The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1937-05-27


One Of the most encouraging bits of
news that has come out Of Tallahassee, is
the information that Senator Walter W.
Rose. Of Orlando. introduced bin to place
a Severance Tax on phosphate mined in
this State
We make no forecast as to the recep-
ton that this bill viii meet. Quite pos
sibly, it may share the fate of all pioneer
movements which, batter themselves
against ancient usage and inertia and
perish-but before they do. they have
blazed path which, opening a vista to
those who had never perceived the pos
sibilities. becomes highway for advanc-
ing civilization.
The main thing is get "the question
before the house. For, once a question
is raised. it never can be settled until it is
settled right. Settle it wrong a thousand
times and it will again arise for settle
ment.
Just what is this Severance Taxi
1t is a recognition of the fact that
THE Commonwealth is not an empty
phrase 1t says in effect that the bounty
which the Creator has bestowed upon the
people of Florida. may not be exploited
and depleted to the point of vanishing
without some slight measure of regard for
the equity held in trust. by the govern
ment. for the people
1t provides source of revenue which
in no way is a tax upon industry.
1t carries with it the conviction that
the resources of the State are not to be
squandered ruthlessly and without regard
for those who shall come after us.
1t is a Severance Tax because it is a
tax upon the severance of the natural re,
sources of the State.
1t imposes no tax upon the people of
the State.
1t imposes no additional burden upon
the residents of the State who wish to use,
within the State. the products of its mines,
its forests and its fields.
Not until the product of the State
crosses the border, does the Severance
Tax begin to operate. and it is paid by
those who use, in New York, or London, or
South America, those indigenous produc-
tons OF Nature which were here before
the land was inhabited.
Louisiana presents an example of the
sources of revenue that may be derived
from this tax; and an even brighter ex-
ample of the results of the conservation
which can be financed from this source.
Take one instance: The muskrats of
the marshes that border the Mississippi
were rapidly being exterminated and the
living that numerous trappers gained from
the sale of the pelts was as rapidly dis
appearing.
A Severance Tax of five cents on each
pelt sold outside the State provided the
funds for a regulation of the industry, and
in 1881 This being the year of which we
had a record), Louisiana furs brought
more money than the furs of Alaska and
Canada combined. Imagine what might
be realized by a conservation of the otter
of the Everglades.
Senator Roses proposal to see that
Florida has something beside hole in the
ground to show for her matchless phos-
phate mines, is the thin edge of the wedge
that may presently result in an almost
taxless State Our fuller's earth. our naval
stores our Southern lobsters now rapidly
following the Holsters of New England in
to the oblivion which has swallowed the
passenger Pigeon and the Bison, all can
become sources of revenue to the State and
their supply be increased by the applica-
ton of the Severance Tax.