The Daily Alaska empire., 1941-03-31

! tlaGdStN III llll- tti-e iN5Aoio' M fer the Washington Legislature anc assisting it in thus meeting thai states tax problems. The Territory was fortunate in thus securing at nc expense such expert services. The consensus Of their opinion was pre- ;cnted in the Governors message and bills to meet the situation wl.ich were before the Legislature for it. consideration.
 Legislative Reaction
 What was the reaction Of the Legislature? The Senate held two perfunctory hearings cn the income
 gX measure. In these no valid criti 4sms were made of the bill, but seV ,sal lobbyists were permitted to at .ack it. to pick flaws in wholly minor provisions, and the bill was there Jr 0n killed. It was never given seri- DIS consideration. Subsequently a
 tg.lar bill with few changes which aad been suggested py Senators in-
 crested in some tinpible rc5ults. vas introduced E ire Fouse and passed ten to six. The sSenate felGsed ven to receive it, although after 3assege by the House :t was 9 very l1lch mi!der version e the original " moderate incgmc tax bill
 "A General Property Tax bill sim larly recommended by experts who nave thoroughly studied Alaska's problems. and carefully prepared, vas kept buried in the House Ways
 nd Means Committee. When final 7 both these measures had received
 uch summary treatment and the .eficit problem was still unsolved Gross Sales Tax bill was evolved the Senate This was promptly aid on the table by vote of six to
 Wo. It has been clear throughout his recent session that number cf members sufficient to defeat any .deuuate revenue raising program vas not interested either in improy- ng Alaskas tax structure or in
 aising the revenues which the Leg slature's own appropriation bills in iieate it considered necessary.
 Info. nation At Hand
 There is, therefore, nothing to ,e gained by appointing legisla- i've tax committee, which judging
 rom the personnel selected for seiv-
 e thereon consists chiefly of those who throughout this last session have cen determined not to give the lightest consideration or study to ;arefully studied, intelligently draft d, tax measures. The information which such a committee allegedly eeks is already in existence. AS in Heated above, it is to be found in
 he three reports of MT. Kettle, Of he Planning Council and MT. Fred
 rick c. Lusk. There is no reason
 whatever to believe that this tax
 ommittee consisting of four Sena-
 CTS and four Representatives can ldd anything appreciable to the in ormation now at hand.
 The author of the bill, Senate Bill No. 16, Senator Sullivan, intro iuced this measure before the ses- ion was half over and at no time efore or since showed any interest
 n tax proposals other than to ob- itruct them, sabotage them, and bury | hem at the earliest moment with ut consideration. I have relucanGly concluded that this proposal ema- lating from him is not based on sincerely
 Appropriation Insufficient
 Finally, if we are to assume that
 his committee intended to do a
 erious job, it is clear that the $5 ,000
 ought is wholly inadequate The
 ommittee would consist of four 'enators and four Representative
 catered from Nome to Ketchikan The mere travel expenses for one
 r two meetings, plus the provision or their compensation would scarce leave any appreciable amount for he employing of technical and ex- pert advisers and clerical help to provide quarters and facilities for he conduct of it's affairs etc. Had
 his proposal been worthy of serious consideration $25 ,000 would have cen appropriated and arrangements made that would have indicated the
 committees desire to achieve intelli-
 ible results. To be sure, these pro- )osed studies could have been little lther than duplication of what has ready been done and done most
 cmpetently. But with the wholly in-
 dequate funds voted by Senate Bill No. 16 nothing worthwhile could be accomplished. It would result mere y in a waste of $5 GOO of the Terri tory's money.
 Those who allege that the Ter itory had not had sufficient ad- 'ance notice of proposed tax pro- ram, although its own Planning Council had been working on the program for three years) and who
 lleged that time was lacking for the representatives of the people and for
 heir constituents to become famil- ar win the program, can profitably turing the next two years study both he three above mentioned tax re- .orts. and the drafts of the income ax and property tax bills which with ,ummarieS therenf were laid hafore