwise impair
the states taxable resources. Thus, 1t
has become necessary to seriously con-
slider the problem of equitable distribu-
ton of revenue requirements, and to
evolve a plan of making this distribu-
ton in a manner that would cause the
least disturbance politically. The prop
osition presents many difficulties, and
drastic curtailment of expenditures
must be accomplished before its solu-
ton will be possible.
Discriminatory taxes should not be
tolerated irrespective of which class of
taxpayers or kind Of industry would
be most seriously affected; and any
system which stimulates waste OF nat
ural and destroys incentive
for their conservation naturally calls
for severest condemnation. There
seems to be a tendency abroad to ig-
more the hazards of mining and the
fact that. until the investor in a min
ing venture receives back in cash or its
equivalent the amount OF his invest
ment, there Is no positive assurance
that the investment will be profitable,
and that taxes upon mines in countless
instances have been taxes upon capital
investment because operations have
proved to be Improbable. Since such
considerations have been cast aside, it
is no difficult to understand why other
considerations, particularly the princl-
pie that taxes should be equitably sp-
portioned, are also forgotten or W
nored in the scramble to get while
the getting is good" My study of II e
situation has led me TO conclude that
the taxing powers Of a state should be
limited BY its constitution, otherwise
no industry can be held immune from
unfair and discriminatory taxation.
Situation StIEi UnremedIed
Recent so-called tax reforms have
not remedied the situation; but have
increased the burden on taxpayers and
have led TO profligacy in the disburse-
ment of public funds. High taxes and
other high costs have forced selective
mining, overproduetion, and rapid ex-
haustion Of mineral reserves, and thus
are rapidly reducing the tax base upon
which states must depend for their rev.
enues for many years to come. These
are unpleasant facts which public off
Gals have to face, and the only conclu-
sion that can be reached by any unbi-
ased student of conditions is that the
real tax reform of the immediate flu
ture will be the one which points the
way TO decreased public expenditures.