, 1874-12-27


The revenue laws of Illinois hare been
elaborately discussed, but new instances Of
their extraordinary character arc furnished By
every days experience It will be remem-
bered that the Constitution assumes that the
valuation of property for taxable purposes is
upon the cash value, but, in fact, this is not
the case. The total actual value Of all the
taxable property in Illinois is not less than
!, Sc, 900, 900, 900. The State assessment is
1900, 600, 600. Allowing $6oo, 1000, ,oooforper~
sonal property not listed ut all, the actual
property listed is at the rate of 50 cents on
the dollar Of its real value. If this valuation
were uniform there would be no special inju US
t;ce in this, but our law is framed as with the
specinl purpose to make a fair valuation i'm
possible. There are 109 counties in the State,
and an average of 10 towns for each county,
making over 1,000 Assessors. Each Assessor
deals with the property in his town. The
aggregate Of the several towns constitutes the
assessment for the county, and the aggregate
of the counties makes up the assessment OF
values 1aid before the State Board of Equal
Hation- This Board then proceeds by a
system Of percentages, in the way Of addition
or reduction, to equalize according to its
notions the aggregate value of tho several
kinds Of property in eech county. Thus, if
the returned assessment Of the lands in par
ticular county averages $40 an acre, and the
Board think this too low, they rinse it,
say, 80 per cent, and then each trnct OF land
in tho county, no matter what it may have
been previously assessed at, is ad-
vanced on the ta1-books so per cent.
Now, in the assessment Of tho lands
in that County, some Assessors, who have ae-
tua1ly read their oath Of Office, assess the land
at its full velue,-say $50 an acre; III other
towns it is assessed at SEQ, others $40, and
others S.. Certain specially improved tracts
may be put down at $50 or $75 m acre, their
cash value Now the practical working of
raisingthe average assessment Of land in that
county from SO to SIS an aero is to add 90
per cent to the assessed value Of all the land,
including that alreGdy assessed at its full
cash value as well rs that assessed at one
fifth it's actual value. The effect Of oil this is
that in every case where the original assess
ment was at the cash value, the owner is
IHAHa OIL u tHuttLU4 u Vlno 4DA lHAl}c1ty
worth in cash only 800, while some Of his
neighbors, even with the addition of 80 per
cent, do not pay taxes on over 10 to 80 per
cent Of the real value Of the taxables. For
this plain and palpable injustice, extortion,
and inequality, there is, according to the
Supreme Court, no remedy or redress. The
action of the State Board Of Equalization is
- ~,,1n n~,y,1sae +o
personal property. personal property II
has very extensive rnnga. It includes
horses, cattle, hogs, sheep, grain on hand,
mules, household furniture, sewing mn-
chimes, money, credits, ETC., implements,
andtools- Thus, horses and hogs may be re-
turned in o county at their full value, and yet
the aggregate assessment Of personal prop
crty in that county may be deemed by the
Board Of Equalization as too low, and that
Board, to remedy that matter, adds to the
assessed value of Ill personal property in that
county 100 per cent. Last August the assess
ment of Bureau County was increased 103
per cent. In this case, the owners Of all
horses and hogs have to pay taxes on TINT
property at valuation of $500 for every 500
VI AELulA g1o0CAlt3 aAt& et44o t44NASA LIZ 4tAAAt
Of their own except making an honest re-
turn of their taxable property. The case
Of the private banker in Chicago who made
return Of 100000 Of greenblcks, and who,
under IN arbitrary addition of Gs per cent to
the assessed vnlue Of perssnal property in
Cook County, paid taxes on valuation Of
S168, 900, is but one Of countless cases Of
that kind which are inevitable under our Rev.
enue low. In the returned valuation Of lots
in the City Of Chicago, the property wns val
ued at prices ranging from So to So, 600 per
front foot, according to location. The State
Board. decming the aggregate assessment Of
town lots in Chicago too low, added 100 per
cent thereto; this increased the taxable val
uetion of the lower-priced lots from So to 81
per front foot, which may hare in some cases
been Just enough, but it increased the valua-
ton for taxable purposes Of the other lots
81 900 per front foot to $4,000, and from
$4,000 to $4,000, and from $4,000 to $4,000,
to the robbery and spoliation of the owners
The Aurora Beacon gives another illustra-
ton of another branch Of the Revenue law.
The State Board has original jurisdiction
in assessing the value of the capital stock and
franchises Of corporations. The Challenge
Mil Company Of Batavia have o nominal
capital Of $125, 900 /; Of this sum 800, 600 is
represented by two patents, which were put in
asof that value, but really Of no present value.
The Company has the rest Of its capital in
vested in tangible property. After the OF
ganization Of the Company, the owner Of the
patents for some reason refused to assign
them to the Company. Now, under our law,
this Company is taxable upon the noninal
| value Of the capital stock added to it's debts;
| the nssessed value Of ita tangible property is
then Hub1acted from the gross value Of the
stock and debts, and the remainder is put
! down as the taxable value Of stock and fran
ehigs, Tho valuation thus reached BY tho