Show THE TM TAX QUESTION the que question a tion naturally arises in the file minds mind of the tax payers what 11 the meaning of the proposed amendment and why to the is constitution are the mining companies opposing it in the first plate place are there any logical reas reasons re why a home should be required to pay as much tax as a a mercantile W institution rutn farm a mine or any business that bi bangs bungs ings in I a r a venue revenue 7 no fair minded person bould old maintain for a moment that it should section one of the proposed amendment men dment ent that is now submitted to the people to ta be voted upon if carried at the next election will permit hermit the legislature etina lature to class classify afy the property of the state and thus exempt the home from some of its present hardens if it fails to carry it will under our present law be obliged to bear the he same mine tax as any other elms class of property the next in this proposed amendment men is one that effects the mine end and f the he reason why they are spend me 0 BO 0 much money to oppose it the old constitution protects t the he mines mine s t to the extent that they can 0 only b be a assessed on their net proceeds the net proceeds of a mine are determined by taking the lalue 0 of all 1 the ore extracted in one year and deduct the costs of extraction freight and reduction ot of the ore add what is left represents th the value of the mine together with th the price paid tho the government fur far the land chich aich is uniform uniformity ily on mines 5 00 per acre where is there a farmer who would not like to have his farm a aa raised in this thia mail aia for instance 1 25 per acre for the land the prim price paid the government and what the profits might be oer and above the cost of running the farm and I 1 et at this is the way a mine is assessed this might have been reasonably fair when all other property in the state was assessed at one third of its value which was the case as an av prior to 1916 but the last legislature took from the various lanous levying boards sixt per cent of their authority which made died it t be necessary eatery to raise all pro perty in it tb the e state two and one half times limes to raise the same money this however could not be done with the net proceeds of the mines which as stated above represents the value of the min mines here are a few figures which show ally what it means to one of the big mines of the state the be net proceeds for 1916 were 15 00 against this value was applied p lied 12 01 mills which at hp makes es them em pay bout about 00 hid t the he same levies applied as were in 1915 bet before the reduction the they would have paid on 29 89 mills or 72 00 1 this is in what the reduction redaction of levies did lor for this mine saved them 00 they can well afford to oppose the amend the legislature understood this and authorized the amendment as it is now presented to us which if it carries will permit the them to make laws assessing the net proceeds at three units which will practically put them tte mines where they were before the reduction in levies and the then they will pay no more than thedr their share c WM BAILEY |