TAXING MR. ROCKEFELLER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 255, 26 March 1914, Page 2

TAXING MR. ROCKEFELLER.

N"'! CLAIM BY COUNTY.

Mr. BockSrtr.^*^ 15 -. ! lie world, was del- - Holiest » uin '-'' iderable portion aiuo.l diU'iiig ft conmd, Oliio. oiv' .in tile city of Clcve''ifr- It is ..tig to tlio nim-rts of his lance »•• , possible Unit fhis circimimoun* ~(( cos t him not only the " t 4 ttf the doctors' and nurses, bills. <t tsiflti of 12,000,000(Iol, or £2,400,besides. The county of Cuyahoga ifc'As formally made demand upon the "oil I 'king'* for that sum, representing a tax till the 900,000,000d0l (£180,000,000) of personal property Mr. tiockfeller is said to own. .Under the law of Ohio, a per- ' son remaining in the State for tho greater part of the year ending the first Monday in April, is regarded as a resident, and is subject to tho tax on personal property. Tho tax ce'Vi-etor kept careful trace of Mr. Rockfeller's movements, and, having concluded that his stay in Ohio was sufficiently long to bring- him within the law, forwarded to him a demand for 12,000,000d0l in taxes. Mr. Rockfoiler's lawyers laugh at the efforts of the Ohio officials to tax him. They claim' that he is a legal resident of the State of New York, and as such has already paid his taxes for the current year. They admit that he was detained in Cleveland by the illness of his wife, but deny that that fact renders him liable tn pay the personal property tax there. Mr. Rockfeller differs from most other multi-millionaires, in that tho larger proportion of his wealth consists of personal property, principally securities of Standard Oil, and the banks and other corporations with which it is if collected, would be divided between bound up. The 12.0f1f1,000d0l demanded, if eolleeled, would be divided between the Stale, c.uiilv and Kast Ohio. The lailer city would become the paradise of thi! small taxpayer, whose payments to the Treasury would dwindle down to a mailer of cents rather than dollars.