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Show Itaxation is a i BIG QUESTION I That n very big problem in taxa- I I ion is before the people of Utah is ! disclosed by William Bailey secretary ni th.- si ah hoard ! cunliznt ion, who says Ihe present general property tax producea for the general fund of the state, after all 'deductions are 'made, about $1,200,000, The schools are asking, v. Ith the consent of th" people, for something like that amount in addition to their present income (from the stale The stale general fund should have some additional revenue rev-enue to meet expenditures 'hat were t postponed on accpiinl of the war in towns and cities, especially, properly I is assessed to the limit, and the municipalities mu-nicipalities are still in many instances 'without sufficient funds. They have a claim on the proceeds of the income ti s, if such laws are enacted. But, if the federal government, with its wartime schedules in effect collects col-lects only $1,300,000, how Is all this money to be collected from an income Max? At the last election, Ihe voters of the state decided in favor of a con stltutlonal amendment winch would increase the revenue of the school diS-tricta diS-tricta Of Utah. If this amendment is enforeed, additional taxes must be raised for school purposes In a review of the situation, Mr Bailey says: The theory on which the in come tax went into the Republican Republi-can Btate platform, it is remembered remem-bered by those who were present at the convention, was that an income tax would reach the professional pro-fessional man who Is earning a large income and Invests II in nontaxable bonds or mortgages, and the large number of, at that time, highly paid workers, such as foreigners In mining camps, who live in company houses and have no taxable property at all There are some other classes of citizens not now paying taxes, , though they receive the benefits i of the expenditure of tax moneys, but their numbers are small. The question of Increasing the burden ol the taxpayer who is now pay ! ing more than his share of taxes was raised in the convention, and this argument was downed on the i theory that the income tax law 1 should carry a provision allowing a person to credit against his in come tax the amount of his gener- J al property lax. This is a vexatious problem for the incoming legislature. With the federal government apply-1 J ing an income tax. with corporation' directly taxed, with half a dozen other fqrma of taxation lew ing tribute from business men and others, tin placing of more taxes on the heavih burdened I taxpayer will be a serious thine j There Is no form of taxation more op 1 posed than direct taxation, although it is the most equitable in the form of a ! graduated Income tax. |