The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1879-04-19

the assessor to list or the collector 10 levy up
on Another may own fifty thousand dollar:
worth o: white elephants or other wholly un
productive property. To the former a few hun
drcd dollars Il year in the way Of taxation Is ;
bagatellc; to the latter il is ruin; yet the form
er escapes and the latter is taken.
Notwithstanding, however, the obvious diff
cultlcs of the subject and the inability of til,
wisdom of four thousand years to cope with
IT, not a Legislature in Illinois, or of any other
state of the Union, for that matter, meets but il
has in Its membership "A host of wise men tc
whom this problem of the ages is as simple as
ii sum in simple addition, and they proceed
forthwith, in their Quiyotic way, to solve it.
When the present Illinois Legislature met, the
first business that ninc,tenths of the members
regarded themselves as especially fitted to take
in hand was the reform of our revenue system
The usual joint committee on the subject was
appointed, and at most week or two were
regarded rs sufficient for them to prepare and
report such notifications OF our present system
as would cure all its defects and make 1t salts
factory to everybody The committee, howev-
or, had no sooner organized than bills from
one house or the other began to flow in upon
them at the rate of half dozen day Every
member who had paid taxes the preceding
year realized that he had paid more in some
way than his Rcighbor, and he had his little
bill ready to amend the revenue law so as to
shift the heavier burden from himself upon the
neighbor aforesaid. The committee stood daz.
ed and COMPOUNDED in the presence of these
volumes of bill ious suggestions, and realizing
that it would take a month or two even to read
them, begged the respective houses that they
might be constituted Il commission to work
oyer the business all summer and report to a
subsequent session. Now the other wise men
in the Legislature were wholly oplivious Of the
difficulties that staggered the committee, and
scouting the idea Of giving them six months
or a year to spend over so simple Il matter, in
structcd them to prepare Il new revenue sys.
tenn and report 1t forthwith And thercupon
the committee, obeying instructions, hastily
prepared three separate bills proposing amend.
ments to the present revenue laws IN substance
as mentioned below. That amendments thus
prepared, proposing important changes in II
system that cmbodies in its construction the
accumulated wisdom Ofhalfa century of Illinois
legislation, should be crude and il.digest.d
and ten times more likely to do harm than
good is obvious on the face Of It, Such as the
amendments are however, they can be briefly
summarized rs follows:
The first bill provides that the assessment of
real estate shall be made but once in every
four years, but provides that the assessor shall
assess and report to the county treasurer the
value of improvements made and destroyed
during the intervening years. 1t also reduces
the number OF tax books and simplfcs the
forms.
The second bill dispcnses with the pubica.
ton of The delinquent land list until after
judgment against the property has been rend.
cred. The idea is that the list will be much
smaller and its publication much less expen.
sivc then. The bill provides that the collector
shall publish general notice of his intention
to apply for judgment against the delinquent
lands without specifying them, and after judg.
mcnt shall publish the delinquent list ms al
part OF his notice of sale
The third bill increases the penalty for the
non-paymcni Of taxes to twenty-five per cent
per annum and in addition requires that one
per cent, per month shall be added to taxes
from April 10 to day of sale or payment The
bills also requires schedules of personal prop
erty to be sworn TO- The existing law leaves
il optional with the assessor TO demand an oath
The first thought that strikes one on looking
at these proposed amendments Is their utter
triviaiy, The assessment once in four wears
is an obvious absurdity. Nothing is more
and cvancsccnt than property.
Were all La Sale county drowned by flood
this year and its $35, 900 900 of property wiped
out the assessment ten years hence would be
hardly less than il is to-day. The proposed
change certainly is not IN the direction of
taxation, nor can it greatly lessen
expense, As the assessor is to be kept on duty
in the interim looking after improvements and
losses by fire or other accidents.
The proposal to publish the tax list after in
stead Of before judgment looks vastly like
putting the cart before the horst. 1t is cvi
IDENTITY not intended to save costs 10 the tax.
payer for these it is proposed to increase enor
mously by penalties Tor delinquency amount
ing in all to some 3; per cent
After all, such amendments to our revenue
system are sheer tinkering and had better be
let severely alone. They always do more harm
than good The railroad and telegraph sys
tens and huge manufactured corporations have
Of late become an overshadowing element in
our property system, and in reference To them
our systom of taxation Is exceedingly crude
and imperfect. \ commission of men of prac
teal common sense might be able TO suggest
some important reforms in that regard, but in
any other direction tin .rinc IL timps