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Show EDITORIAL: The Severance Tax The question of a severance tax in Utah may become a burning burn-ing issue of the current political campaign. So far it has been mentioned only in hushed tones by its supporters who, although bound to it by party commitments, commit-ments, seem to fear it as a political po-litical weapon. If it can be kept in the background candidates who favor the severance tax may win because of their stand on other issues. Utah is already famous for its ' intricate system of taxation and the residents of the state have grown to expect proposed new taxes as the accepted thing. There are few if any forms of taxation that Utah has not adopted. adop-ted. Despite the knowledge that its people are the most overtaxed in the nation along comes the quiet suggestion that a severance sever-ance tax be added to an already top heavy list. Vicious and discriminatory, the severance tax is nothing more than a levy against those who put the state's natural resources to work. Basically it strikes at the mining industry; at the harvester har-vester of local timber and at the hoped for oil empire. Its intent is to make the operators of these enterprises pay for every pound of mineral they mine; for every board foot of timber they cut from Utah's limited forests and for every barrel of oil that may someday' be produced. Being a tax against the natural natur-al resources its possibilities as a producer of state revenue arc unlimited. Who can be sure that such a levy would not ultimately affect rangeland uscafte or the users of water for irrigation or the production of hydro-electric power? Utah is a natural resource state, its whole future is based on the development of still untouched un-touched natural wealth. But its future holds forth little if a severance tax is adopted. It seems strange that the state's leader's would extend an inviting invit-ing hand to those industries capable cap-able of bringing about the maximum max-imum growth of Utah while the other hand is poised ready to land a knockout punch. No single - thing could more completely block the future of Utah than a severance tax that suggested levy against its natural natur-al resources. The proposal that a severance tax be enacted into law warrants full investigation, an inquiry not only by the industries in-dustries scheduled to pay the tax, but by every citizen who anxiously an-xiously hopes for the industrial expansion of Utah. |