, 1879-01-05

additions as the County Clerk nay
have entered on the books. VAIN
ations are necessarily guesswork, and7 IN
| the matter Of personal property, the Vlaua-
atoms are mainly those made by the owner
An assessment covering period OF sixty
days is perhaps ample for rural township,
where the land is counted by tracts, anu
where the Assessor knows personally every
inhabitant, and knows. with reasonable cer-
taintv, the amount and value Of each man 8
personal property. In the city the case is
different. A result is, that, between the
amount of personal property not found anu
that which is not assessed at more than one
twentieth or one-tonth its value, the burden
of taxation is transferred to the few, who are
fully taxed, while the others largely escape.
Il is very desirable, therefore, that there
should be such changes made in tho law as
will enable this evil to Be remedied. We
are aware that there are legal difficulties in
the way of any remedial legislation; but
still, with proper disposition on the part OF
the Legislature, it may be possible to obtain
some relief:
The Constitution confers upon the Legis-
lature full end exclusive authority to pre-
scribe the mode Of assessment and the p?r-
sons by whom it shall be made. The Legis-
lature has, therefore, full authority. The
first difficulty is'ethat the Revenue law must
in all its details be uniform; the only excep-
ton is as to the class Of counties. Counties
are classified as those which are under town.
ship organization and those which gre not.
It has been decided by the Suprer3a Court
that this county is under township organlza-
ton. The present Revenue law provides: :
Until provision is made By law for the election OF
ship organization, the County Board in said coun-
ties shall annually appoint some euttnblc and CON-
petent person as County Assessor. and 'he person
SO appointed shall hold his office for one year. etc.
This is the only class Of counties in which
q County Assessor can be appointed. In all
other counties eaoh town has its own Asses
sor. The law further provides:
The books for the assessment Of property in
counties not under township organization shall be
made up bA Congressional townships; but parts or
fractional townships less than full townships may
be added full townships at the discretion OF the
oany oa5q IN sonntss @ under
with the organized 1owns., separate oooks Ehaii
be made fur the assessment OF property and the
ef I'll na qpa @ o s
towns, and villages, II ordered oy tue County
Board. =
To get the Office Of County Assessor, town.
ship organization must be abolished : and,
when township organization is abolished,
then the county is to be divided into Con-
gressional townships, s,-something very diff
ferent. For instance, Congressional Town
ship 80 includes all the territory in
Chicago from Egan avenue on the south
to North avenue Oh the north, and from the
lake to Western avenue. This would not
include the whole city, but would throw
parts Of it into other townships. Now, if
this last-quoted section Of the law giving
the County Board authority to make sepa-
rate books for the assessment of property in
incorporated cities, towns, and villages,
without reference to divisions into town.
ships, applies or can be made applicable to
counties not under township organization,
then the assessment for all Chicago could be
mado Us an entirety, and not as now by
towns. It will be seen that County Asses
sor, in counties not under township organ
ization, is to be appointed by the County
Board, and to hold Office one year; neverthe-
less the general law limits the time for malz-
ing the assessment to sixty days-from May
l to July l. Herein is difficulty which,
under whatever form Of county organization,
will necessarily defeat any intelligent assess
ment. ALI property is to be assessed at its
value on the 1st Of May. In cities like Chi
cago, with population of 100000 people,
engaged in every manner Of business, the
Assessors Office should be open the whole
year, and at the return Of one assessment on
July 1, he should open his books for the next
years business. He would then be
able to find each owner Of personal property,
and would be able to verify and correct
all returns made by deputies or by owners;
would be able to revise and correct all the
lists Of real estate, and find the proper value
of the improvements. The Office should be
open at all times to complaints and to an
examination Of the facts, and thus be pre-
pared On the 1st of May, from personal in
formation aud knowledge, to extend on the
books the valuations. In less than three
years, under an arrangement Of this kind,
there would be- full enumeration Of the
taxable property and correct list Of real
estate, and the work Of subsequent Assessors
would be substantially confined to the listing
of additions to real estate and the improve
ments Of real property, and to the erasure of
taxed property destroyed by fire or otherwise.
With u complete assessment and corrected
lists Of real property in the large cities there
would be no necessity for reassessment of
real estate and farms oftener than once in
three or five years, and the duty Of the As
SCISSOR would be confined to corrections
growing out Of subdivisions, and to an in
crease Of assessment whenever improve
ments may be made. The Assessor would,
therefore, have. sixty days in which to de-
vote his energy to the. discovery and valua;-
ton Of personal property. The regulation
Of how often there shall be an assessment is
within the powers of the Legislature.
There was law passed in 1877 which