Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 October 1892 — CORPORATION TAXES. [ARTICLE]

CORPORATION TAXES.

Throe-Fold More Paid Under the Now Tax Law Than Under the Old. Republican stump orators in various portions of the state are telling the peo pie that telegraph, telephone, express and sleeping ear companies pay less tax under the new tax law than they did under the old. This is not true. The reverse is the exact condition. Under the now law telegraph, telephone, express and sleeping car companies are paying into the state treasury, on account of business done in Indiana, more than three times as much tax as they paid under the old law of 1889. This is not mere assertion. It is proven by the records in the office of the auditor of state, through which ohannel these special taxes are paid. The printed reports of tho auditors of state foj 1889, 1800 and 1891, and the auditor’s books for 1892, his report for the current year not being as yet printed furnish the incontrovertible figures which prove true our assertion. Ap the new tax law has been in operation but two years, a comparison of the special taxes paid by these corporations during these two years with the taxes they paid during the last two years of the old law is here given from the official records in the office of the auditor of state: Speclul T»x Collection* Under the Old Law. 1889. Express companies $329 03 Telephone companies 830 9-1 Telegraph companies 1,184 57 Sleeping oar companies ; Total $1,831 54 1890. Express companies $1,670 48 Telephone companies Telegraph companies 52 18 Sleeping car companies Total . $1,738 01 Special Tax Collections Under tho Law of 1801—New Law. 1891. Express companies $1,183 S 3 Telephone companies 638 08 Telegraph companies 1,215 79 Sleeping car companies 1,343 13 Total $4,870 07 1893. Express companies $1,300 39 Telephone companies 008 45 Telegraph companies 1,482 40 Sleeping car companies 1,493 43

Total $4,843 03 Total collections for two years under the old law $3,500 15 Total collections for two years under the new law 9,213 60 Two express companies have refused to pay their tax under the new law, and are fighting the same in the courts on the ground that it is unjust and burdensome, and is so largely in excess of the amount they were required to pay under the old law. It is estimated that the tax on these two companies would amount to SI,BOO a year. This added to the total for two years under the new law gives $11,018.09, or a total of more than three times as much taxes as were paid during the years under twc old laws.