Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1868-03-31
The New Assess mant Y.aw

1t has the merit of being short. con.
else, and easily understood. but we
tear It will fail to remedy the evils
complained of under the old law.
we have generally found SO little
TO approve and so much to condemn
W the method and matter of our
State Legislation, that we had SINGER
oily hoped the last session wonId have
given US an Assessment Law wbict
We could endorse without reserve
ion. The defects OF tho existing Law
mad become universally known anG
acknowledged; State Commission
aad fully Investigated and reported
upon the matter; Legislature after
Legislature had discussed and tink,
cred at it 10 all its bearings; the
secretary of State and Governor had,
time and again, made valuable sug.
gestions and urged mme late action !;
yet, among the very last days of the
last session, bill put through, all
most without consideration, at vari-
ance with the opinions of all best
advised in the premises. which we
do not hesitate to say will afford lit
tie or no Improvement upon the past,
and may result in increased imper>
fectlons and more mischief. We
predict for it short life and not a
very fiattering>epitaph
The material changes are as fol-
lows:
lst. The equalization and assign
ment OF our assignable taxes prior to
| assessment.
I'd. The abolition OF the plan of
sworn personal statements as to per-
sonal property, which has been prae-
ticed for the last ten years.
3D.. The abolition of distinctions
in credit.
4th. The placing of merchants
and manufactures upon the same
basis of valuation as other individu-
ais.
9Th. The increase in the number
| of Assessors and making the terms of
| Office rotary.
The minor changes we may, or
may not, notice before concluding,
and those above noted we will briefly
comment upon in their order.
1st. The equalization and assign
ment of taxes prior to assessment. is
evidently regarded as the soul OF the
body of this law. 1t is calculated
that the plan will remove from the
field of operations the gross passion
of local selfishness, which now ami
| mates the assessor, each for his own
| locality. We can discover little or
no merit in the plan. Equalization
and assignment must either be made
upon some definite basis 10 accordance
with some we'll defined rule, or be
left to hsphazard and blind chance.
and it is quite evident that for the
present year there will result sort
of hybridized adjustment of the mat
ter, compounded of some chance
with the gross errors OF the last ass
sessment. We shall then have two
instead of one apportionment based
upon VIGOROUSLY unequal and un-
just return, and if the plan is to con-
tinue, the assessors will not fail to
understand that their assessment rolls
will be taken as the basis of the next
years apportionment and govern
themselves accordingly. You will
hardly be able to persuade them out
of this view of the case, by any thin
ble-rigging transposition OF the cups
and balls.
Without designing any offensive
presumption, we will right here give
our views as to the proper plan for
State equalization. First then, the
State Board is improperly constitu>
ted besides being combrous and ex
pensive. To be proper member OF
any Board of Equalization, pre- sup
poses a knowledge OF values and in
equalities in all the parts serving as
units in the whole field to be passed
upon whether county or State
Now, in the State Senate, such per-
sonal information on the part OF
Senators is not and cannot be claim
ed, and the whole matter of equaliza
ton is placed exactly upon the same
level as ordinary legislation. Each
Senator is regarded derelict in his
duty who fails to use every means in
his power to bring his immediate
constituents out ahead in the general
ruck, and it is the easiest thing in
nature to consign the hindmost in
any race to the ID. Personal soil
citation and "log rolling" are not
only permissible, but indispensable
to complete success The weaker
Eve will say scrapulous parties must
of necessity go to the wall. Does
the Senator from Waushara know of
his own personal knowledge what
wo'd be a just rate of apportionnent
between his district and my remote
district which lie has never seen
Does he care? 1t may be, but in
any event, ne will look we'll after the
interests of the people of Waushara,
and receive their appreciation for do.
ing SO. How, then, let US ask, is
he qualified to act in the premises :?
"Why," you reply, she is supposed
to qualify himself by an examination
of the data furnished by the Secreta-
ry of State" And how is that data
prepared +? Why, by compiling the
returns made by the Clerks of the
Boards of Supervisors of the several
Counties, which confessedly on all
hands are in the aggregate and in
detail mass of errors. You have
got then State Board personally
unacquainted with the requisite data
upon which to act in diligently, who,
if they choose, may base their action
upon data furnished them, in which
they can have confidence and which
all know to be reliable only by the
faintest approximation; or they may
disregard all data and go in on their
parliamentary skill and on their
muscle.
Would it not be better in all ie-
spects to make the Secretary of State,
State Treasurer and Attorney Geu-