Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1873-01-10
4 Ta Meelil,g All tiae BOARD of

A L u Meeting of the Board of
IA SUPERVISORS of Augusta county,
held at the Courthouse thereof, on Friday, the
18th day of December, A. D. 1872
(John Paris, William T. Rush, Will
PRESENT, liam Crawford, Wm. B. Cochran,
Henry B. Seig and John D. Brooks,
Gentlemen Supervisors.
WHEREAS by an Act of the General Assembly
OF Virginia. in force February LIST, 1872, entitled
can Act for the re-assessment of lands in the
COMMONWEALTH was provided that upon
"the petition of majority of the land-holders
sin any county or corporation, or upon the pc
'tition of the majority OF the Board OF Supervi-
'sors OF any county, or upon the petition of a
majority of the and-hoiders in any Township
'or any county, it shall be the duty of the
Court of the county or corporation, at the
"March Term 1872, to appoint and associate
'two freeholders with the assessor, who shall
constitute q Boardsof re-assessment, for the
county, corporation or township, who shall
'proceed to assess the value of lands, lots, &c"
which Act Immediately after its passage, was,
at the instance of this Board, published in the
StGunton Spectator, and the attention of all con-
cerned specially directed to it; and no petition
from any quarter being presen ted to the court,
or any desire expressed by the land holders to
any member of this Board that a re-assessment
was desired and this Board at this time be;ev-
ing that the act referred to did not provide an
adequate remedy, but that general equalization
of the intrinsic values Of all the nds in the
Commonwealth is the only constitutional and
just basis of taxation: And believing further.
that owing to the peculiar condition of affairs in
Virginia, her people largely in debt, with large
tracts OF unproductiye land on hand and desi-
ring to sell, that very low assessment would.
to large extent, prevent holders of real estate
from selling, whereas, if the assessed values were
such as the owners would accept those desiring
to invest would be much more likely to buy
that a low assessment necessitates high per
cent. of taxation, while high assessment low
ers the per cent. taxation that as tn. amount
to be realized by taxatian to meet the expenses of
government must be the same, whether the rate |
OF assessment be high or low, it follows as a |
matter OF course, that provided the lands of the
State are uniformly assessed at very low 6p- |
uTe, the tax payer gains nothing, but on the con-
trary, an obstacle Is thrown in the way of his
selling his land at its intrinsic value-tbat the
evil. therefore, consists in the want of uniformi-
ty And further, that enormous sacrifices must (
be the result ct low assessment, because courts
are authorized by law to confirm sales of real es-
tale, whenever three-four.hs of the assessed value
is ot1ered-a high assessment avoids, to LARGE
extent, this phase OF the case, which has to be |
met at no distant day by the debtor class m
And whereas many of TIE counties of the
State have had their lands re-assessed according
to the provisions of the act referred to. and such
re-assessment is said TO be greatly under the first
assessment. t4us making he burden of taxation
nv o"i9 u"equti anu UNJUST out demonstrations
al also
Therefore Rsso7red Tda IS Bosrd do rel
commend that The iahdholders Of Augusta eoun-
W DO petition the General Assembly of Virginia
for the immediate enactment efsuch general law
as VIII edectually remedy the injustice arising
from the disproportionate assessment of the LANDS
IN the various sections of the Commonwealth,
hesoI0ed End, That the creation by the Legis-
iature efa State Board, or Boards for the differ.
ent sections OF the State, whose duty it shall be
10 visit every county, examine the assessors
DOCKS make careful inquiry into the subject and
compare the average as. 4ls.nts vi tht. various
counties and sections ofthe State, and thus as
certain the inequalities now existing and equal
lze the rea! values Of lands among the several
counties OF the Commonwealth would. in the
opinion of this Board, be The most feasible mode
of efecting the desired object
Copy-teste
WILLIAM A. RUENGTT
Clerk Board Of Supervisors oil Augusta county.
dec20-3t.