OCR Text |
Show HOW TO REDUCE TAXES. Our. readers will recall that, during the last campaign, the Standard Stan-dard repeatedly pointed to the discriminations in taxation in Utah, by which the owners of small homes were made to pay more tha their just share of the taxes collected. There was a belated attempt to deny the statements made by this paper, and this denial was supported by two or three corporation papers, so now that the election is over, we may be pardoned for reproducing the following from a weekly paper in Salt Lake in further proof of the correctness of our election figures : "The cost of the Bingham & Garfield railway, including construction, con-struction, equipment, depots, etc. was ?4.5C0,324 00 This piop-erty piop-erty is assessed at $366,990 00 or less than S per cent of its value. If a 52,000 farm was assessed on a like basis, the farmer would only have lo pay an annual tax of $1.S0 Are there any fnrm-ers fnrm-ers or home owners in Utah whose total holdings are around the $2,000 mark that gee off that easy? Isn't It about time tho people know the facts with respect to the matter of assessing railroad and other corporate property In the State of Utah?" Some day the people of Utah the heavily burdened taxpayers will wake up to the injustices which are being perpetrated, and there will be an overturning that will startle those who for so long have felt they could go on benefiting by the unfair conditions without danger dan-ger of arousing public indignation. What the corporations should do, instead of laboring to obtain exemption from a fair valuation of their property interests, is to inaugurate a campaign for greater economy in city, county and state government. Herd is the state of Utah, which has doubled in assessed valuation of property and yet retains the old rate of taxation. In other words, extravagance has kept pace with the rapidly increasing increas-ing demand upon the people for more tax money. The expenditures evidently arc gauged by the revenue, and if the assessable property were to be again doubled, no doubt those who have the managing of state affairs would find a way to spend the 100 per cent increase in taxes. Were the railroads to lend the same energy and talent in breaking break-ing down this extravagance that they give to holding down assessed valuations, the tax question would soon cease' to be an issue in this state; the railroads would escape with no greater tax drains, and the wrath of the common people would be appeased by a reduction of taxes on homes. Why should not the railroads join with us in a crusade against the prodigal waste of tax money? |