The Bismarck Tribune Newspaper, December 2, 1932, Page 2

Her. Fetraaye wages Pena 2 THE BISMARCK TRIBUNE. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1932 ASSERTS SALES TAX * WOULD BE HANDICAP TO SOME MERCHANTS) ‘Acker Says Mail Order and Out- side Firms Might Receive Benefit From Move Advantages and disadvantages of a} A. Acker, state tax commissioner, in recommendations to be made to the legislature in his biennial report. If a gross sales tax is considered in North Dakota, he said, it should re- place the present general property tax on stocks of merchandise. The present system of assessing and taxing stocks of goods and merchan- dise on the basis of an April 1st in- ventory, he stated, does not operate fairly. “The business which has a rapid turnover, which is generally the case with regard to chain stores,” Acker said, “is favored by this method of assessment and taxation. “Lumber dealers, oil companies, and machinery companies generally have low inven- tories on April 1. “Certain states, notably Mississippi, impose a gros . Such a tax would probably be productive of fair- er results, But a law of this nature should not be enacted until after care- ful study and investigation. May Handicap Merchants “The danger inherent in such a tax is that it may place dealers and mer- chants in North Dakota at a disad- vantage in meeting the competition of mail order houses and outside con- cerns. Merchants and dealers in bor- der towns such as Grand Forks, Fargo} and Wahpeton would probably be handicapped in meeting the competi- tion of similar concerns in neighbor- ing cities located in adjoining states.” Assessment of stocks of merchandise on the basis of an average yearly in- ventory instead of on an April 1 in- ventory “would somewhat remedy the discriminatory and unfair condition that now exists,” the tax commission- er said. He recommends the law should definitely require every mer- chant and dealer to file with the as- sessor an inventory on a form pre- scribed by the tax commissioner. “Assessment of property in North Dakota, now subject to local assess- ment, should be centralized under the direction and control of a county as- sessor who in turn should function under the direction of the tax com- missioner, Acker recommends. Wants Assessors Appointed The tax commissioner said that if the legislature is unwilling to enact a|S county assessor law, legislation should be enacted abolishing township asses- sors and providing for appointment the board of county commissioners of an assessor for the rural portion of each county commissioner's district with provision for the appointment of such deputy assessors as might be re- quired during the assessment period. The board of county commissioners, Acker believes, should be given the power to equalize individual assess- ments, while acting asa board of equalization. “The tax refund and abatement privilege should be further restricted,” he said. “This privilege is subject to serious abuses. It upsets local bud- gets and gives opportunity for special consideration and favoritism. Taxes voluntarily paid should not be subject to refund unless based on an illegal assessment. Need Better Equalization “The state board of equalization should have the authority to equalize|as an argument against any further | 1927 all assessments each year. Real estate is assessed only in odd-numbered years and the assessments of “Public utility property, including railroad property, and personal prop- erty are assessed and equalized each year. The state board of equalization is powerless to prevent an unfair shifting of the tax burden from utili-| ty property and personal property to real estate in odd-numbered years. There is no necessity for the assess- ment of real estate oftener than each two years but the state board should have authority to equalize all assess- ments each year.” County auditors were said by the tax commissioner to have difficulty in apportioning the tax of 50 cents for each telephone instrument used by a cooperative or mutual telephone company. He suggested that either the 50 cents should be apportioned to the county in which the instrument is located or a definite valuation should be placed on each instrument. ; The azgregate of this tax amounts to less than $7,000 for the entire state and could well be collected into the county general fund in its entirety, Acker said. CONTINUED) from page one Declare Payments Would Aggravate World Depression peal as ‘likely “to bear fruitful issue for revival of world prosperity,” that the British government was “convinced that the prospects of success would be materially improved by postpone ment of the December installments, and that it is “prepared to consider with the government of the United States any manner in which that post- ponement might be most convenient- ly arranged.” Despite the outward adamant atti- tude of congressional leaders to either postponement or creation of a new debt commission, some chieftains on Capitol Hill have shown an interest to hear the British reasons for relief and there is a feeling that the Brit- ish case, if not that of all other debtor nations, still might be considered. The message did not say Great Bri- tain would default. It did recite in Sengthy detail the argument against resumption of payments after the conclusion of the one-year morator- jected for payments in sterling. “The only remaining alternative would be payment in gold,” said the mote. “Such a method of payment ‘would involve the sacrifice of a con- siderable part of the gold ves of the Bank of England, Line a vee ly regarded as no more than ni for the responsibilities of London as ‘@ financial centre.” Senators Watson of Indiana, and ‘Robinson of Arkansas, the Republican ‘and Democratic leaders, without com- menting on the note itself, asserted e—___— ---— -— | Weather Report ' ! ° t | | | eee dating | FORECAST } For Bismarck and vicinity: Some- {what unsettled tonight and Saturday; colder tonight, \ warmer Saturday. For North Da- kota: Somewhat nsettled tonight and Saturday; colder east and central portions tonight; warmer west and north Portions Saturday. For South Da- kota: Generally fair tonight and Saturday; some- what colder to- | For Montana: Unsettled tonight land Saturday, probably snow west Unsettled gross sales tax are discussed by Iver | night. [DaEtion. colder east of Divide tonight. | For Minnesota: Generally fair to- {night and Saturday; colder tonight, |moderate cold wave in north portion; jcolder in southeast and extreme east | Saturday. | GENERAL CONDITIONS | ‘SAYS U. 5. WON'T | GET ‘SQUARE DEAL’ ‘Mississippi Valley Association Representative Scores St. Lawrence Plan Washington, Dec. 2.—()—Asserting that the United States was not “get- ting a }ience waterway treaty, the Mississipp! | Valley association Thursday demand- led modification of the pact to permit greater diversion of water for the Illi- {nois waterway. presented to a senate foreign relations subcommittee a request from the as- sociation, composed of shippers and firms interested in the Mississipp: valley development, for modification jof the treaty. He asked “for a continuation of a Unsettled weather conditions pre- sufficient amount of the existing di- vail over the north Pacific Coast and | version of water from Lake Michigan jthe Canadian Northwest, Low is centered. There has been a {gradual rise in pressure over the | Plains States and a_ corresponding | diminution in temperature. There has been a general temperature de- | crease over Canada, ranging from | eight to twenty-four degrees. | Bismarck station barometer, inches: 18.10. Reduced to sea level, 29.91. NORTH DAKOTA POINTS | 7 | | am Low Pet. | | BISMARCK, cldy 32 27 ~—«.00! Devils Lake, cldy 2 32.00] Fargo-Moorhead, 34-3000 Williston, peldy.’.. Grand Forks, clear ... Jamestown, clear . [eae City, cld 00 3 34 (00 00 OUT OF STATE POINTS 7 | Amarillo, Tex., cldy 44 00 | Botse, Idaho, clay 42 02! Calgary, Alta., cle 18 00} {Chicago, Il, clay. 1 48 ‘00 | Denver, Colo., cles 00 Des Moines, Ia., clear 00} Dodge City, Kans., clear 38 00! Edmonton, Alta., cldy. 02} | ; Havre, Mont., cldy. ‘00! | Helena, Mont., cldy 00 ‘Huron,'S. D., clear. 00 Kamloops, B. C., cld: Kansas City, Mo., ¢l 00 : » Peldy .00} | Medicine Hat, A., cldy. 00 ; Miles City, Mont., peldy. 34 .00 |Modena, ‘Utah, clear... 20 38 | ;No. Platte, Neb., clear.. 32 00 | Oklahoma’ City, 0., cldy. 74 00 Pierre, 8. D., clear. 30 00 16! ‘00 00; ‘00 00 |Prince Albert, S., clear -10 |Qu’Appelle, Sask, clear 4 |Rapid City, S. D., clear 40 Roseburg, Ore., cidy.... |St. Louis, Mo, clear. St. Paul, Minn., clear... 28 00! alt Lake City, U., cldy. 38 00 | S. S. Marie, Mich.. cldy. 38 00 | Seattle, Wash., cldy 02) Sheridan, Wy: 00 Sioux City, Ia., 00 Spokane, Wash., cld) 00 | Swift Current, 8., clea .00 The Pas, Man., clear... -6 00 Toledo, Ohio, peldy. 44 00 Winnemucca, Ney. 09 Winnipeg, Man., 00 isuspension of the payment due us |Dec. 15 would only make it more dif- | |ficult to collect when the time came {for the subsequent payment.” | The British note was taken by some | | Payments by debtor nations. It con-! tended this would be in the spirit of | such | the Lausanne agreement of last sum- | 1930 property can be equalized by the state|mer whereby the European debtors | 1531 board only in the year of assessment. | reached a settlement on German rep- | 1932 {arations. | | “Without a readjustment of the war | jdebt obligations,” the note said, “the | Lausanne agreement could not be rati- |fied; the question of reparations would | remain unsettled; the improvement in confidence which followed the Lau- sanne agreements would be undone \and fatal results might well be found |to have accrued to the solution of |many grave political as well as finan- cial problems now under discussion.” | Great Britain also bluntly stated | that should payments be resumed she would have to strengthen her ex- change position and “this could only be done by adopting measures which would further restrict British pur- chases of American goods.” English taxpayers, she argued, would suffer as much as American taxpayers by wiping out all war debt agreements because England would| no longer be collecting the debts and reparations due her. FRENCH PLEASED BY | HOOVER’S MESSAGE Paris, Dec. 2.—(#\—The second French note requesting postpone-} ment of the war debt payment due| the United States in December noted | | dent Hoover was disposed to recom- | mend to congress a new examination | of the debt question as a whole. 1 | The French text of the note which} previously had been sent to Wash- ington was made public shortly afier noon Friday and renewed the request | for suspension of the $20,000,000 in| interest. In closing the document says that: “The reception which will be given the request is awaited with confi-| dence by the French government, which realizes all of the conse- quences which the decision of the president of the United States may have for improving or making worse | the tragic situation resulting from the World war.” As for the recommendations of the American president, which was contained in his original reply to the French request for postponement, the communication said that from the French viewpoint this implied the President believed such a study Seemed necessary. It was added that France realizes 1a reduction of Europe's debts to the United States would react on the American uation, CLEVELAND PAIR AHEAD New York, Dec. 2.—(P)—A hundred weary bridge players milling about a littered hotel ballroom at 4 o'clock Friday morning learned that Maurice Maschke and Samuel Rockwell of Cleveland had taken the lead in the national pair championship. The Armour Creameries in Bismarck are now taking in Turkeys for the Christmas with satisfaction Friday that Presi- | high. where @jtc insure a commercially navigable waterway from the lakes to the gulf in conformity with the project here- tofere adopted by congress” The treaty would limit diversion to 1,500 cubic to domestic pumpage which now amounts to about 1,700 feet. square deal” in the St. Law-! | Cleveland A. Newton, of St. Louis, ' i ae oo | Townley? No ‘ re | F. H. SHOEMAKER St. Paul, Minn., Dec. 2.—(#)—F. H. Shoemaker, Farmer-Labor congress- man-elect, in St. Paul has spiked a rumor that he will appoint A. C. Townley as his secretary. Townley, organizer of the Nonpartisan League eet a second in addition] in North Dakota, was an unsuccess- | ful Farmer-Labor congressional can- didate in Minnesota this year. “I “When you take into account the| have not appointed anyone as my |fact that 64 per cent of the surface | Secretary,” Shoemaker said. area of the Great Lakes and 59 per cent of the watershed are in the United States,” Newton said, “it does not seem that we are getting a square deal in the proposed treaty.” CONTINUED) from page one Acker Points Out Per Capita Tax in 32 Was Over $47 Dakota and that source is far from accurate for the purpose of showing | the actual cost of government, Acker explained. The taxes raised by the state and its various civil divisions are the only convenient source of infor- mation to governmental costs of all divisions of government. | “The amount of taxes raised,” he said, “does not show costs at all and does not pretend to do so. All taxes levied are not collected, although the loss over a period of years up to the present has been very small. The state, as well as counties, cities, vil- lages and school districts have many minor sources of revenue. A survey of the tax burden over a period of years, however, gives a fairly accur- ate index of the trend in governmental costs.” Table Provides Figures The following table was cited by Mr. Acker to show the combined state and local general property and| ispecial taxes, and the combined state and local tax per capita since 1910 Per Year Total Taxes Capita 1910 $ 9,553,955.64 $16.55 1911 9,391,140.33 15.94 1912 10,806,232.56 17.98 their convictions that congress was | 1913 11,454,866.93 18.68 determined against any change in 1914 12,046,447.85 19.27 American policy. Chairman Collier |1915 1 31.54 21.46 of the house ways and means com- 1916 1 5,313.98 24.02 | mittee which deals with the debt leg- | 1917 16,378,699.41 25.55 jislation said: | 1918 18,832,061.37 29.29 Opposes Extension 1919 21,188,801.34 32.86 “I repeat that I do not favor an/|1920 29,901,452.17 46.22 extension of the moratorium. Any | 1921 31,7 4 49.22 122 33,013,185.32 51.22 1923 31,954,410.76 49.66 1924 32,026,304.12 49.86 1925 31,840,700.49 49.65! 1926 (01,230.11 50.38 185,582.99 39.44 1928 34,762,275.94 52.27, 1929 35,408,411.78 52.77 35,401 ,876.49 52.00 35,808 ,674.66 51.99 ees « 33,081,654.53 Big Increases Shown From 1910 to 1932, the state's pop- ulation increased 20.1 per cent, while the total volume of taxes increased 246.2 per cent. If the peak year of 1931 is compared with 1910, Acker pointed out, the per- centage increased is 274.8 per cent. Comparing the years 1920 and 1932, the percentage increase in the total volume of taxes was 10.6 per cent, while the population increased 10.8 per cent. Comparing 1913 and 1929, the per- centage increase is 210 per cent, while in the United States as a whole-there was a percentage increase of 347 per cent, Acker’s figures show. In 1929, total taxes per capita were $52.77 in North Dakota compared with $62.77 in South Dakota, $53.94 in Mon- tana, $62.17 in Minnesota, $52.59 in Towa, $40.23 in Nebraska, $57.08 in Kansas, $61.47 in Wyoming. $56.29 in Colorado, $48.06 in Utah and $57.60 in Idaho. “Comparing North Dakota taxes 47.48 |with the national average on a per capita basis and with the taxes of adjacent states,” Acker said, “it is ap- Parent that our tax burden is not If, however, North Dakota taxes are compared with the income of its people the reverse is found to be true. The ratio of taxes to gross national income in 1930 was 14.4 per cent, while in North Dakota it was | undoubtedly far in excess of this ra- tio. We know of no reasonably ac- curate estimate of the ratio of North Dakota taxes to income, but it is Probably true that for the last few years taxes have exceeded actual net income and the excess has come out of capital accumulations.” Hit High Gear in '20 If the reduced purchasing power of the dollar is taken into considera- tion, Acker said, the increase in taxes between 1913 and 1920 was but little faster than the increase in popula- tion, Since 1920, he added, the in- crease in taxes, measured in 1913 dol- Jars “has been enormous.” “An actual increase in the taxes of the state in the years 1921 to 1928, averaging more than 100 per cent in- crease over 1913, measured in 1913 dollars, is conclusive proof,” Acker continued, “that the higher level of taxes in those rs over 1913 cannot be attributed Wholly to economic causes. The increase took place dur- ing a period of declining agricultural prosperity due to declining prices for agricultural products. The present burden of taxation is grossly in ex- cess of the ability of the state to bear.” The problem of reducing the tax burden to the level justified by the re- duced purchasing power of the dol- lar, Acker observed, “is impossible without decreasing many present ac. tivities of government. The problem of reducing taxes to the basis justified by the reduced purchasing power of holidays. Come in, the farm is an impossible problem,” oe . “I hap- pen to know Mr. Townley's plans. I know that they are not that he is to become my secretary.” Discussing taxes versus value of North Dakota agricultural products, Acker made the following observa- tions: Average Income Drops Average income from crop and live- stock production in North Dakota for the five years 1924 to 1928, inclusive, was $260,542,000; average tax burden during the same period was $32,628,- 434, or 12.5 per cent of the gross in- come of the state from crop and live- stock production. In 1929, the gross income from c1op and livestock, was $208,500,000; tax burden, $35,508,412, of 17 per cent. of such income. ~ In 1930, the gross farm and live- stock production fell to $156,531,000 and the tax burden was $35,401,867 or 22.6 per cent of such income, In 1931 the gross income from crop and livestock production was $79,- 826,000 (a preliminary estimate), while the tax burden was $35,808,625, or 44.9 per cent of such income. While a comparison of the entire state and local tax burden of the state with gross income from crop and livestock production is not exactly an accurate comparison because owners of farm property do not pay more than 60 per cent of the entire tax burden, the comparisons were said by jAcker to show the present “inability of the people of the state to shoulder the existing burden of taxes.” Farmers in Ontario Demand ‘Reflation’ Toronto, Ont., Dec. 2—(#)—The United Farmers of Ontario Thursday night sent a telegram to Prime Min- ister Bennett demanding currency in- flation on the ground that it would jrestore the purchasing power of the tarmer. “Representative mass meeting of Ontario farmers,” the telegram said, “demand immediate inflation to point | where prices of farm products will be sufficient to meet fixed charges, re- |store purchasing power and maintain decent standards of living. Present desperate conditions make such action imperative.” One of the advocates of the policy was E. C. Drury, former premier of Ontario, who told the meeting: “Canada faces economic anarchy, social chaos and ruin. You must act now, immediately. The crisis is here and you must face it and fight for new things. “You can’t run this country on wheat at 50 cents, 40 cents or 35 cents. You must get to a basis where you can get the price, which means economic balance in Canada. Call it reflation instead of inflation.” Alta By CARL SCHATZ * Elmer Qually called on Alvin Brackett Monday. : Harry Pickard of Pickardville called on Joe Diede Monday. Ole Yachmas of McClusky called on Several folks in this community Mon- day. — Donald Schaffer visited at the Joe Diede home Monday evening. George Vollmer was a Regan caller Tuesday. Emil and Eddie Stroh motored to McClusky Tuesday. Albert Anderson was a business caller at Regan Wednesday. Noel Ness called at the Frank Coombs home Tuesday. Charles Larson visited at the Emil Johnson home Wednesday. Sam Scheafer was a business caller at McClusky Tuesday. Joe Diede called at the Bessie Brackett home Tuesday. John Fisher motored to Washburn on business Monday. Lawrence Adams and Chartes Lar- son were Pickardville shoppers on Tuesday afternoon. Those who were Thanksgiving din- ner guests at the Carl Schatz home were Mr. and Mrs. Henry Schatz of McClusky, Mr. and Mrs. John Kem- mile of Turtle Lake, Mr. and Mrs. John Stroh and family, and Edward and Hank Schatz. Mr. and Mrs, Emil Johnson were McClusky shoppers Wednesday, Esther Schatz, who is attending high school at Turtle Lake, spent Thanksgiving vacation at the home of her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Jake Gaub and fam- ily were dinner guests at the Henry Schaffer home Thursday. Those who were visitors at the John. Stroh home Thanksgiving evening were the Schatz young folks, the Voll- mer young folks and Edward and Hank Schatz, nae takes about hd months to season wood used making ordinary safety matches. | VICKS COUGH DROP ++ All you've hoped for in a Cough Drop— medicated with on _ MASKS With Woman's Home Comp. With American Magazine .... With Better Homes and Gardens Reg. Value With Christian Herald .... With Delineator With Good Housekeeping . With McCall's Magazine ..-Reg. Value With Modern Mechanics & Inv. With Popular Mechanics .. With Radio News ... With Screen Play .....+6 With Tree Story The Next North Dakota Legislative Session 25) 6 Officially Opens January 3, 1933 This coming session will be important history for North Dakota. You will want to keep posted on legislative matters, to learn through our special staff of Capitol News Gatherers the daily happenings and watch the trend of events as they are worked out by those to whom you have delegated these important tasks. 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