EI0I11 PAGES.
DAILY EAST ORKGOXIAN, PENDLETON, OrtECON. TITSDW, MAY 18, 1900.
PAGE TIIKV-JC.
THAI
f
CDBPORATION
BUKEAU Or COHPOHATIONS
MAKES NOTABLE JtEPOIlT
Ptcmiiu a BIjfi'Ht of the CoriKiratloii
Lawn Enforced In the Various Now
. England States formation Tax
YIHds One Half of the State Ex-
pensoa In Maine IteHulU
OUiw States.
In
The Bureau of Corporations, of
wnicn neroeri Ktiox smith Ih com
missioner, has Issued tH first report
on the methods of corporation taxa
tion practiced by the various states,
The following is devoted to the New
England states.
Mulno
Approximately one-half of the ex
perinea of the Maine state government
which amount to over two and a half
million dollars annually, are met by
special taxation of corporations.
The taxation of railroads In Maine,
Including street railways, Is based up
on gross receipts. . This law has been
sustained by the supreme court of the
inlted Stutes as not being a tax upon
recolpts, In which case It would' be a
tax upon Interstate commerce, and
therefore unconstitutional. It was
held that receipts were merely used
as a measure of the corporation's abil
ity to pny taxes. This law Is known
as the Maine system of taxing rail
roads. .Several states have used It as
a model. From It Maine realizes over
$1100,000 annually. Following this
law, Maine now taxes her telephone,
telegraph, express, and parlor car,
companies on the basis of Income.
The Maine corporation laws favor
Incorporation by persons and busi
ness In no way connected with Maine.
From the several thousand corpora
Hons taking advantage of the Maine,
laws In this way Maine receives In
taxes snd fees from Interest wholly
beyond her borders over a quarter of
a million dollars annually. The basis
of this taxation Is the same as In
other states such as New Jersey, Del
aware, and West Vlrglna, namely, the
par value of the capital stock, Irres
pective of whether any portion, of It
Is employed within Maine. Maine 'Is
the only New England state resorting
to this method for the purpose of rev
enue. The Item .if taxes from corporations
next In Importance Is the state tax on
deposits and assets of savings banks,
producing nearly half a million dol
lors a year.
The Maine tax commission of 1908
has recently sent In Its report to the
legislature.
New Iliinipxlilrr.
The total amount of. revenue In New
Hampshire for state purposes Is a
little over a million dollars a year;
from the special taxation of corpora
tions there Is derived for state pur
poses a little over one-Iourtli or tnls
amount.
Through a construct!. m placed upon
the New Hampshire constitution, nil
attempts in New Hampshire to tax
corporations upon any other basis
then property have been abandoned.
There is however, a central state board
which administers the taxation of
railroad, street-railway, express, tele
graph, and telephone companies. This
centralized administration of tho
law as to these corporations const!
tutes the chief difference between the
taxation of corporations and Indivld-
Suuis in xew Mampsnire.
A large portion of the revenue thus
collected by the state Is distributed to
me luwns wncre me property or me
corporation Is located or where Its
securities are held. Under this ar
rangement tho allotment to the town
by the state frequently exceeds the
town s una re or tho state expenses,
with the unusual result that the local
authorities collect and pay to the state
hundreds of thosuands of dollars under
the general property tax, while the
state collects and turns over to the
towns hundreds of thousands of dol
lars collected from corporations, but
also based upon property.
Tho two largest Items collected by
tho state from corporations are from
railroads and savings banks, and
amount approximately to a half-million
dollars each.
A large part of the railroad tax
and practically all, of the bank tax Is
distributed to the towns by the state.
The New Hampshire tax commis
sion of 1908 has recently sent In Its re
port to the legislature.
Vermont.
All of the expenses of the state gov
ernment In Vermont, approximately a
million and a half a year, are met by
the special taxation of corporations
and by other special taxes collected by
tho state. The corporations are pay
ing approximately 66 per cent of the
total state expenses.
The chief feature of corporate taxa
tion In Vermont Is the policy of pro
viding m detail for Important corpora
tions two methods of taxation and
permitting the corporation to elect to
be taxed under either provision. The
two systems have different bases, one
being property and tho other receipts.
The purpose of this alternative Is to
avoid raising a constitutional question
as to the taxation by the state of
receipts from Interstate business. The
tax on receipts Is made attractive by
making It lower, and a large number
of corporations elect to pay on this
basis, and are thus precluded frjm
raising the constitutional question.
Another feature of the Vermont
system worthy of special note. Is tho
tax based upon par value of capital
stock and applied to nil corporations
in the state, domestic and foreign, ir
respective of whether all tTie capital
stock Is employed In Vermont. This
provision extends also to all unincor
porated associations doing business m
the state, whether they have captfal
stock or not. If a concern has no cap
ital stock, the tax Is based unon the
deposits;" In other words, the as
sets. While the rate of this tax is
low, the scope of Its application
namely, to all corporations or associa
tions, domestic or foreign, doing busi
ness in Vermont Is as wide as any
single provision of corporate taxation
known.
The Important Items of revenue, as
s usually the case In New England.
come from savings banks and railroads.
The report of the Vermont tax com
mission of 190S was recently submit
ted to the legislature.
Massachusetts.
The total expense of the Massachu
setts state government n 1'J07 was
approximately t n.nofi.non. The re
eelpts from the special taxation of
corporations In Massachusetts paid
about one-third of this sum.
Massachusetts Is the only New Eng
land state which adopted a theory of
corporate taxation nt an early date
and has consistently adhered to It.
The corporation Is'taxed upon its real
THE 1
PENDLETON
DRUG CO.
IF IT'S COOD WE HAVE IT
ed tho "corporate excess." This prln
clple extends broadly to all Massachu
setts corporations financial, public-
service, and general business. The en
tiro svstem of corporate taxation In
Massachusetts is charutcrlzed by uni
formlty of theory, careful classlfica
tlon of different businesses, and ex-
pertness of administration,
A feature of tho Massachusetts sys
tern worthy of special note Is that the
tax for state and local purposes upon
corporate execs Is extended to what
is known as "business corporations
(manufacturing and mercantile)
From this class of corporation alone
there Is received over $2 000,000 of
revenue. When It Is considered that
this 'large sum comes from the taxa
tlon of the tangible value of a class
of corporations which -goes practically
untaxed under the systems of other
states some Idea of tho significance of
the Massachusetts system Is realized
Opinions may differ as to the appli
cation In some cases of the corporate
excess system, but there Is no doubt
of Its effectiveness. Not the least of
Its strength lies In the possibility of
applying to all classes of corporations
Referring to the revenue received
from the corporate-excess tax on that
class of corporation which always con
tributes a large Item (public-service
companies), the commission of 1907
says that practically all recent legisla
tion In other states has Included an
approximation toward the standard
of Massachusetts, adding:
"The public-service corporations of
Massachusetts now contribute more
nearly their fair share to the public
revenue than do the public-service
corporations of other states.
Itliodo Island.
To corporations desiring to do busi
ness In Rhode Island the tax system
of that state offers an Inducement to
Incorporate under her laws. This con
sists in a deduction for actual lndobt
ncss from taxable personal property
to domestic corporations only, cor
porations without a Rhode Island
charter not being allowed this privi
lege. Morever, no corporation doing busi
ness In Rhode Island is taxen on its
Intangible personalty, such as bank
deposits and net credits. The result
Is that It Is not uncommon for most,
If not all. of the personal property of
a domestic corporation to escape tax
ation, the Intangible personalty not
being assessed according to law, and
the tangible personalty being canceled
by Indebtedness.
Perhaps no other state in the Union
certainly none In New England, ap
plies the local general property tax to
corporations so widely as does Rhodn
Island. Even her steam railroads are
taxed only locally on real property,
precisely in the manner as Individuals.
The classes of corporations in Rhode
Island subject to a special state tax
are not many. They are savings
banks and Insurance, telegraph, tele
phone, street-railway, and express
companies. The state taxes the de
posits of savings banks and the re
ceipts or earnings of the others. The
total state receipts from this special
taxation of corporations In 1908 was
nearly $900, OOn, of which savings
hanks paid nearly half, the Insur
ance companies over a third, and
street railway, telegraph, telephone,
and express companies nearly a six
th. The state general property tax. or
the proportion paid to the state by
the towns from their taxes on real and
personal property. In lftos was also
m arly JMO.OOO. Part of tills state pro
perty tax was collected by tho
towns from corporations, but It is
piactlcally Impossible to tell how
Mm. Oi .in.. .... .,.11... 1
, linn ii i. nn pi, . iii.-i u-ii.
estate and tangible property In the The total receipts from all sources
locality where the property Is situot- ; to the Rhode Island state treasury for
ed. Just as property is taxed to Indi-! state purposes in 1 f 0 S .were $;,1S3.
vlduals, and then the state tax com-j tiitn.Ts. In connection wllh the ur
missloner estimates the value of the gent m ed for more state revenue, as
reported by the state treasurer, it is
Interesting to note the low percentage
of thetotal sin to revenue derived from
the state taxation of corporations. In
1908 this was only 39.78 per cent
quite a contrast to percentages In gome
of the other states. In Connecticut,
for Instance, such a percentage Is 83,
64. Rhode Island Is one of the very
few states having no Inheritance tax.
Connecticut.
Over four-fifths of the total reve
nue for state purposes In Connecticut
comes from state taxation of corpora
tions. In 1908 the"total state expenses
were nearly three and a half million
dollars, of. which the corporations do
ing business In Connecticut contribut
ed nearly tree millions; and of this
three millions the railroads paid over
a million, savings banks over a half a
million, and Insurance companies over
half a million.
Since the suspension In 1890 of the
state tax on real and personal pro
perty, there has been a complete sep
aration of the sources of state and
local revenue. One of the methods
proposed for supplying and Increase
of state revenue Is the re-enacting of
the state general-property tax.
Another method proposed for In
creasing the state Income Is to tax
the corporate excess of manufacturing
and mercantile corporations. Such
corporations, sometimes referred to as
"general business corporations," are
at present taxed locally on property
in the same manner as Individuals and
therefore pay little, If anything, di
rectly to the state.
In an addrcs before the Farmer's
association of the legislature on March
10, 1909, Mr. Corbin, state tax com
missioner, said.
The value of the shares of the cap
ital stock and the indebtednesb repre
sents the fair value of the property,
tangible and Intangible, of every sol
vent corporation.
"When a corporation Is taxed on
Its property In the same manner as In
dividuals, the aggregate value of the
various assesment schedules may fall
far below the value of the entire busi
ness plant or enterprise of such cor
poration considered as a unit and
measured toy the aggregate value of its
bonds and shares of stock. On the
theory that every element or factor
which gives to a corporation value for
ncome or sale should be considered
n fixing the taxable value, this unas-
sessed residuum may be reached by a
ax which is generally termed the tax
on 'corporate excess.'
A list of eighteen corporations of
this siate selected at random, nearly
all from two cities, showed the bid
value of the stock as given by the
ocal brokers on October 1, 1908, as
$36,862,250, while the assessed valua
tion of these same corporations by the
ocal assesors was $12,746,361. This
shows a 'corporate-excess' valuation
of over twenty-three millions dollars.
not Including any bonded Indebted
ness. The aggregate of such excess
aluation of all similar corporations
throughout the state which now es
capes taxation must be very large."
This recommendation means that
manufacturing and mercantile corpor
ations would be taxed In the same
way In which Conneticut now taxes
her railroads. Indeed, the inclusion
of the bonded Indebtedness as part
of the taxable value of a railroad com- I
pany Is unique, and is often referred
to as the "Connecticut method." !
Another unique feature of Connect!-
cut's system of taxation, not especial-
ly of corporations. Is the so-called
"chose-ln-action" tax. by which hold- i
(T3 of bonds, notes, and other chnses
In action can pay to the state a low
uniform rate of $4 a thousand instead j
of the regular local property tax of I
about $20. j
capital stock of the corporation, de
ducts therefrom the amount of pro
perty taxed by the localities, and taxes
the corporation upon the residue, call-
Stnte of Ohio, City of Toledo, Lncas Coun
ty, fs.
Frank J. Cheney mnkes oath thnt lie Is
Bonier partner of the firm of F. J. Che
ney & Co.. doing business In the City of
Toledo, County and State, aforesaid, and
tlint said firm will pay the sum of OXK
lit MUKI noLLAKS Tor each and every
case of Catarrh that cannot be cured by
the use of Hall's Catarrh Cure.
FRANK J. CIIEXEY. j
Sworn to before me and subscribed In i
my presence, this Otli dnv of December, A.
I). lsMi.
a. w. glk.ison.
(Seal ) Notary Public.
Hall's Catarrh Cure Ig taken Internally
and acts directly on t lie blood aud mucous
surfaces ot the system. Send for testimo
nials tree.
F J. CHENEY CO., Toledo, 0.
Sold by all Druggists. T5e.
Take Hall's Family 11 1 Ih for comtlpa
tloo.
at 12:01 a. m., Sunday, May 16th, was officially
announced to the world as a station on the O.
R. & N. Ry. Just another step in the building
of this new and up-to-date city.
J Teams and men are now busy grading
streets and making other improvements,
tj Invest now and double your money quick.
Columbia
Cb
woM.vx s iTc.rni: m.io
SPOILED nv FASHIONS
Iioston Hugh II. Cain, the Bos
ton sculptor, declares that women's
figures have been ruined by devotion
to fashion.
"Woman's figure Is getting poorer
and poorer every year," declares Cain.
"The female form Is degenerating
because of style."
'The women of today are getting
further und further away from the
Creek figure of 2000 years ago, which
they are all seeking to ataln und
which the whole world dmires. As
one instance of this, those whp de
tirniino what is fasionnble are trying
to bring to waistline further down all
the time.
"At present un effort is being made
to got It down as low ns the hips. This
Is all wrong, of course, for nature
long ago decreed that It should be Just
below tho breast, allowing a soft,
S'-aceful line from hip to armpit."
East Oregonian Bld'g., Main St., Pendleton
Office open evenings until 9 o'clock.
JAMES M. KYLE,
Manager
PAUL B. POWERS,
Special Representative
Won't Slight a Cood friend.
"If ever I need a cough medicine
npain I know what to get," declares
Mrs A. L. Alley of Reals, Me., "for.
after using ten bottles of Dr. King's
New Discovery, and seeing its excel
lent results in my own familv and
others, I nm cor.v'nced It is the best
medicine made for Coughs, Colds an,
lung trouble. " Every one who tries
It feels just that way. Relief Is felt
nt once and Its quick cure surprises
you. For I'-ronehitis. Asthma. Hem
orrhage, Croup. I.aOrippe, Son?
Throat, pa n In chest or lungs it's su
preme. &iV oti.l $1.00. Trial bottle
free. Otiurantocd by Tallman & Co.
and Pendleton Drug Co.
THE UMATILLA
MEADOWS
What they are and what they
sell for
They are all under irrigation.
They are all under cultivation, being in alfalfa hay,
cutting 8 tons to the acre last year, and alfalfa hay
sells for an average of $6.50 per ton in the stack.
Now Look Here
You can buy 5 acres of this land including a free
perpetual water right for $875. I -4 or $218.75
down and $2 1 8.75 a year.
Let us consider that you are investing $218.75. If
you make this investment now you will have advant
age of this years alfalfa crop. Viz:
5 acres at 8 tons an acre40 tons.
40 tons at. $6.50 per ton-$260.
$260.00
$218.75
$ 42.25 made on your first payment
Do this for 4 years. You see you make $42.25 a
year or in 4 years 4 x $42.25 or $169 and the land be
longs to you.
The above results can be made with about 2 weeks
work a year.
FOX REALTY COMPANY
D. J. Cash Local Representative.
Care of Hotel Pendleton, Pendleton, Ore.
Please send me particulars concerning the
Umatilla Meadows.
Ni
ame
Add
ress
Fox Realty Co.
D. J. Cash Local Representative
Hotel Pendleton, Phone Main 1 1
TfE QUELLE iGusLaFo"". prop.
Best 25 cent Meals in the Northwest.
JUST RECEIVED
Fresh Crabs, Eastern Oysters, Toke Point Oysters
Meals at all Hours . Best cooks in city
Open all night First-class service
La Fountaine block, 626 .Wain street.
"Let the Women
Do Your Work"
We are prepared to do gentlemen's
and ladies' pressing, cleaning and
dying with promptness and care. Your
garments are made to look like new
and at little expense when you send
them to tho
City Dye Works
HAYES & FINNEY.
912 Main Street. Phone Main 198.
Dyers'
Best
Flour
Is made from the choicest wheat that
Ctows. Good bread is assured when
BYERS' BEST FLOUR is used. Bran,
Shorts, Steam Rolled Barley always on
hr.nd.
Pendleton Roller Mills
W. S. BYERS, Prop.
Fine new line of Hums. Huron.
Smoked Melts and Ijird at Pendle
ton Cash Market. Phone Mnin 101.
Pendleton Cash Market, best moats'.
"Hint which Is worth linv inc N worth advertising for."
The old adage that what is worth having is worth askin
for Is still true true of the mere intricate life of today.
The thins you want whether it Is a use! p! inn nr a home,
whether It Is a ready-made business or a loss pocketbook Is
obtained r.adiiy through adverli.-in,:. and with d.ffieuity. or not
nt nil. through other means.