New Britain herald., 1923-07-19
J. N.CHRIST TALKS
| ON State ASSEMBLY
Representative Tells R0tarians Of
Activities at Capitol

CluD III IHc IIlhS 1dil Ills HUoH,
lieu of previously announced speak
er who could not attend. Mr.. Chris
went into the activities of the fnanc
committee of the legislature at som
length, outlining where changes ha
been made in acts which affect tn
state income. He declared that h
believed that the state income thi
year would be greater than 1t wa
Expected and allowed for when tn
finance committee was making appro
priations, and 1t was his opinion tina
the allowance for the proposed stat
normal school dormitory in this cit.
should have been given. He statet
that he had several conferences will
officials on the subject and II Is ;
source of considerable regret that h
could not get the money for the nev
building
Fewer Bills Passed.
Mr.. Christ, in opening his remarks
said that he was unable to prepare l
very thorough report on the "192;
Legislature" In the short notice which
he had had from the president of thu
Rotary club. Consequently he woulc
talk upon the work of his committees
with which he was most familiar, ant
try and give the rotarians an idea o.
the work Of the finance committee II
particular. Those who are criticiz
ing the legislature because Of the one
act, the standard time bill, have the
consolation of knowing that the 1872;
session did not pass as many bills al
the previous legislature by severa
hundred, he said. Many hundreds
however, were discussed by the com.
mittees. Industries are prosperous
and bills affecting them are of great
deal Of interest. I.'
One of the methods of raising IN
come which. have been adopted In
other states was successfully avoided
by the finance committee, that being
q state income tax and the finance
committee finally found it possible to
raise enough money to cover esti-
mated expenses without being forced
to adopt new measures of taxation
upon individuals or business firms.
Carelessness in making appropriations
counted for great deal of saving, he
said. a .,-
To New Britain, a manufacturing
attention. In 1915 it was found that
the state was going to be short some
100000 in its income. The finance
committee at that time, became in
volved in a jam with the manufactur-
ers OF the state who objected to a
corporation tax largely because it in
volved so much extra bookkeeping. 1t
was finally decided to adopt scheme
of taxing corporations 2 per cent of
the net income as reported on the
government income tax blanks and
such law was passed in the state.
Lately the government has allowed
losses to be deducted from income
and allowed the amount of the loss to
be spread over two years. Inasmuch
as the state blank was similar to the
government blank the losses had been
claimed TN: the state as well as the
nation This was remedied and cor
porations now pay per cent on net
basis. He also spoke of the partner
ship and unincsrporated business tax
on gross business.
Insurance Companies Avoid Tax
The exemption of Liberty bonds for
tax purposes In the state had become
serious loss in income where insur-
ance companies were involved. The
insurance companies, or some Of
them, had acquired so many bonds
tax empt, that they were paying, in
one instance, no tax to the state. This
was remedied by splitting the act
concerning exemptions into two parts,
one of which concerned banks and
still allowed the exemption and the
other which required insurance conf
panies to pay tax on so per cent OF
the market value of their bonds
The state tax to towns was cut rs
|per cent. from 100000 to $1,000
600. This made difference. of &c.
1000 in the state tax to New Britain.
Action on bonds issued by munich
|palities, forcing pay as you go"
policy to cities and towns was out
lined. The towns were forced to is
sue serial bonds of a life comparative
to the length of life of the asset that
they were Issued against, with street
being the shortest liv-
ed bonds and water and sewer con-
struction the longer The speaker |
cited the case of Willimantic which |
had asked for the third issue of bonds
amounting to $4,000, the first issue !
of Which was made in 1884. They |
were to be issued against water mains
and the third issue was asked for |
1924. 1t developed that the town had |
$4,000 In sinking fund but the |
whole $4,000 was needed to bring
the water works up to necessary
point OF usefulness, According to &C
ton OF the finance committee it Will
now be necessary for towns to insure
payments on bonds from a sinking
fund before the utility that formed
the asset is useless. According to
Senator j. H. Trumbull," said Mr.,
Christ the Indebtedness of towns
will be reduced some $4,000, 900, IL
the program of the finance commit
tee Is followed for 10 or Is years.
The appointment of a committee to
study tax exempt property in cities
and towns in the state with the view
OF submitting a plan of procedure to
the next legislature was touched upon.
Mr.. Christ received geenrous applause
at the conclusion of his talk, which.
necessarily, is in its briefest form In
Lhese columns
Preceding the introduction of Mr.,
Christ, President Fred Rackliffe gave
> report on Rotary work with Grip
pied children, mentioning one patient
who IL is expected will be completely
cured within three weeks as result
Of the Rotarians' attention. He APP
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