classes of property, including some public utilities, very markedly, and in most cases there were further advances the following year. For example, the Tonopah Water Company was originally assessed in 1913 at $120,045. The Tax Commission raised this to $150,000 for 1913, and to $247,790 in 1914, and to $320,400 in 1916. Similarly, the valuation of the property of the NevadaCalifornia Power Company was increased from $170,382 to $380,000 in 1913, and to $2,221,417 in 1914 - an amount over thirteen times as great.1 The Truckee River General Electric Company had its valuations raised from $381,639 to $551,150 in 1913, to $765,383 in 1914, and to $820,890 in 1916. In general, the highest rates of increase fell on local public-utility corporations such as power, light, and water companies and on telephone and telegraph companies-the public utilities that the State Board of Assessors had refused to value collectively in 1910. It is not to be inferred that there was any uniformity in these increases. For example, in the case of telephone and telegraph companies, some were advanced by less than twenty per cent. The chief line, the Western Union, was raised over one hundred per cent, and the Bell Telephone Company over two hundred per cent. The commission has devoted much attention to the valuation of land, establishing classifications and increasing the valuations in a marked degree and in such way as to equalize the taxes as between counties better than 'In a recent decision the Federal District Court has held that this assessment was excessive because too much of the value of the intangible property was attributed to the transmission system. In the opinion of the court the situs of a considerable part of the intagible value is the same as that of the power plant. This opinion is significant in relation to the "collective-unitvaluation-mile-unit-apportionment" method of assessing public utilities. before. In relation to livestock assessments the chief effort of the commission has been to secure a better count of sheep and cattle. Armed with more adequate power to secure the necessary information, the commission has adopted methods of assessment for the net proceeds of mines which secure better results, but the revenues from this source continue to fluctuate mainly according to the rise and fall of the mining industry. As a general result of the work of the commission, the valuation of taxable property has been increased to a notable degree. Much property previously unassessed has been put on the assessment rolls. As a rule the increases in value have applied chiefly to property that was previously undervalued. The burden of taxation is apportioned more nearly as contemplated by the law. The Tax Commission is the most effective agency for securing equal and uniform assessments that the State has evolved up to the present time. 'From 1912 to 1916 the total assessed valuations subject to ad valorem tax has increased by 73%. This has been a period of comparatively small increase in real values, and the gain in assessed valuations may be attributed almost wholly to more efficient assessments. CHAPTER IV TAXATION OF MINES AND PROCEEDS OF MINES The problem of the early law-makers of Nevada was to devise a system of taxation adapted to her unique economic situation. Their experience was useful only to a limited extent. They were familiar with the general property tax, but this was objectionable to the dominant mining interests so far as it applied to their own property, and, furthermore, there were reasons based on considerations of a more public character for conceding to the mining industry special treatment. But there was, at the time of the adoption of the constitution, very little property in the State aside from mines, and that little was found chiefly in mining camps. There were no railroads and there was no agriculture excepting a little gardening and hay-making wholly dependent on the mines for a market. No Eastern State ever faced a similar situation, and even California, a mining State, was never so one-sided in its economic development. Most of the early miners had lived previously in California, and the customs and laws of that State were influential in molding early legislation in Nevada.1 The first Legislature of the Territory of Nevada enacted the 1Apparently the early placer mines of California were exempt from taxation for the reason that it was practically impossible to tax them. The value of a claim could not be told with even an approximate degree of accuracy and, moreover, the valuable claim of assessment time might be worked out and worthless by taxpaying time. When deep mining began the Legislature exempted mines from taxation by specific provision. (Statutes of California, 1857, p. 326.) In 1872, when mining interests had declined in power, the mines were deprived of this advantage and mines were made taxable as real estate. (Political Code of California, 1872, p. 4.) provision of the California law which exempted mines from taxation, but on account of the lack of other sorts of property this plan was abandoned almost immediately, and the Territory tried a variety of compromise expedients designed to secure revenue from the mines. Nevada's experience as a Territory, extending over but four years, was too brief to permit of the experimentation necessary to the evolution of a system of taxation adapted to her peculiar economic circumstances. The early revenue laws of California, so influential in Nevada, represent the early crude and imperfect efforts of that State to meet pioneer conditions. The rather rigid and specific requirements of the Nevada constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, do not, at present, permit of those modifications in our system of taxation which are demanded by the more mature state of society. There has been, of course, a large amount of legislation—a needlessly large amount-but, while much of this has been useful and some of it very important, it has dealt largely with administrative details, the fundamental questions being removed from the sphere of legislation. The history of taxation in Nevada during the territorial period (1861–1864) and during the first fifteen years of statehood consists largely of an account of how the mining interests sought to escape taxation or, failing in that, to keep their taxes as small as possible. The contests between the mining interests and the other interests, begun in the Territorial Legislatures, was carried to the two constitutional conventions, to the State Legislature, to the District Courts and the Supreme Court of Nevada and to the United States Courts. TAXATION OF MINES IN THE TERRITORY The first Territorial Legislature (1861) exempted mines from taxation by specific provision and did not provide for a tax on production.1 In the early days of a mining camp this course has much to recommend it. It is far from certain that the mines have any value in the sense of ability to pay a profit on operation, although they may have a considerable value as measured by the selling price of stock. Furthermore, the value of all property in the vicinity of the mine is derived almost wholly from the activity of the mine owners in developing their property. Consequently there is a tendency in a new mining camp to regard the man who invests in an unproven mine as a public benefactor deserving the most liberal treatment. The second Legislature (1862) moved, doubtless, by the need for revenue and by the lack of other property, provided for a small tax on the gross proceeds of mines, twelve cents on the hundred dollars for territorial purposes and eighteen cents for county purposes.2 This rate was far below the rate of the general property tax, which was fixed at fifty cents for territorial purposes and at a rate not to exceed eighty cents for county purposes. According to the common understanding "gross proceeds" included the value of all the bullion recoverable from the ore. The District Attorney of Storey County, however, in an official opinion, held that the proceeds of a mine included only the value of the untreated ore at the mouth of the mine; that the added value of the 'Territorial Statutes, 1861, p. 146. |