Milford chronicle., 1925-02-06
WHAT EDITORS
ARE SAYING
MORE ABOUT THE FILING FEE
AND SCHOOL MONIES
Editorial Dover Index

Editorial Dover Index
The report of State Tax Commits
sioner Jester has been sent 10 the
Legislature and should furnish val
liable information on the school tax
situation. If it is not too long it
should be published at once so that
the Legislature and the people could
know more about what has been
done by that department and how
the state tax laws have operated.
| There has been much criticism not
only Of some of the provisions of the
law but of the Tax Department it.
self. Most of the criticisms of the
law have been aimed at the SO filing
fee and the corporation tax. It has
been freely stated that the Tax Com
missioner has not enforced the col
lection of the filing fee and the cor
poratiOn tax an dthere is a pretty
general demand that a charge be
made so that these taxes be collect
ed. How well the Tax Commissioner
has performed his duties we do not
know but judging from his report
the filing fee produced in the year
ending June 1, 1924, $300,717 and the
corporation tax $243, ,576.22. 10th of
these are new sources of income for
support of schools provided by the
revision of the school laws at the
1921 session of the Legislature and
they together form a very important
part of the school support. We be-
lieVe as does the State Tax Commits
sioner that the real reason for dis
satisfaction of the non-property ow-
ner over the SO filing fee is due to
the fact that such taxables have ncv-
er seriously considered the question.
Mr.. DUPONT also criticises this tax
but the reasons he assigns for his
objection do not seem to us sound
and lead us to wonder if he too has
ever very seriously considered the
question. Non-property taxables
should pay something towards school
support. Before 1921 they paid a poll
or head tax, ranging from So to Sc.
In Dover and most other incorpora-
ted districts they paid Sc. In Will
mingtOn, we understand, they paid
nothing, hence the kick against the
filing fee was more vigorous there
than elsewhere, and leads Mr.. Jester
to say: "This feeling of dissatisfac-
tion is due largely to the fact that
non-property owners in the City of
Wilmington prior to the enactment
of the Income Tax Law never paid
a direct tax of any kind" Mr.. du- |
Pont has given the State excellent |
schools for colOred children. These |
schools must be maintained and the |
gifts have materially increased the
cost. Without the filing |
fee or some similar head tax a large
part of the colored parents and col
Ored adults who should surely con-
tribute something towards the sup
port of these schools, would contri-
butte nothing. It is quibbling to
the filing fee because it is
called a filing fee and not tax.
Every one of our great number of
both those doing busi-
ness here and those merely incor-
Dorated here, file an annual report
and pay a filing fee to the State of
S2. This brings us a helpful income.
Yet we have not heard it criticised
because it is called filing fee in
stead of an annual tax. We are
pleased to note that Mr.. TESTERS re-
)ort says that corporations have
hown every disposition to pay the
tax just as fast as the
FAX Department could see them and
xplain the law. This is gratifying.
While we were lead to expect lar
,er income for schools from that
ource $243,576.22 is an important
ddition to our revenues for school
upport. We are of the opinion that
be filing fee and the corporation tax
re not the only instances of things 8
4 the tax law that have not receiv-
d serious consideration or need to
q explained At the same time
hat these two sources of revenue
rere provided the revenue from an
ual Franchise taxes on corpora IS
ons, mostly corporations incorpor-
ted here but doing business outside,
-as transferred from the General s
und of the State to the school fund.
rom this source the schools receiv-
i for the year ending June 80, 1924, s
[ 279,59632. These three sources
reduced for that period $1,823,-
34.54 or with the income tax which
zen before 1921 was part of IS
,hool support and which for that
eriod produced $500, ,622.78 and pen u
ties provided for the support of %
II public school $2,449,783.O5.