Show i tax strangles state development in tuesdays salt lake telegram president george W lambourne of the park utah consolidated mines company vividly describes teril ble handicap because ot of unjust and unreasonable taxation the salt lake paper says rays george W lambourne president and general manager of the park utah consolidated soli dated mines company comp tiny announced tuesday that he be was preparing to remote his residence from salt lake because of the heavy tax burden laid upon the people and the interests of utah by the last legIsla legislature tuie operations ot of the paric fark utah mine for the present at least will not be affected by mr air Lam Lambour bournes neB action my interest in the mine now Is the same as it has been from the beginning mr lambourne explained we shall continue unite to operate and develop the property to the best interests of the stockholders and our associates remove incentive to work 1 I am leaving utah mr air lambourne continued because in my opinion adoption of the tax revision amendments has absolutely removed incentive tor for capital to develop the natural resources ot of the state until the mine tax situation Is solved by fixing a fair rate so EO that men with capital can be assured they will not be burdened with excessive taxes I 1 believe that utah Is destined to follow the down grade As for myself I 1 shall certainly not raise additional capital to operate in utah while the legislature has the power to assess and tax mines as it sees fit under such a system mining companies cannot operate on a sound basis because they have no way of knowing what portion of their earnings will be taken for or taxes capital surely cannot be persuaded to come into this state gamble upon finding ore gamble upon metal prices and markets gamble upon successful treatment processes gamble upon the premature depletion of ore reserves and then rin r in 1 th the adad add cl rist of ct a tax tall filed to suit the me demands of the legislature in view of the prevailing situation I 1 am of the opinion that any mine corporation po ration or promoter would be justified in telling stockholders or associates that mining investments in utah are not clesi desirable si in discussing mine taxation mr lambourne declared that mines even under the existing multiple of assessment are paying more than their just share of taxes as compared with other types of property and enterprises in the petition for statehood he said it was understood that a provision if for 0 r taxing mines should be written the t h e state constitution that was MRS carried out and t hp lole le v E fixed as one times net proceeds h mint ni m int that mines were assessed the value of their net proceeds pill rl valuation of equipment and I improvements trove end and 85 5 per acre of ground used exclusively clu lor for mining purposes pui Pul poses the tax was then levied at the rate in the state and in the county in which the property was located I 1 multiple Is raised this system was retained until 1919 when N hen the legislature raised the multiple to three times net proceeds following agitation to raise assessment on all properties and enterprises in the state up to per cent irom from as low as 25 per cent this was done with the agreement of the mine operators everyone agrees that this plan of 1919 did not accomplish its purpose as eigles other than mines are not taxed per cent of tl lr valuation judging from the action of the people in voting the tax revision amendments as they did in respect to mines it world seem that they dont want the states natural resources developed although it Is obvious that mining is the backbone of the states prosperity it is obvious that they dont care to participate in such development themselves as Is shown by the stockholders lists of the major utah mine companies we recognized this forcibly at the time of the promotion of the park utah mine while the campaign to raise funds tor for this property was under way there a single citizen of the state refused participation tiel pation in it notwithstanding this tact fact the amount of utah capital which went into the enterprise was insignificant As a general rule about one third of the net smelter returns of utah mines go back as dividends to the stockholders and backers who financed them while the remainder stays in the state as taxes and in payment tor for labor and supplies just what this means to the state can an be seen from operations ot of the park |