Sen. Jones Refutes Arguments
For An Alaska Property Tax
The following letter to the Fairbanks News-Miner is written
in reply to an editorial in that paper which was reprinted in The
Nugget Wednesday, Aug. 1. The editorial calls for a property
tax to prevent large blocks of property from being “tied up in
homesteads or mining claims.” —Editor
'PAID ADVERTISEMENT)
By CHAS. D. JONES
Senator, Second Division, Alaska
With the Editorial in the News-Miner of July 20, 1956, 1 am NOT
in agreement and cannot accept as Dictum the reasons advanced for
its necessity. Herewith I express my thoughts and Reasoning for my
disagreement.
First: To me, No Taxes should be laid upon any phase of our
lives without a direct benefit accruing to the individuals or groups
by such taxes, or in protecting them, individually or collectively, in
the prosecutions of their various occupations, trades or businesses.
Second: In the present setup of the Territory, at No Time should
the Territory infringe upon the tax structure to the detriment of the
incorporated cities, towns or villages, except under the direst
necessity to provide revenue in an emergency.
Third: As the property tax is the main source of revenue in
such incorporated places where the citizenry, themselves, get the
benefit of such taxes in the upkeep and repair of streets, the opera
tion of their fire, police, sanitation and health departments and of
their schools, the Territory as an entity should not transgress upon
such rights.
Fourth: The gasoline tax, in being used as it is by the Territory
upon roads, airfields, boat harbors and aids to such facilities, our
citizenry, collectively, benefiting by such measures, I heartily approve,
for every place and person is benefited 'by the availability of such
service—for mail, transportation, emergency flights and needed
freight, which will stand the extra charges for the operation to such
outlying places.
Fifth: The drastic regulations placed on the mining industry by
the Federal Government practically eliminated the individual miner,
to whom the development of Alaska is due, for it was GOLD which
was the Loadstone which attracted all of the merchandising, settle
ments and service occupations which showed the possibilities of Alas
ka. NO SUCH BURDEN SHOULD BE PLACED UPON THEM.
Sixth: The fantastic sums (taxes) which are being spent upon
the military operations in Alaska IGNORE costs as a governing
factor. All business has had costs materially increased in all its
operating functions, so that the imposing of any additional form of
taxation on them should and must be rigorously considered before
it is sanctioned and enacted.
Seventh: Our Territorial Income Tax, which is SPENT in the
Territory, amounts to close to forty percent (40%) of the entire tax
collections. We, as citizens of the Territory, benefit DIRECTLY. It
serves a very useful function in the operation of our Territory Gov
ernment. Of this I approve.
Eighth: The fishing industry. In 1913, we in the First Legislature
imposed a Production Tax. To me it is a fair method of taxation and
a proper one on fishing, mining, lumbering, and on the processing of
all such products. Where the individual or organization has to go
out and build their plants for their operations, I do not see any
fairness in penalizing them by taxing them for such installations.
The fairness of such production taxes will always be a matter of
argument; generally by study and negotiation a FAIR RATE CAN
BE REACHED.
Ninth: The sales tax—an extremely controversial measure—
when sensibly and reasonably applied, in my way of thinking is the
fairest tax I have seen, in its operations. For with both the Federal
and Territorial Income Tax, with their exemptions allowed for the
small wage or income earner, any inequality between one with a
large income and small family and one with a small income and n
large family (maybe with no property at all) is more than equalized,
for those with a greater income buy more than those with smaller
incomes. A two percent sales tax is NOT burdensome upon anyone,
and if the smaller income earner lives in an incorporated city it is
only right and just that he should contribute to some extent to the
, cost of operating the City.
Tenth: Under our Enabling Act, the Territory has no voice in
the Primary Disposal of the soil. The Federal Government ALONE
administers that, and regulates all necessary acts for acquiring a
Homestead and giving the owner a deed to same. When and until a
Homestead becomes a part of a taxable unit, such as a Public Utility
District, a School District or some such unit where they receive a
benefit from taxes, the Territory has no right, morally or legally—
in my opinion—to place a property tax upon them. If such home
steader uses a car or cars upon a road, the gasoline tax pays for
such use. In the Forest Reserves, handled ONLY by the Federal
Government, I cannot see where the Territory has ANY STANDING
for the taxing of such homestead.
Eleventh: The Independent fisherman who fishes in the open
sea: unless he uses the facilities constructed and maintained for
storing and safeguarding his boat in the winter, as he pays for such
storage and safeguarding in the storage basin, I cannot see wherein
his tools and equipment for his trade should be taxed by a property
tax, for his product is taxed and the Territory profits by his license |
tax to carry on his vocation.
Twelfth—Summary: My observation and experience has been
that too many people do not well consider the cost of operation of
mo many of the functions which they advocate and do not seem to
realize that Taxes is where the money comes from; also that the
Long History of Taxation has decisively proven that EXCESSIVE
TAXATION IS DESTRUCTIVE AND FALLS TO ACCOMPLISH
THE PUR'POSE INTENDED.
The idea of SOAK THE RICH is a fallacy, for common sense
shows so vividly that each of us INDIVIDUALLY pays ALL of the
TAXES, for NO Business, big or small, can exist unless ALL THE
COSTS OF OPERATING THE BUSINESS ARE INCLUDED IN
THE SALE PRICE OF GOODS OR SERVICES.
In the 1949 Session I was one of the four members of the Senate
who bitterly fought and voted against the imposition of a Property
Tax. The others were Dawes and Garnick of the First Division and
Munz of the Second. We had NUMEROUS TELEGRAMS from
Cities protesting its imposition; that is the reason Incorporated Cities
were exempted.
In 1953, House Bill No. 3 was the repealer of the property tax.
It passed in both houses—in the Senate by a vote of 10 to 6. Gov.
Gruening vetoed *the bill. The House passed the bill over his veto,
and in the Senate his veto was overridden by a vote of 11 to 4, one
Senator not voting. It was overwhelmingly approved by our citizenry
and it is still the feeling all over the Territory, as I sense it.
Taking the Nation off the GOLD STANDARD, making our
so-called money NOTHING but a CERTIFICATE OF INDEBTED
NESS and not HONEST MONEY as when BACKED BY GOLD
with honest value in itself, is why costs are so excessive today and
is WHY we are short on Industry today. If and when Alaska becomes
a State with an equivalent for a County form of Government—then
and then ONLY is the Territory warranted in passing a property
tax, and it is well to remember THERE CAN BE NO EXCLUSION
OF INCORPORATED CITIES.
I hope that you will consider my letter worthy of consideration,
even if but a digest. I believe such discussions are beneficial in
awakening the people to the fact that it costs money to operate
either a Territory or a State and that money comes from TAXES.
C-3 Type Ships To Be
Strengthened as Result
Of March 3 Crackup
WASHINGTON, OP—The head
of the Coast Guard yesterday ap
proved recommendations for the
strengthening of C-3 type cargo
vessels made by a marine board
of investigation after the March
3 crackup in Alaskan waters of
the SS Washington Mail.
The vessel, operated by the
American Mail Line and carrying
nine passengers and 51 crew
members, broke apart and foun
dered in the Gulf of Alaska en
route from Seattle to Yokohama.
All passengers and crew were
rescued. The loss of ship and
cargo was estimated at $4,000,000.
In approving action of the
board, Vice Adm. A. C. Richmond
said its opinion and recommenda
tion “indicate that it is of the
utmost urgency that immediate
remedial action be taken with re
spect to the structural sufficiency
of C-3 type vessels."
The recommendation approved
by the commandant would re
quire “the immediate strengthen
ing of all vessels of this class by
the fitting of the same with ap
propriate slotted and riveted
crack arresters and such other re
enforcement of the hull girder as
is deemed necessary in order to
prevent similar casualties in the
future.”
Legal Forms at The Nome Nugget
Monroe Considers
High-Brow Role
On British Radio
LONDON, UP—The British
Broadcasting Corp. announced
today it has invited Marilyn Mon
roe to play the title role in Lysis
trata, the classic Greek comedy,
on its high-brow radio Third Pro
gram.
“Miss Monroe,” said one of her
press agents, "is thinking it over.
The Lysistrata they want her to
do is a sort of mixed up American
kid, you know.”
Lysistrata is a play written by
the Greek Aristophanes in 412
B.C., but the BBC wants Marilyn
to do a streamlined version by
Dudley Fitts, an American profes
sor. fIn the Fitts version, the two
opposing sides, the Spartans and
the Athenians, speak American.
“The Spartans,” explained a
spokesman for BBC, “speak in the
accents of America’s deep south,
while the Athenians speak in, er,
normal American, shall we say?”
Lysistarta—the name means a
“dissolver of armies”—was a
charming, shapely and highly in
telligent young Athenian who
adopted sex appeal as one way of
stopping a war. She enlisted the
aid of women of both the fighting
sides, and by training them to say
“no” wrecked the armies and
halted the war to the extreme sat-1
isfaction of a great many people, j
TV Comes to Nome
'Continued from Page One'
assistance from Mrs. Miriam Kin
sey of Seattle.
Nome Television will make
several firsts. It will be the far
thest west television station. It
will be the only operation of its
kind ever installed in a commu
nity as small as this. And it will
be the second closed circuit TV
in the territory and about the
twelfth in the entire world.
Ketchikan Alaska Television
has been in operation for three
years, providing the people of
Alaska’s southernmost city with
a variety program of TV shows.
Ketchikan was the first city to
install closed circuit TV and, of
course, in a pioneering venture of
this type there were thousands
of problems to be worked out. Not
all the difficulties have yet been
solved but enough progress was
made by the Ketchikan installa
tion to provide a key to possible
other installations in the States. .
A corporation was formed in
Los Angeles to do just this, and
plans are under way by Trans
Community Television Network
for 50 similar units in various
parts of western United States.
Other interested parties in Cana
da have taken up the pattern set
in Ketchikan and closed circuit
television is planned for several
British Columbia cities as well as
in Yukon Territory and Alberta.
The reasoning behind the in
stallation of closed circuit TV
for smaller communities is
many-fold. First, of course, for
a small community it is some
what less expensive to install
and much less expensive to
maintain. $o far. closed circuit
TV is the only way discovered
that TV can be made to pay its
own way in the less populated
areas.
To the customer the advantages
appear also. The picture received
over the cable is sharper and the
sound is better than possible to
obtain by air transmission. No
expensive or troublesome antenna
is necessary. Receiver service
problems are greatly reduced.
Even the most inexpensive re
ceivers produce superior quality
pictures. Static and other air
borne interference are not intro
duced into the picture.
During the coming months and
years, it will be the aim of Nome
Television to bring to our town
entertainment such as is normally
only seen in much larger metro
politan areas. The program sched
ule to start tonight will be just a
short sample of the things to come
and more shows and more time
will be added as the weeks go by.
—1 " 1 i
LOMEN COMMERCIAL COMPANY
NOME. ALASKA
WHEN IN THE MARKET FOR EQUIPMENT AND TOOLS
IT WILL PAY YOU TO INVESTIGATE THE MANY LINES WE REPRESENT
Allis-Chalmers Mlg. Co. . Tractors, Pumps
Belt Drives, Electrical Equipment
Baker Manufacturing Co. Dozers and Plows
DeLaval Steam Turbine Co. Pumps
Detroit Diesel Engine Die. Diesel Engines
Gar Wood Industries . 'Dozers
Gates Rubber Company . Belts
Hobart Manufacturing Company . Welders
Hydraulic Supply Mfg. Company . Pipe
Jaeger Pumps, Compressors, Concrete Mixers
A. Leschen & Sons Rope Co. WireRope
Lincoln Engineering Co. Greasing Equipment
Mallory . Blocks
Onan . Light Plants
Owalonna Tool Co. Hartd Tools
Power Machinery Co. Power Saws
S K F Industries . Bearings
Smith Welding Equip. Corp. Welding Tools
Thew - Lorain Shovel Co.Cranes & Shovels
Thor .Pneumatic Tools, Electric Saws
Timken Roller Bearing Co. . Bearings
Willard Batteries . Batteries
Wisconsin Motors . Motors
ALSO DEALERS IN LUMBER. STANDARD OIL PRODUCTS,
LIGHTERAGE AND COASTWISE WATER TRANSPORTATION