Glasgow weekly times. (Glasgow, Mo.) 1848-1861, 1851-01-09

that the tax book be required 10 De so
made out ns to begin al the lowest
number of range and township in each
county, and in each township, common.
cling with section one, and running up
TO thirty. six; and that town lots in like
manner, be numerically assessed; if this
system be adopted, it will be mos, effec.
tuai in having lands assessed by their
proper numbers. By this plan, also,
the State will get the taxes upon many
tracts Of land, which, on account of
some negligence or omission. have been
dropped from the assessors book, or
were never placed there. To show tina,
this is probable, shall presen. one fact
for the consideration Of the legislature,
by the aggregate statement from all the
counties in the State for the year lS49,
the number Of acres Of land assessed
for taxation, is &, sos, SOB, and by re.
por, from the general land office, il will
be seen that up to the 30th Of Septem.
Der. ls49, there had been sold and dis
posed of by the general government,
in the state of Missouri, and conse
quen,ly after the lapse of five years
from the day Of sale, subject TO taxa.
ton, 13,907,027 acres of land. Take
from this the probable number of acres
embraced in all the town lots in the
State, not embraced in the aggregate
statement of the number Of acres Of
land, assessed for taystion, and also the
probable number of acres entered with.
in The last five years before, and con.
sequently no. subject to be taxed, and
yet, in my opinion, it will not reduce
the amount, as shown by the general
land office report TO be entered, by
many thousand acres, down 10 the mum.
Der Of acres, as shown by The aggre.
gate statement 10 be assessed in the
State. The plan of numerical ASSESS
men, will remedy another error which
.. often happens under The present mode.
, |, is now frequently the case, tina, the
same lands are twice assessed-once
/, upon the resident, and once upon the
, non-residence list. The consequence
is, that the tax is paid upon the one
and the other is returned delinquent.
The county courts will receive gres,
. aid from the adoption of this system
. in correcting the delinquent list, and i.
} will also greatly facilitate the business
Of the collector in the receipts Of taxes
Under the present mode of assessment,
and the many errors which occur in
carrying its provisions into effect, it is
impossible that results should be differ
ent from what they are. When lands
, subject 10 taxation are offered for sale,
there is in many Of the counties such
, want Of confidence in the correct.
, ness Of the proceeding anterior to that
| time, that men are deferred from buy.
ing, and the lands are returned to the
, State as forfeited, with an accumulation
of costs.
II often happens, also, that the own.
er of these lands, seeing they are as
sessed by the wrong numbers, declines
paying the taxes on them, knowing that
+ sale of them would not affect the IL.
lie to his land.
Much revenue is annually lost to the
, State, by the failure Of assessors in
, many Of the counties. TO perform their
duty in ascertaining and assessing pro.
perty OF its then cash valuation. 1t is
frequently the case that property is as.
,, sessed at more than one. half the value,
the owners would put upon il, if asked
TO do so. This is doing great injustice
10 those who are correctly assessed and
must deprive the State of n very con.
siderable amount Of revenue annually.
Some idea may be formed Of this de-.
linquency, by looking into The aggre-
gate statement of the value of property
assessed in each county in the State for
! series of years.
Ihave examined the aggregate state.
ment of the taxable property for the
, year ls4S, lS49, and 1850, in one of
, the medium counties, which has for
3 years been steadily increasing in wealth
and population. and yet | find this state.
I ment TO show that the revenue was up.
wards of 5000 less in 1910 than il was
in ls4S; and for the year 1850 it was
upwards Of $4,000 more than it was
in ls49. This is but sample of the
irregularity of assessment; and. by
; comparison, such cases will be found 10
, exist in many counties in the State.
BY an act of The last legislature, the
Governor was authorized TO dispose of
that portion of that portion of the
r land, part of the 100000 acre grant
which had not been previously selected
by the Suite, amounting to 1000 and
80. l00ihs acres. In accordance with
the provisions of this law, | have sold
the same for sl,252 90, (being 81 25
per acre,} which has been paid into the
treasury.
BY an act of the last legislature. com,
missioners were appointed to sell the