The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1877-07-07
THE BOARDS OF EQUALIZATION

| The scarcity OF money to meet the in
( debtedness of the state, meet curTent
expenses and grspple with the sadly
needed improvements, is not due tn
I wasteful extrayegance, Incompetence or
/ dishonesty. in our state administration.
The causes lie deeper, and must be
| looked for in quite smother direction.
Within the last few years say five, the
taxable values OF Texas have increased
over one hundred per cent; yet, strange
to say, the revenue arising from taxa
ton has not increased more than eight,
or possibly ten. per cent. at the outside
Five years since, the property IN Dallas
which could have been bought for one
thousand dollars would readily bring
ten thousand to-day. This may be an
exceptional point, but the general aver
age of advance over the state viii be
found, upon close scrutiny, to keep
solerably even pace with the above in
stance. Why, then. does the state halt
u,
when the honest means to relieve her
self lie so easily within her grasp2 An
honest, comprehensive and impartial
assessment would show up such an in
crease of taxable values in Texas as
would not only render her finances
| easy, but would attract general atten>
ton, by reason of the richness and
availability of her resources
The law authorizing and requiring
the members OF the commissioners
court to sit as board of equalization
was designed to meet the situation we
have been describing 1t was a wise
measure, and one which viii serve to dis
tribute impartially the burdens of gov
ernment The board has to 80 directly
with the assessor. His work and rs,
Inmates are rigidly serutinized The for
mer roll is not and ought not, except in
rare instances, be taken as ,Ihe guide in
the present, except in the single mat
ter of locality. Every member of the
board is and constitutes in and of him
self an examining committee They
are fortunately distributed well over
the county, and the tax lists returned
with the annexed valuations from his
own neighborhood, must be perfectly
familiar to him Neither ignorance,
dishonesty, nor incompetency ON the
part of the assessor can operate to
cheat the state or the county out of It's
just dues.
Were these things closely looked at
and rigidly enforced for few years,
the agonizing cry of TAX burden"
would be heard no more in the land.
Even now it is not the burden which
is complained of particularly. it IS only
the unequal distribution OF it. The
board of equalization is formed to see that
the man who owns twenty thousand dol.
lars worth OF property, paystaxes ON that
much, and on the other hand, that the
man who owns one thousand be re-
quired only TO pay on that amount.
Thus it is seen that the measure is
likely TO add largely to the revenues of
the state, not SO much this year as for
the future, because the law creating the
board and its whole duty, is still but
imperfectly understood Very soon it
will follow that the public will take a
more direct personal interest in the
matter, and where derelictions occur.
either with the assessor or the board of
equalization, an indignant public will
point out the omission or the injustice
in a manner so plain that there will be
no opportunity for its evasion for all
the future. Every good purpose is served
by tho creation OF the board, and every
had parpose here meets sure aud ineyi-
table defeat. We would urge the boar Is
in every county TO institute the most
rigid scrutiny. and inaugarate the most
rigid impartiality, TO the end that the
true interests OF all the people of the
state may he served