New Orleans daily crescent., 1866-09-29
r + =
ASSESSMENTS,

!. number Of buildings, and the supposed value
: Of the same buildings as estimated by the
real estate brokers'. The List embraces build
ings which by the brokers' valuation are rated
at $50, 365, 600 and by the official assessments
at S14, ,62S000. This is most remarkable
3; difference; but individual cases signalize the
discrepancy even more emphatically. For
:. instance, A. T. Stewart's buildings, Brokers
valuation 81, $50 600, assessors ditto $3.50, 900;
!. Metropolitan Hotel, brokers' valuation ST.
= 450, 600, assessors s550,000; st. Nicholas
!. brokers' valuation s.. 800 0oo assessors $780,,
i 600; A. T. Stewards store, brokers valuation
$3.50, 200, assessors S240,000; Astor House,
brokers valuation ST, $50, 900, assessors $780,
i 600; Turner's building, brokers valuation ST.
II $50. 900, assessors 5000, 900; New York Life
Insurance Company, brokers valuation $780,
J 600, assessors $780, 600; Times building, bro
kers valuation $400, 600, assessors $4,000;
Clarendon House, brokers' valuation $780,
i 600, assessors $s5, 900.
Il Striking as these results are, we believe
i that investigation would show them to be par
alleled in every large city in the country. If
i this fact could be established, the inference
would be unavoidable that there is something
essentially defective in the actual system of
official assessment Nobody can imagine for
moment that the arbitrary valuations Of
the assessors can approximate in accuracy to
the estimates Of the real estate brokers' We
do not assert that the opinion Of the brokers
is unimpeachable but we do maintain that
their valuations correspond as nearly with
actual values as any that could be arrived at
without the guidance of a general rule. If
then we find that the official valuations differ
widely from those of the real estate brokers,
v we may be sure that the assessors are wrong
in their estimates and if we find the discrep-
aney universal, we may be equally sure that
n the system is faulty. There can be no doubt
that in this city the official valuation of real
estate falls far below the actual value of such
property. Facts, SO notorious that they can
not be disregarded. show this to be the case !;
and the consequence is that while trades pro-
4 fessions, and industries of all kinds are heav-
lily taxed, real estate has escaped those
burthens Of increased taxation which ought,
By sound policy, to be equally distributed
4 BY special law the city is prohibited from
/ imposing q real estate tax Of more than l.
per cent. The restriction may be polite
enough but it becomes unjust when coupled
i with the fact that the assessments on which
this tax is levied stand now precisely where
j they did five years ago-that is to say that
for taxation purposes property is estimated
now in currency at exactly its previously
4 assessed value in gold. Yet the currency has
deprecated more than thirty per cent, and
even apart from this depreciation, prices have
risen very greatly. That is to say that if the
currency prices of to-day were reduced to
gold, the expression would show a great ad-
vance over the prices of five years ago. This
fact is owing to many causes some of them
too recondite for investigation but prominent
among them are increased taxation, dirnin-
Iished, Or relatively diminished, production,
and the steady increase of the gold supply of
the world. That real estate has participated
in the general rise is keenly felt by everybody l.
that is compelled to hire a house or a store.
The fact is, indeed, that owing to the aug
menting tendency Of population to crowd into
the cities, and to the fact that very few houses
have been built during the last Eve wears.
rents have risen to am apparently dispropor-
tonate height, A mere statement Of this fact
leads to the next consequence-that real
estate owners in the cities are receiving far
larger returns for their investments than they
ever before obtained. In ordinary times
ii a landlord cleared six per cent. 4
per annum on his invested capi-
tai il was considered an ample re-
turn, Yet, in many instances, house own
ers are now getting as much as fifteen, twenty,
thirty and sometimes as high as fifty percent.
on their original investments. Now, as long
rs the assessments remain as they now are, I
that is 70 say mere repetitons of the old as
sessments, q manifest injustice is wrought in f
the application of the scheme of taxation. II "a
may be said that no rule can be established !
which will secure accuracy, or even approxi-
mate accuracy Of valuation. We not only
admit, but we insist that no such rule has
hitherto been fonnd-or at least, applied-but j
II by no means follows that no such rule
exists On the contrary there is no better |
guide to the current value of property for
purposes Of annual taxation, than the a nnual
rent which it brings. Not even the sales of 4
real estate at tauction are SO good a guide. It'll
the ordinary return on capital invested in I
urban property is twelveper cent. gross and !
six per cent. net-and the latter we believe
to be above the true average then a house
which rents for $1,000 a year is worth /
to- its owner $500, and it should
be assessed at that value Yet in ]
almost every case city property nets for the
owner from fifteen to fifty per cent. on its
assessed value. T. is impraeticable to raise :
he rate of taxation, but it is not impractica-
pie to make the official assessments cores y
pond, at least approximately, with the real i
'alues; and this can be done by the general
ule Of considering the rent Of property to be f
certain per centage Of its value. OF course, n
a the case Of unproductiye property, the rule a
would not apply but, even in these cases, /
which would have to be decided according to
he judgment of the assessors, there could be
10 greater liability to error than now exists. :.
n fact the actual system has always operated
arshly on the owners of unproductive pro-
'erty by not taking the fact of unproductiye- t.
,ese.J1ff rnnoif1 a,o eY,H tl,,,e xrb;lo ft