Show TUESDAY EVENING M TO ALTER 1 t TAXING POLICY ARGUED Senator S Senator enate r Dern Dem F Files I le Statements Statements State- State ments of Proponents of Amendment s J Argument in favor tavor of or the 1 o of the the he proposed con constitutional lonal amend- amend which would permit the clas c of ot property for tor the purposes of or taxation as proposed In the senate of ot the Fourteenth legislature by Senator G George H. H D Dern ern was tiled flied with the secretary of ot state yesterday The rhe argument by Senator Dern who uras sas desIgnated as chairman of ot the le legIslative legislative leg leg- I the committee by President T T. T E. E loSKay r Kay of ot the senate to prepare the I argument and who was assisted by Senator John W V. Peters follows t I E ARGUMENT Taxation experts are practically unanimous in declaring the th general I property tax a failure because all tax- tax blo property Is not In actual practice discovered and assessed at Its true Kaiue i aluc ue The Thc tendency Is toward cle classi- classi tl fI d 1 property taxes and income taxes So long tong as property in Utah was principally pr n of t a visible character and h hence nce readily discoverable by t the e as- as essing officers th the present sst system m of ot ofas ota a as assessing essing and taxing all property uniformly uniformly uni uni- I seemed satisfactory jf lasly I y while hilp the revenues s required were WE're small smaiL But without Industrial development development develop develop- mint ment public expenditures grew whilst more and more property became in In- In in form such a as money and c credits stocks bonds notes and bankd bank d This sort son of ot property is Is' easI I concealed pd from the assessor and andIs andI andis andi's I i's Is 8 invariably so 0 concealed when the tax rates are hl high h. h This is true In j W h as w well 11 as everywhere else and millions of dollars' dollars worth north of ot property I ot taxed at all The entire burden taxation Uon therefore tore falls Calls upon real reales j es ea Rte ate improvements and tangible personal personal per- per property such as merchandise r machinery chinery and 11 livestock estock As public e expenditures Increase the tax rate goes SOE'S up tup up This drives ps more property Into hid- hid and nd th the more hidden the higher ther the tho I r e. e PENALIZES THRIFT The general property tax does not notta Take ta e into Int account either ability to pay received Residence prop- prop WY LuY and household furniture arc not pr property and the tho present stem penalizes home building On the er hand real estate and tangible I p personal onal property are en enhanced In int t value ue h bv by expenditures for police and f fire fre I protection streets highways s 's b badges schools t hool etc whilst intangible properly pert IS i not benefited nor mado made madora madero ro ra valuable by br such expenditures JJ it u Is just that this class l uld he b assessed at a lower rate than thant t property Moreover an at- at to assess intangibles intangibles' at a high r ita o means in practice that they es es- sape PC taxation entirely If Ie savings de dep deposits de- de p posits were assessed In many of ot our c communities s the taxes would te the entire Income If It not encroach t pon on the principal Tnt The th theorist may I say pay that money moncy on deposits in banks should be assessed and taxed the same sam as other property but bUl the practical man knows that if It it were depositors would withdraw their money mone the banks would face taco bankruptcy and business stagnation nation would ensue EFFECT OF PROPOSAL The proposed amendment gives the legislature power to classify property i and to tax different classes at different rates and also to fit tit an income tax Into our general taxation program which is hard to do at present Other states I have ha found Cound that when intangibles are assessed at ala a low flat fiat rate so that the tax will be only a a. fair proportion of ot the income much of or this class of ot property property property prop prop- erty will be listed the assessment of ot tangible personal property will be greatly improved and the revenues will win be larger with the low lov rates than with the tho high ones As a result taxes on real estate livestock and other tangible personal property should be reduced This proposal Is la not novel but is already al- al ready in effect in Connecticut New ew NewYork NewYork York Rhode Island Michigan Minnesota Minnesota Minne Minne- sota eota Wisconsin Massachusetts Penns Pennsylvania Penn Penn- s sylvania Maryland Kentucky and several sev sev- eral cral other states and they all pronounce pronounce pronounce pro pro- it Jt in n Improvement over o theold the theold theold old system GEORGE II n. DER DERV DERN JOHN W W. PETERS |