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Show 'INCOME TAX BILL 15 GIVEN ITS DEATH BLOW IN SENATE : Solons Question Advisability of Saddling Industries In-dustries With Burden at This Time. TIIK income tax hill, hou.je bill No. SO, was eUaiinatrvl from the legislature leg-islature "s revenue program mo vesterHay nf'ternoon when the ' srnatft voted, 11 to 7, to strike out the '- enacting clause. Instant death to Representative ; l'ajje s jiet, mcasu ro vb$ averted by Senator Olpon, who changed his vote ' from "no" to "uyo" and served no-: no-: t ice that a motion to reconsider would ; Tie presented Monday, i Not since the- days when the public ! utilities bill was under Tire had there been fiery oratory, which at times al-most al-most came to personalities, such as that i furnished during the discussion of the ( proposal to strike out the enacting clause from the income tax bill. Kvery possible obstacle permissible ' under the Renate rules, from lonc-i lonc-i drawn-out arguments on scanty revenue and merits of the bill to a motion to adjourn, was brought to play to pre-i pre-i vent action being taken on the bill yes-i,- terday afternoon? F.ven a typographical error in the printed ruins was used as an excuse for delay and required a de-t de-t cition from the chair. J. Two Objections lo Bill. Two big objections to the bill wore voiced on the floor of the senate. The i biggefit obstacle was the belief that tho governor would veto the bill, and ' the, other chief objection was that the . income tax was an experiment and tho advisability of enacting such a law at j this time extremely questionable The sentiment of iho governor with reference to the measure was reflected 1 in, a note read by Senator Armstrong j, from the governor, in which he urged that a vote on the bill be taken vester-J vester-J dfy afternoon. Tho note aJso indicated J why Senator Armstrong snddenly changed his mind about deferring ac- lion on the measure until Monday. '' 'That the indorsement of the measure ' was considered a wasto of time was in-l in-l diea,ted by the vote of the solons. Most , of those who have kept in pretty close touch with the chief executive during the i cession voted almost solidly to kill the bill. Senators Armstrong, Bevan, Colton, , Kimball, Walton, Deru, Reynolds, Par-i: Par-i: ker, Stringham, Clyde and Wootton : voted to strike out the enacting clause, 'I while the motion was opposed by Sen-:; Sen-:; atrs C'hes, Bradley, Funk, O'son, Seeg-L Seeg-L miller, .Stevens and Evans. h r Armstrong Springs Surprise. ! The signal for the pyrotechnics was given just before adjourumeut yester- , , dhy forenoon, when Senator W. 1rtr. .-rinFtrnng presented a motion to the - elffct that the bill should be made a special order of business at 4 o'clock in the afternoon and intimated that nl that time he expected to bring about I linl nctiuu upon the measure. ' 'On the previous day the hill liad been nindp a special order of business for 10 oVlo'k yesterday morn In?, hut before the reading of the measure was completed the senate adjourned to participate In t tie reception of the .Second sooadron of Utah cavalry, just home from the border. Before Be-fore the motion for recess was offered, sv-nator Armstrong proposed that the reading should be continued at 4 o'clock and a vote taken on the hill if possible. The proposition came like a thunderbolt thunder-bolt from a den r sky. On the previous day Senator Armstrong had asked to have i action on the bill deferred until Monday, nl lest final action. The president, however, ruled that such a proposition could not be Included in the motion t ha t the bill should be marie a special order of business. Try to Save Measure. The sudden reversal on the part of Senator Armstrong was taken by the supporters sup-porters of the measure that there was ill iu store for the bill and the motion was opposed, but finally carried. All afternoon, during the reading and discussion of the military bill, the atmosphere at-mosphere of the senate chamber was surcharged and just before the clock pointed to 4, Representative Page and a number of other lower bouse members flocked into the senate chamber to assist as-sist iu any possible way to save the measure from summary execution. No sooner had (he secretary finished re-ad ins: the bill than Senators Armstrong and Olson were on their feet demanding recognition. -President Punk recognized Senator Olson, who immediately presented a lengthy amendment to the bill. Every time Senator Olson gave any sign of taking tak-ing his seat there were two or three sotons on their feet, but Senator Armstrong Arm-strong finally gained recognition and moved to strike out the enacting clause. Printer Causes Trouble. A ouestion of order was brought up br Senator Evans, on the ground that there was an amendment before the house. The president parried by calling attention to the seny te rule which prescribes that a motion to strike out the enacting clause supersedes an amendment: and then there was a hubbub, because the printer bad put the "demand" in the rule instead of "amend." .Senator Dern declared that the error had been corrected by the senate early In the session and President Funk so ruled. Sena tor Armstrong declared tba t the bill could not become a law in its present form, and said further that he questioned seriously the advisability of saddling the industries of the state with an income tax at this time. He Intimated that the governor liad evolved another plan for obtaining revenue which would be nearer adequate to meet the immediate demands of the state, anrl explained that he could see no reason for dragging along- several days at the end of the session discussing and tryins? to enact a bill which was so questionable. Minds Are Made Up. The majority of the sena tors, he declared, de-clared, had already made up their minds on the action to be taken on the bill and the vote on the motion to strike i he enacting cla use would give an op-' portunily to ascertain whether or not it was worth while to spend so much valuable val-uable time on the measure. Senator Stevens objected strenuously. He and all other senators who spoke on the motion admit ted that the bill could not pass a.nd was not a good measure in the form it came from the lower house, but expressed the opinion that numerous amendments might put it In shape to pass muster. "1 have no oratory to waste on thlo bill," Senator Armstrong declared in reply. re-ply. "The measure has been in our flies more than thirty days and we know as much about it as we could learn In three more days. I am sure that every senator sena-tor here has made up his mind as to how he will vote on the bill. More Business Ahead. "We are nearing the close of the session ses-sion and have many important measures to consider, and have yet to solve the revenue problem for the ensuing bien-nium. bien-nium. We all have every reason to behove be-hove that if the bill passed the senate it would not become a law, so why waste time on it. We know what we want to do, so let us do it and proceed with our business." Senator Seegmiller charged that a studied effort had been made to kill the bill ever since it came from the lower house and the challenge was immediately accepted by Senator Dern, chairman of the public affairs committee, which considered con-sidered the bill in the senate. The senator sen-ator from Kanab read the tax reduction pledge from the Democratic platform, to whicii plank be declared most emphatically emphati-cally he subscribed. Calls It Experiment. In his reply Senator Dern called attention at-tention to the fact that Senator Seegmiller Seegmil-ler was a member of the public affairs committee and was thoroughly familiar with the work which the '' ! lone during the session, and resented the intimation that the bill had not been . given all consideration possible under tho ! conditions. Senator Bevan insisted that the income tax was no more than an experiment and expressed the opinion that "Utah would have enough experiments on its statute books at the close of the legislature legisla-ture to keep the state busy testing during dur-ing the next two year.s "There is not time this session to consider con-sider the income tax bill and ascertain its value," declared Senator Bevan. "We may be doing the state and the people who are building It a great injustice. I believe that it would drive away from the state many corporations upon which the commonwealth must depend for its development. de-velopment. Nothing in Oratory. "They already must bear a federal income in-come tax, and we are on the verge of war with a possibility that still further taxes will be assessed to maintain the federal government in its military programme." pro-gramme." "No one appreciates the burden of the tax on the home builder more tlian I," Senator Col ton exclaimed. "It gives a splendid chance for thought and even more splendid opportunities for oratorical flights. But at this time I cannot see where oratory can assist. What the state needs is money and we have every reason to believe that if the income tax law-should law-should pass the senate that it would never become a law. "I appreciate that It would be a great political move to pass the income tax bill up to tiie governor and have him veto It and permit the state to go without the needed revenue during the next two years. But that would be doing the people a great injustice. Why Waste Time? 'S'o why spend our time here discussing discuss-ing a bill "which we have every reason to believe w-lll not. become a law. Other states have solved the tax problems in another an-other way and there ts no reason why we can not. Our time this session is limited, and it behooves us to spend it considering some measure which we at least may be assured will have a reasonable reason-able chance of becoming effective. Why put the chief executive In 'the bole and dodge the responsibility ourselves?" Senator Chez opposed the motion on the ground that it was against Democratic principles and that it violated a pledge made on Friday that no vote on the bill would be taken before Monday. He asserted as-serted that he and other senators had a number of amendments which they expected ex-pected to propose which might make the bill workable. Would Be Held Up. Senatnr Pern called attention to the fact that immediate relief was necessary neces-sary to the state treasury and that the Income tax would bring no relief for at least two vears. He expressed the opinion that If the hill should be passed and indorsed in-dorsed by the governor that it would be held up by initiative proceedings until the question could be voted upon at the regular election In 191 S. Wootton Seeks Relief. "I am here to get relief for the people of mv countv and the state as a whole," declared Henator 'Wootton, "and 1 am satisfied that nothing would be accomplished accom-plished bv passing this bill. We have been informed by the governor that it will receive his veto. "I am reliably Informed that a measure will he presented to the legislature next Mondav morning which will solve the ta-t problem at least until the administration has had an opportunity to go to the bottom bot-tom of the tax question. I am reasonably sure that that bill will become a law and believe that it would be only time wasted to go into a lengthy discussion of this bill." When questioned aB to what the measure meas-ure to be presented would provide. Senator Sena-tor -Wootton asserted that he understood the state officials and the mining men of the state had arrived at a satisfactory agreement wherebv the state's revenue would be amply cared for during the next two years. Says It's Not Party Measure. "I do not believe that the income lax is a party measure, as some have Intimated," Inti-mated," asserted Senator Kimball. I can see more harm In it than good at this time. Utah is a young state and In the infancv of development. We must have capital to continue that development, and I can only see that the Income tax will drive capital from the state and prevent pre-vent new capital from coming in." Senator Reynolds expressed a similar opinion. As a possible result he called attention to the Union PaolnV: Railroad company, which is incorporated In Utah. "The stock of the Union Pacific changes hands at least once In every generation gen-eration " declared Senator Reynolds, "and every time there is such a change the state receives $5,000,000 as inheritance inheri-tance tax. The Oregon Short Line employs em-ploys 700 men and women In its general offices In this city. Armstrong Takes Exception. "WHth such burdens as the Income tax would impose, with the absence of such taxes in other states, why should those big corporations not change incorporation and move their general oflices? There Is no question in my mind that we would drive them and many other similar corporations cor-porations from the state and that our losses eventually would be greater than anything we might gain. I cannot see where the bill provides for an equitable system of taxation and am against it." In his discussion of the question. Senator Sena-tor Olson quoted Senator Armstrong as being against the principles of income taxation, and the assertion was hotly refuted by Mr. Armstrong. "I beg your pardon. Senator Olson, but I said nothing of the kind," declared the majority leader. "I would ask that you be more careful in your quotations. Only Against Bill. "I said that I was against this bill. I believe In the principles of an Income tax, but there is a serious doubt In my mind as to advisability of trying to apply it to Utah at this time." Several other passages at arms, as It were, occurred between the two Salt lake solons during tho time Mr. Olson wps on the floor, and Senator Armstrong took his colleague to task sharply for carrying to the senate floor remarks that had p.-isseri between the two senators in the corridors or on Xhe streets and as Individuals rather rath-er than as officers of the state. Before the vote was taken It was a foregone conclusion that the enacting clause would be stricken out, the only question being by Just how much. Senator liradlcv explained that he was against the bill, but would vote against the motion mo-tion In order that action might be deferred de-ferred until Monday. Before the result of the vote was announced Speaker Olson asked permission to change bis vote to "five," and served notice that he would i present a motion for t econskleration Monday. Mon-day. Tbere Is little indication, however, that the t.lil will be levlved. |
