Highlighting The
■ Legislature
(Continued From Page One
the biennium by making a 20%
cut on its entire operating pro
gram. It threatened the Crippled
Children’s program; it already has
defeated one bill to provide an in
crease in the allotments for moth
ers pensions and the care of de
pendent children, made necessary
by the rapidly increasing cost of
living, which is posing problems
for legislative bodies all over the
country. It was responsible for tab
r ling the Almquist pension bill to
provide increases in the allotments
made to the aged and unemploy
able. It was cited as a justification
for the scrapping of the Alaska
Development Board. It will un
doubtedly be assigned as the chief
reason why the Statehood Appro
priation should not be made.
„ It has been used effectively in
the past, with tragic results to the
► people of Alaska. It deprived us
of millions of dollars in revenue
during the billion dollar war con
pear at an earlier date. Hearings
on the question of granting state
hood for Hawaii commenced on
the morning of March 7 before the
Territories and Insular Affairs
sub-committee of the House pub
lic lands committee. While testify
ing in connection with Hawaii’s
desire for statehood, Secretary
Krug stated, in response to a ques
tion interspersed by one of the
committee members, that he favor
ed immediate statehood for Alaska.
struction program, which cann*
and went without leaving a dolla
for the development of the Terri
tory. It has depleted our Treasury,
during the most prosperous year
and biggest boom Alaska may,
ever hope to have until we stand
today on the very brink of Terri
torial bankruptcy, our savings 01 •
other years depleted, the mon.-y
set aside to cover depreciation,
spent for actual operating expens
es of the Territory government. It
has forced our Territorial Treas-J
urer to the dubious practice of jug
gling funds, of actually using spe
cially ear-marked funds to mec
the Territory’s running expense-,
even to the extent of imperiling
the Veterans Revolving fund. All
because our elected representa
tives, in 1941, 1943 and 1945 lis
tened to the voice of the lobbyists
with special axes to grind instead
of serving the needs of the people
of Alaska.
Actually Alaska can afford all.
the things the Territory needs—
better educational facilities for
Alaska’s children, future citizen.'
of the State of Alaska, a good
i sound public health program which
i includes a break for her helpless.
. crippled children, thousands of
i victims of tuberculosis in a coun
i try where the death rate from this
1 dread disease is the highest per
capita in the nation, the control and
' cure of venereal disease whose in
; cidence is coming up by leaps and
bounds endangering the health and
happiness of all her people; proper
and adequate help to the aged and
destitute. dependent children,
mothers struggling under the ne
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cessity of making a living and car
ing for small children; a road and
air-field construction program that
would bridge the vast distances
between her isolated communities
and build that Territorial solidar
ity that will make her a great
State. Alaska can afford aH these
things, if the elected representa
tives of her people will only find
Ine vision an i ’the courage to face
the plain duty that confronts them
and provide the constructive fi
nancial program that will spell
progress for the Territory and se
curity for its people.
That program has already been
presented. It was tossed into the
leg slative hopper last week in the
form of three bills, introduced un
der the joint authorship of Sena
tor.-. Victor C. Rivers and Norman
R. Walker. In the aggregate, they
set up a financial program, which,;
augmented by present annual rev
enues, will provide the answer to
that oft repeated question: “Where
is the money coming from?” And
this plan would not wreck, or even
slightly ro.ck, the economic stabil
ity of the Territory. For these bills
would reach out into present un
taxed categories and find the bulk
of the revenue needed to finance
the things Alaska should have.
These three bills are: U) a small
net income tax bill, <2> a general
property tax bill and, (3) a uni
form trade license bill.
Let us consider them briefly in
the order named. (1) The net in
come tax bill. This tax proposes
a Territorial levy of 10rc or 1/10
of the amount of the income tax
paid to the Federal Government,
based upon the Federal income
tax returns. A $45 credit is allowed
persons who have been residents
of the Territory for a year or more.
That means that if you are a resi
dent of the Territory and pay a
Federal income tax of $405.00 or
less, you would pay no income tax
to the Territory. But if the income
tax you pay the Federal Govern
ment is more than $450.00 you
would pay 1/10 of that amount
to the Territory, less the $45.00
credit you would have. The lower
salary bracket man or woman and
the residents of the Territory are
thus protected against increased
taxes.
1 his tax would be collected pri
marily from higher-bracket in
come people who can afford to
pay it, from non-residents who
work at our seasonal industries
and the transient workers who
come and go, on our vast army and
navy construction projects. In par
ticular, would bring in vast sums
of revenues from these transients
who come to Alaska under the lure
of fantastic wages paid on these
construction projects and con
tribute nothing to the development
of the Territory.
The net income tax would bring
in an estimated revenue of approx
imately two and one-half million
per biennium. Easy to administer,
because it is based entirely on the
Federal income tax returns and is
readily checked, and, since it car
ries a withholding clause, its col
lection would present no difficul
ties.
But its chief virtue lies in the
fact that it will fall prinrsarily on
people not presently taxed by the
Territory.
It taps vast new sources of rev
enue that have heretofore contrib
uted nothing at all, or only a negli
gible amount in proportion to the
amount of wealth controlled and
the ability to pay. This is not a
tax that imposes additional bur
dens on the “poor people” of the
Territory as its opponents would
have you believe.
2. The General Property Tax.
This is another tax measure that
strikes at the people and business
es of the Territory not at present
paying a property tax. It levies a
ten mill tax on all the property in
the Territory. But—here’s the im
portant point. It is refundable to
incorporated towns and utility dis
tricts whose residents are already
paying a property tax. It does not
mean that you people who live in
incorporated towns would have
more taxes than you are now pay
ing. You would not. But owners
of property outside incorporated
towns and utility districts, who
nave heretofore paid no property
tax, would pay a ten mill tax un
der this law.
It is estimated that the taxable
property lying outside incorporated
towns in Alaska runs at least to
$100,000,000 in value. Little of this
property is owned by small prop
erty holders. At least 90% of it is
owned by big corporations. Testi
fying recently against the proposed
bill providing a referendum on
fish trap abolition, W. C..Arnold,
registered lobbyist for the Canned
Salmon Industry, stated that prop
erty of the value of $80,000,000
owned by the Industry would be
imperiled by the elimination of
fish traps. Most of this property of
course, lies outside incorporated
towns and is not at present taxed.
The same is due of the vast min
ing companies of the Interior
which pay no property taxes at all
and only a very negligible income
tax, as their contribution to the
Territorial Treasury. I*, is easy for
j anyone to see that the aggregate
| value of all these properties will
j easily run into an enormous
| amount. But estimating it at the
[ conservative amount of $00,900,000
[ this tax would bring in $1,900,000
for the biennium — more than
enough to finance the necessary
school construction program.
8. A Uniform License Fee Bill—
This bill in contingent on the re
peal of an obsolete Federal Act. It
seeks to equalize the trade license
fees now in effect, by bring.ng all
businesses under the provisions of
the bill, in proportion to the vol
ume of the business done. This biU
also will reach many completely
untaxed categories of business,
chief of which is Alaska’s biggest
business—the construction busi
ness which is expected to reach a
total of $200,000,000 in the next two
years. This business escaped all
tax during the lush war years,
when war construction companies
paid almost a billion dollars, but
it can be tapped now wrhen it has
I in the offing business almost dou
ble that of the Canned Salmon In
dustry w’hich we are accustomed
to thinking of as the Territory’s
biggest business.
There in a nutshell, is the fiscal
program that would put the Terri
tory on a sound financial basis,
that would assure the money for
the development of Alaska and
place the Territory on a par with
other States and Territories, that
would spell security and protec
tion for the people of Alaska while
, spreading the tax burden evenly
and equitably. That is the tax pro
gram that the Territory needs that
the people want as an assurance
that they may meet their obliga
tions that they may have the facil
ities that other Territories and
States have.
Will they get it?
Well, that depends on how com
; pletely our big lobbies manage to
i dominate the members of the leg
islature; that depends on whether
or not the elected representatives
; of the people turn a deaf ear to
the welfare of the people within
the Territory.
They did in 1941, 1943 and 1945.
—But, do we lake it, again?
The U. S. Army is using more
radio equipment than was manu
factured for the entire nation in
peacetime.
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March 29,1947
New Games - New Prizes
Food - Dancing
Crowning of Miss Nome of 1947
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Starts Mar. 8 and ends at 11 P.M. Mar. 29, 1947
V ■
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Special $100 Clothing Award
. to the Queen
Queen Contest Tickets sell for $1.00
And give you 100 Votes for Your Favorite
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