Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 July 1892 — A Temporary Fox. [ARTICLE]

A Temporary Fox.

The only Increase of state taxes made by the last legislature, beside the monument tax, is the six cents levy for what is known as the “benevolent institution fund.” This increase was not included in the general tax law, which does nos provide for the levying of a dollar. The general tax law simply provides how property shall be assessed. The act of March 7, 1891, creating the “benevolent institution fund,” contains but one section, as follows: Thvt there shall be assessed in the year 1891, and in the year of 1892, the sum of six cents upon each SIOO wdrth of taxable property in the state, to be collected as other state taxes assessed at the time are collected, which money, when collected and paid in the state treasury, shall be kept and known as the “benevolent institution fund,” and the proceeds of the tax herein levied is hereby appropriated to the use of' the benevolent and reformatory institutions of the state. It will be noticed that this act is only a temporary measure to relieve the state from debt. After this year no more benevolent institution tax will be levied. The tax of three mills to complete the soldiers’ monument will expire in 1893. The state tax levy will then remain at twelve cehts for the general fund and one-half cent for university endowment fund, just as it was before the legislature of 1891.

The harvest will be on in three weeks, and thousands of tons of binding twine will be used on which the McKinley tariff imposes a tariff of sl4. The bill removing this tax, which a Democratic house passed two months ago, still remains pigeonholed in the finance committee of the Republican senate. The cordage trust wiU never allow the bill to leave the committee room, at least so long as the farmers of the northwest continue to keep men in the United States senate who vote the sentiment ft the New England farmers.