, 1923-02-22
A GOOD DEAL OF BUNCoMBE ABOUT THE SEVERANCE
TAX BILL
(Wm. c. Deming, in Cheyenne Tribune)

WA " DSHHAS' III OHSyShHS AADuAO
When a man has been in the newspaper business for twenty
five n years, has a hnGT Tns politicians nt naiT San and . office a1imti holders ss intimately
but has seen many of them function, he doesn't get very much
percentage of the hundreds introduced will become laws and that
it would be a misfortune if it were otherwise.
any time over the so-caIed Severance Tax" bill. : a.
Let us look backward into the history of Wyoming. When
the State Constitution was adopted in 1889, it contained this
All mines and mining claims from which gold, silver
and other precious metals, soda, saline, coal. mineral
shall be taxed in addition to the surface improvements,
and ahsri in lieu of of taxes Sa on the lands nd ; on the a gross product
product of all mines shall be taxed in proportion to the
Yet there was not enough interest in this important question
not enough knowledge of the subject, not enough sentiment in
the constitution me effective ead s until 't the Seventh e t F fegsiatur &c in i ieos'
county, tsr Goshen e0 and p1 tnse e somPGsed had Uf t wha sep rs aox Rssa nd
every one Of them, voted on every ballot for the Maxwell mine
ed and the third survived in the closing hours of the session.
down ~ " upon their IL! heads eeas d the en@itv OF Of T the large ! W eoai 0n MINING n1eu and
other mineral operators of the state. Yet, 1 do not know of a
been several times amended and strengthened to the end that the
state is now realizing considerable revenue under the SO called
In face of this history our esteemed Governor Ross seems
because "a a so-caned Severance we siS TaxS Of IF Which n the sls people, NEVER
ha three months ago and of 'ohich they knoo nothing noao,
rov7 / secured It ad the louisiana o STA law but i, felt without a constitutional
The Tribune Leader has felt from the beginning of the SEES
work th ATT the e. talk so of the e.. Severance eSera ssd Tax -. was s largely yL pioneer
along lon this line when the subject is better understood and senti-
situtional statute.
In the meantime. the legislature has done a wise thing to
prepare the way by adopting the Gardner resolution, which will
probably make such a law constitutional when it is adopted.
There has been much political buncombe on both sides of
this question. and attempts will be made to make politics out of
il. but the Tribune Leader which has always stood ready to make
the big corporation and the non resident owners bear their full
share has not felt from the first that there was any chance for a
Severance Tax now. not because of the opposition of the oil and
coal people, but because we felt that the subject is too new to
get across.
Governor Ross delivered a clever speech before the Joint
session; It read well and will be probably used in the next cam,
paign, but to people who survey these questions in a calm. practio
al sense and are not novices in politics, it will not carry much
weight.
Meantime, ask your neighbor if he knows what a Severance
Tax" is or what it would do. and if it is constitutional and how
it would be reconciled with the present mine tax law.
Also during the next two years give careful study to the
question, as the Tribune-Leader hopes to. and if the Gardner
resolution is made a part of the constitution of the state. as it
should be, then let us proceed to remove a bit more of the hide
from the corporation rabbit.
There is nothing in the situation to get excited about. nobody
has been robbed, the governor has had an opportunity he much
enioys-that of making an eloquent speech. The oil and coal
people are not going to leave the state.
In the period of calm which will soon follow. everyone should
carefully study the subject and be prepared to act inteligently
in 1925.