Evening star., 1932-01-22
CHAIN STORE TAX
BILL IS OFFERED
Loudoun County Delegate
Presents Measure in Vir-
qinia Lower House.
my staff Correspondent Of The Star.

&y Stan correspondent OF Ihe star.
RICHMOND, Va, January 22.-Wil-
bur c. Hall, delegate from Loudoun
County and long the relentless foe OF
the chain store, yesterday introduced
q bill in the House of Delegates which
would impose an extra tax Of $50
yearly on each chain store in excess
of one operating in the State. He
estimates that the tax would bring a
minimum of $150,000 yearly in revenue.
A similar bill was introduced at the
last session of the General Assembly
by the same patron, but was lost after
@ bitter fight in which its opponents
claimed that it was unconstitutional
because, they averred, it was class
legislation.
In commenting upon the bill intro
duced yesterday. Hall declared that it
had been drafted in the light of the
recent decisions of the United States
Supreme Court in the Indiana and
North Carolina chain store tax cases,
which upheld the chain store tax laws
of those States. For this reason" he
declared, 1T is hardly possible that
any one will contend that the bill is
unconstitutional.
Contains No Exemptions.
The bill contains no exemptions. The
IlS6IIIOl Ol dl tACti pl4Oll, nan oaANB
would furnish a ground of attack upon
the validity of the bill. Moreover" he
said, ut would seem that no exemptions
are necessary from the standpoint Of
justice"
Continuing with his explanation
Hall declared that chain gasoline fill
ing stations are operated by the great
oil companies on the same principles,
for the same reasons, and in the same
general manner as chain grocery stores
are operated by their owners.
THE regular State merchants license
tax in Virginia." he said, "is measured
by the merchants purchases. In the
case of a manufacturer or refiner, who
is also a merchant within the meaning
of the law, the cost of manufacture Is
taken as the purchase price of the
goods, wares and merchandise, and no
manufacturers, refiner's or wholesalers
profit is included in such price"
Tax at Lower Figure.
"This means that manufacturer or
refiner who is also retail merchant
reports his purchases for the purpose
of measuring his merchants license
tax at a lower figure than the ordi-
nary retailer can report his purchase
because when the ordinary retailer re-
ports his purchases he must report the
cost to him, which includes the manu-
facturer's, refiner's or wholesalers S
profit. 1t would seem, therefore, that
the oil companies operating chain fill
ing stations are properly included in
the bill"
Except for the $50 extra for each
additional store or filling station in a
chain, the license taxes of such busi-
nesses would be on the same graduated
scale, in proportion to the amount of
purchases made, as now exists under
the Virginia law.
Hall and his associates, who fought
so bitterly at the last session for the
passage of the chain store tax bill
have expressed the opinion that the
chain store companies are, through
their added purchasing powers, running
the independent merchants and the
bill is drawn for the purpose of more
nearly equalizing the cost of operation.
1t Is expected that the bill will be
opposed by the combined strength of
the chain store operators and the oil
companies that are operating chain
filling stations throughout the State.