The Battle Over Bank Taxes
Walla Walla taxpayers clash with the local First National Bank over tax rebates, with the paper calling for a stronger backbone from the city administration.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The hebdomadal organ of the First National bank says Mayor Hunt's administration did a wise thing in settling the bank's taxes at 50 cents on the dollar and that the county should have done the same thing in order to save the cost of litigation. If this view is correct the taxpayers of the county should join in a concerted refusal to pay their taxes and offer to settle at 50 cents on the dollar. Taxpayers in general, however, will not accept this specious argument. They believe that national banks should be made to pay their just taxes the same as other property owners. The spirit that led Pinckney to tell the French grafters that 'America will spend millions for defense but not one cent for tribute' should actuate the county commissioners in dealing with the banks. They should persist in refusing to pay tribute to the national banks in the shape of rebates on their taxes.
“America will spend millions for defense but not one cent for tribute.”
Arguments over corporate tax fairness and whether local government should prioritize fiscal accountability or business-friendly 'deals' continue to dominate Walla Walla municipal politics today.
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