Montana labor news., 1936-09-10
TAX DODGERS JE0pARD|zE
ADEQUATE WAGE PAYMENTS

at the various union offices relative
to increases in rents and demands
for increases by the landlord, both
in residential property and in stores
down town.
The excuse given in most of these
cases is that taxes are higher. This,
of course, is a bare-faced lie. The
tax levy on all property in Silver
Bow County has been decreased,
including automobiles. Not long
ago the taxpayers association were
voicing objections in regard to
compensation of the school district
and city employees. 1t would sur
prise many of the residents of Sill
yer Bow County if they would go
over the records in the court house
and check up on the standing of
members of the taxpayers associ-
alton in regard to their own taxes.
Many of the members Of this as
ISOLATION haven't paid their taxes
and if members of this association
would clean up their delinquency, it
would help the financial situation
of the county and city considerably
and also help to provide the revenue
necessary for the payment of the
county, and school district en-
ployees, to which this association
ca vioOroi5c1y objects
Apparently the taxpayers asso-
citation is sort of a flunky for the
real estate agents and real estate
offices. A suggestion has been
made that some of the extensive
holdings of the real estate compa-
MES, especially on the flat, which
are delinquent and have been de-
linquent for many years, should be
taken over by the county and then
beautified under a W. P. A. project
so that the people of Silver Bow
County could get some use out of
them. The taxpayers association
has developed quite a habit in COM
planning about the wages that are
paid public employees. Like most
all burgeois and parasitical organi-
cations, they chisel in regard to the
payment of their own taxes and
then bitterly condemn a just COM
pensation to the workers. If those,
who complain about the compensa-
ton paid to the workers in the Of
fees and the other employees of the
different units of government such
as the school district and the city
and the county, would pay up their
own back taxes, these wages could
easily be paid and the county Of
ficials be in a position to further
reduce the tax levies. The tax levy
has been reduced, it is lower than
it has been for several years, but
there could be a still further re-
duction if the thousands and thou
sands of dollars that are delinquent
were paid up. 1t is true that some
people have suffered during the de-
preston to an extent where they
are not able to pay their taxes on
some OF the property. They are
property poor. But in numerous
other instances taxes are still de-
linquent, and. the allegation that is
frequently made Of some of the
agencies is that they collect the rent
from the big buildings and then fail
to pay the taxes. Many of the
biggest blocks in Silver Bow County
are delinquent and have been de-
linquent for several years. Some of
these buildings are situated right in
the heart of the city and are the
best income paying properties.
There is certainly a temptation to
publish the names of people who
are delinquent in their taxes and
who are apparently fully able to
make the payments.
In some of these cases the origi-
nal owner is now living in Florida,
California, and other places
throughout the country. Just last
summer n owner, or at any rate,
the person who is listed as the own
er on the tax rolls, was travelling
around the country in high society
and had his picture on the front
page of the local papers as an out
cfanHinn ottiznr nfknr .rA,.,a-+
and leading citizens are in arrears
in their tax payments. 1t is to the
credit of the county officials that
they have been unable to raise
enough money to pay the demands
made for old age pensions and that
the new high school is being built
without raising the tax levy. The
proposed increases in rents GER
tainly r not justified under the
conditions which prevail in Butte or
in Silver Bow County. The county
is not only suffering a loss through
these tax delinquencies, but the city
is also. The argument was made a
slort tlme ago IN regard TO taxes,
that it would be a tendency to in
crease taxes, should a certain group
of city employees be awarded a re-
turn to their original salary. This
was n of the most specious kinds
of argument. 1t is a habit appaI-
emily locally and nationally of some
of the leading citizens, business
merchants, officers of the corpora