The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1931-02-12
WILL DIP HEAVILY
into PUBLIC FUNDS
Bill Appropriating $7O,OOO,-
600 Has Been introduced
Into Legislature
PROPOSED INCOME TAX
House Votes to Increase High
way Patrol Members-The
Income Tax

by n. W. Hitchcock Publisher
OF the Hibbing Daily Tribune and
a member of the Legislature.
ST. Paul, Feb. Good help the
FARMER. The forty-seventh iegisla-
ture of Minnesota seems doomed
to do him dirt.
It's this way. Two years ago
the requests for approximation.
from the legislature were AZ mil
non and when the members oot
thru introducing appropriation bills
that were pushed on them bv their
folks back home and the armv of
upiitters at the capitol, the total
Iequests were more than 60 mil
mons. This year the REQUESTS
started at so million, and at tn.
rate the Gimme" bills are con,;no
IN the total requests may reach 70
~
Ii you think that picture looks
dark Tor the taxpayer, look on this.
the best estimates available show
that the tax receipts of the state
from such indirect sources as the
gross earnings tax, the OCCUPATION
tax, ETC., will fall off at least 80
ooo,OOO. The receipts of the treas-
ury decline, the demands upon in
increase. If the legislature is
tlghter than the nearest" Scotch
man that ever existed in song or
STORY, II now seems inevitable that
the Minnesota taxpayer will be
called upon next year to shoulder
an added burden of taxation or
more than five million dollars.
Mired already all too deep in our
economic Slough Of Despond, these
iacts constitute, next to immed-
late unemployment, the most SER
ious situation which confronts Min
nesota at this time.
The Income Tax
Our one hope seems to be tho
income tax. So the people say. But
Will me income tax save us, or will
1t push us further down in the
mire? Can 1t be made to tan new
sources by revenue, can it be made
TO ease the tax burden on real
estate by being in lieu Of some Dor
ton OF our present taxes, or will 1,
rail OF that as it has in every 9TH
ed state in which it has been tried.
and prove to be just another tax.
How many more taxes can we en-
dure without being crushed under
them?
Woe is us that we havn't an,
wisdom about it to give you. But
the public prints are full Of it, and
many with wide experience in tax
matters are wrestling with the
problem. ..
For amusement, if not for profit.
however, let us bring you some
thing that is not original with us
but which we have borrowed to
pass on to you. If it is wise, it
may yet do us some good; If it 10
foolish, it is not more foolish than
many other things that legislatures
have memoralized congress about.
Briefly, it's this. Double the
present federal income tax. IF it
works, that will produce approx
mately three billion dollars. Dis
tribute the money to the state. II
will relieve the tax payers Of the
state of the total cost Of public
school education, the largest single
item in our tax bill. Eureka, there
you have it! However fantastic
this scheme may seem, there is
one sound principle in it; viz, that
the taxation Of incomes Is better
done by the nation than by the
state. One Of the serious objec-
tions to a state income tax Is that
1t inevitably sets up barriers to bus
mess at the state borders.
Whose Ok Is GOred
The bank tax problem is a seri-
Gus one in Minnesota. When the
legislature, some years ago, enact
ed the money and credits" law IL
unwittingly relieved the banks or
the state Of their taxes. How?
Don't ask us; we might explain but
the supreme court says that's the
way it is, and that settles 1t. Min
nesota has been making strenuous
efforts to fix the thing up so that
the banks Of the state may be law
fully required to pay an adequate
tax. But it's a difficult business,
and it isn't fixed up. Meanwhile,
by agreement, the banks have been
voluntarily paying the old tax.
That is, all but a very few of them.
It developed the other day that
John N. Payton, Governor Olson's
appointee as Commissioners or
Banks, Is the head Of one Of the
few banks that refused to pay.
Everybody agrees that Mr.. Pay
tons appointment is a first class
selection, but the fact that this
bank did not pay that tax, that 1t
was a tax holdout, is embarrassing.
The senate has been debating the
predicament. Our guess Is that
Mr.. Payton will be confirmed as he
ought to be, and that all the farm
er-labor senator's will be found
voting yes. But boy, IL a republic
can governor had appointed as
Commissioner Of Banks the head
of a bank that had refused to pay
the tax, what squawk those dis
farmer-labor senator's
would have put up.
Minnesota Gag Law
The house this week debated a
bill to repeal the so called Mime
sofa gag" law, the law which by
the very fact of its existence and
without legal action, put the ILL.,
CONTINUED on Pare Eight)