Show OUR PHONEY candaso TAn DaSo K 1 17 in fin sweden when government owned utilities compete with private concerns they really oom compete petel being required Q aed to pay taxes interest and all other charges that private util utilities aties are obligated to meet writes george B E doying tn in public utilities fortnightly the contrast in tile tho united states was noticed by W borgquist director ue of the power department of the royal board of batol falls of sweden thip la Is true also of other foreign countries whose publicly owned power systems are so BO universally lauded by american advocates of of socialization by fair means or foul of the private electric industry the th contrast in this county country Is striking federal electric developed ments here are legally tax free though as irl in the case of TVA they may pay small sums to states as a sort of sop for revenue lost through taking private property off the tax rolls and in addition they are made possible by public subsides and receive various such as mall mail franking at public expense what this means Is that all the people in all the states must help pay through taxation for any amy benefits real or imagined accruing to the people in the limited territories served municipal electric plants are also practically tax free on a national average their taxes amount to around one percent of their gross revenues as compared to about one fourth per cent for private companies and these plants in the majority of cases are publicly subsidized and are given bookkeeping and other services by the town government services which are paid by the general taxpayer if these plants lose money which is by no means uncommon the general taxpayer must foot I 1 tile the bill american advocates of government ownership have fought every proposal to place public plants on a fair taxation basis with private plants they haye have set up so called yardsticks which are false in every particular and which give an utterly unfair and untrue idea of actual conditions the american people who have never shown any warmth toward socialization of private on enterprise ter tor prise would have a great deal more faith in the sincerity and honesty of these experimenters in socialism if they would follow the sound of sweden and see that public and private plants be taxed regulated and operated ted on an equitable competitive basis |