The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1872-02-06
rurIICENSE TAXES.

The exnlDlt Puo
morning of taxes paid in Ohio county
"a, the fiscal year ending on the Goth
If September, 1871. as copied from the
Auditors report, includes but a small
norton, of the license fees paid and
therefore shows an apparent decrease
in the total amount OF taxes. The code
requires that the State taxes on licenses
assessed between the lst OF November
and the lst OF May shall be paid INTO
the treasury during the month OF May
and those assessed between the lst OF
May and the LIST Of November shall De
paid during the month Of November or
on or before the fifteenth day OF De
cember following. This has not been
changed so as to accord with the act
making the fiscal year close on the
sOth Of September and consequently
the Auditors report for this year In
cludes only the licenses assessed prior
to the lst Of May.
The total amount OF licenses assessed
in this county for the year was $l5.oSS.'
70, of which $9OS.79 was included IN
the NAV return and appears in the
Auditors report as the total amount re-
ceived from this county from that source
during the year. The remainder sl4,'
1898 was reported during the month
of November, but too late to be included
in the statement made by the Auditor.
Adding this sum to the $oS'44Iol'
which is the total tax Of this county
from all sources as stated by the AUDI
tor. we have as the true total $72, 627.2 "a
or an increase Of s342, "a instead Of the
decrease shown BY the statemen: pub
lished yesterday.
Auditor BENNETT seems to have rig
orously closed his accounts as the law
requires, on the 3Oth Of September and
includes nothing as paid or accrued that
was paid or fell due after that time 1t
is mainly Tor this reason that his state
ment of the condition Of the finances OF
the State does not compare favoraoiy
with that of his predecessor, who seems
70 have been more lax in his enforce
ment of and obedience to the law. The
item of licenses in this county affords
fair illustration OF the former prac-
tice. As we have shown above, much
the greater portion of taxes Of this class
is assessed between the lst OF May and
the let Of November, and is not due at
the State treasury until the 10Th OF
December following; and yet, in the
Auditor report for the fiscal year end
ing September 30th, 1870, we find the
total amount of the years licenses In
cluded, Notwithstanding q portion OF
them were not due until two months
and a half later. The report for 1870
laps over upon that for 1871 just that
far in this item alone, and 1t
is quite probable that other dis
crepaucies may be accounted for in the
same way. The former Auditor seems
to have considered all as fish that came
into his net and made everything con-
tribute to the object Of making a good
show, no matter whether the funds in
cluded in the report belonged properly
10 one fiscal year or to several, For
this reason, among others, no fair or
just comparison can be made between
the Auditors report for 1870 and that
for 1871, the latter being made in strict
accordance with the law and represent
ing nothing as paid that did not actually
accrue prior to the lst of October 1871.