Show ei examination of a number ot of varied businesses and enterprises enterprise swe we unhesitatingly say that the law lav as framed is absolutely impossible ot of application the attorney general in answering the letter referred to said bald your further statement that as accountants we unhesitatingly say that the lawns framed is absolutely impossible of application causes me me ve very r y great surprise my personal acquaintance with you and a number af pf ot the other signers i odthe letter leads mie aie to the belief that you have underestimated your capacity certainly the statement of oC objections made in your letter is entirely insufficient to support tile the conclusions clu press protest from utah Speaking of this phase of the law yesterday J W edmunds of this city who is a 1 certified public accountant of utah said the of internal revenue appears to have slightly modified the position taken by the attorney gen eral in not cAon eAon the form tobe filled by mercantile corporations is he states that the gross amount of income be ascertained by taking inventories at the beginning and the end of the calendar year it is noteworthy that the law itself contains not the slight cst est reference to lo any inventory without which it is possible for or any mercantile corporation torp oration to accurately determine what its profits have been nor does the note referred refe Ered to obviate the dilli culty materially it says inventory or its equivalent which difference between thear the price i ce received for or goods sold and the cost of goods purchased during the year I 1 submit that it is impossible to ascertain this without taking into consideration the goods sold on oil credit and which have not been paid lor for at the end of the ralen lax ear car the specific objection chich the ac count aiAs had against the lie law was that corporations are arc required to make a statement shoring their receipts and disbursements for ajr tile the cale calendar year the accountants contending contend ing very prop erly crl that a statement of receipts and disbursements only does not and tan can not disclose the true trite financial condition or of any financial business corporation corporations vehement the protest protes tj rout the accountants of new ew york and the objections from ac a c coun tants all cair cier ih he union is however no not t a drop in vie thi bucket aai as far as strength is concerned conc radd to the oppose tion of afie various corporate firms of tl the e country countey duany many of whom ham have I a positive dislike to havi ang all their bu business given gien uway to their rivals not to td speak ipe ak of a paying aa al per per i cent taxi tax there are some firms in salt L lake ake CRY city chich have paid big dividends for years past whose profits arch are far in in excess of those indicated by the diff bends and hey do not want vant the public t to know all ill these thin thins things s then many firms do riot not want their competitors to know what they are doing ju in certain fields as it ouight I 1 induce competition some of th small firms or of the hie country urge this argument it I 1 in regard to the gigantic combines who will reach out and crush out the lives of many smaller concerns they say gay whether or not these fears and sur eur risings are warranted time alone will tell there is however hoever this fact about the law which works a hardship upon corporations as against private firms or partnership concerns and that Is no DO cognizance is taken of the latter by this law the law only applies to corporations the american sugar refining of new york will have to comply with the law but ar trickle pickle bros its great coina competitor altor la Is under linder no hec necessity etsity of doing so in this city there are several large private firms films doing a big share of the business of the city in their respective lines who will not have to make a re port or pay an tax lax in addition to the injustice as regards the payment of the tax there is also the tact fact that while the reports of the corporations will be open to the people all private companies will nill have their business secrets protected as heretofore tendency of the act at first sight it might be that that the tendency of this legislation would be to increase the number of partnerships and private firms yet this idea is discredited by some of the most prominent business men in the city in discussing the matter yesterday one of tile the leading lawyers of the state said the law will certainly have a tendency that vay but owing to the advantage of the corporal cor corporation on against 1 I 1 a partnership I 1 do not loffle for it to change things greatly you see that in addition to the fact that a corporation continues its existence even it if all tile the t fons die when a P partner artner dies the affairs of a partnerships partnership have to be closed often a serious disadvantage in addition there is the serious point of liability A partner is liable foizie debts of a firm it maya maybe be to the loss of every tiling thing be has on earth except the little that is exempt iy ay by law whereas a member of a corporation Is only liable to the extent of his investment in that these points will no doubt still make the corporation favored in spite of ibe the discrimination in favor fator of the partner partnership ship the law has bas been framed to exempt organizations for charitable religious and educational purposes from the tax it is intended says the law that nothing in the section shall apply to labor bo agricultural or horticultural al organizations or fraternal beneficiary societies orders order sor or associations operating under the lodge system and providing for tile the payment of life sick accident and other benefits to the members of such societies orders or at associations and dependents of such tuc members abe nor mar the domestic building and loan associations organized and operated exclusively tor for the mutual benefit 01 ol of their mern members beis nor to any corporation OF association organized a and nd operated exclusive tor for religious charitable or educational purposes no part of the net income ot of which inures ingres to the benefit of any private stockholder or individual all must report lit ill spite ol of that clause exempting them however all such organizations will be expected to make the report and ta decision as to their exemption is not got to be left to themselves but that is to be passed on by the commissioner of internal revenue at washington it is stated stated by collector callister that all tho the ecclesiastical wards of the church of jesus christ ot of latter day saints will come within the law and each caell of them will have to make a report of their financial condition for the lear ear 1909 their exemption being afterwards decided by the washington authorities how the law operates and what a tax ot of I 1 per cent means to the cor car po rations 0 of utah Is forcibly shown by the application of it merely to the dividends not the full earnings paid by a tew few companies during the year firm Is allowed profits free of tax in other words lie 1 per cent tax only applies to the amount made over and above the following dividends have haic been paid this year by rive five leading corporations of this state they have no doubt earned more than I 1 the sum they have paid out in dividends and according to the Is law W that total is what they will vill be required to pay taxes on local Appi application mation the dividends of the five companies arcas follows Z C INT I 1 V deseret national bank utah idaho sugar co amal sugar co con call wagon machine co cc total to the above figures these live five companies will have to pay to the government the sum of or I 1 per cent of the above amount at least and probably more A more striking example of tile the revenue producing power of this I 1 law aw is seen in considering a few of the mining companies of utah taking the six largest dividend payers of the year 1909 which paid dividends amounting to during the year the amount of taxes due on dividends only is this ls is di divi 1 tied ded as follows dividends tax IT S TI ining smelting smelling Sm elting 00 S king coal utah Con Bing colorado utah copper sioux con totals greater returns great as will be the returns to the government by tills this tax from the different mining and smelting smelling sm elting companies ot of tile the united states they are insignificant in fit point of size when compared with the big railroad systems ot of the country or with tile the largest larges t commercial commet met cial enterprises such as the steel corporation whose gross earnings for 1908 were which after acter deducting all manufacturing and operating expenses interest taxes debts of subsidiary companies and all other items of output left a balance of 15 45 for in dividends the union pacific railroad had bad a reported income of for ats alts fiscal year 1908 while the pennsylvania railroad rall read c companies at e S m e lor for lines both east and west of pittsburg and other systems owned operated controlled by or affiliated in interest with the parent corporation was it Is 19 therefore wholly unthinkable says the new york commercial that these inter state corporations will show lor for this year 1909 an aggregate taxable net income of somewhere around and that the federal government would derive irom from it if the tax were to be collected a revenue of news |