Claiborne guardian. [volume] (Homer, La.) 1877-188?, 1881-12-14
Assessment.


Assessment. The subject has been
generally discuss~,l by the press Of the
State. As on every other question there 10
idle difference ~ opinion, yet there Is
No rra.yu why the keen int~llcrts of our
law makers should not sol,r the problem.
II ia a conceded fact that the present sys-
TEN of as~.' Ssn,-nts il failure. The State
has been drfraud-,i under 1t. Men worth
millions only 10Y taxes on few thousand.
Men apI~nr ia have no CONSCIENTIOUS scru-
pies ia d-frsuding the state by placing
FALSE valuation up"u their property, The
p~r-ouAl ass--~mrnt plan has worked grrat
hnrrn to The financial CREDIT Of the state,
embarrassed her r-,rnu-s aud done an
injn-fice to the honest and smaller tax
payers and property OWNERS. II l-evident
that q change must and will be made in
our assessment laws.
To rrne,ly the evils of the Prscnt
assessment system state irar,l IL rquali-
ration has been PROPOSED by some OF the
leading journals and recommended by the
Governor in bi. message. This board IL to
be composed Of members taken from each
Congressional district Of the state, 80 that
all PORTIONS Of the State will bc represent
ell in I'll, board. The sheriff- Of the differ
-nt parishes are to report the property and
its state, esHdiiion, &c, tn this boar'l, and
the board ia then to place upon the proper
~ the value at which il is TO be ssressfd.
This plan has not bern fsversbiy receives!
by the PRS. outside Of the city, yet none
Of them to our knowledge have suggested
anv better plan. Ofcours~ il would not be
just or equitable to ass-.~ the P"or hill
lands If North Louisiana al the same price
a. the rich river lands Of other portions of
the state. aud. il we understand the plan
Prupos-sl, il cautemplatrs such an unjust
thing. Ecyery portion Of the STATE is tn
I've fairly represented in the board. We are
inclined to think that snch plan is
not the best that could be devised. Ii
is evident that with onr present rates of
TAXATION aud the lapd values at which
much Of the most valuable property Of the
country has l~-n ASSESSED. the expense Of
our State government can not bc met
S.,me plan must w. devised which make~
il the duty of some power other than the
owners to say what is the value II proper
". This question is a delicate one. We
comics. that We have NOT had tip~ Ia
examine the plan proposed a. carefully rs
We would like. Int W. arr satisfied that
the plan Of personal assessments will not
do. and tina, a change mnst bc made. II
the STATE Board of Equalization i'll s"curr
the as-,ssmcnt If prop-rty at its real and
actual value. We believe that il would Ice
n. guod plan a. could wrh be adopted.
II. ON the contrary, the plan sLN"rs al all
of,he uniu,, plan Of placing all property
in the state At the same valuation. thrrr
could not possibly lie a more uneInitahlr
plan proposed. or one which would be
more universally opposed IN this section Of
the State.
We think it likely that most # The lands
in this section arr assessed high enough.
We know persons no own large tracts OF
land which they would I've glad to disI"",e
OF at a very small rricr-in some cases II
could lie bought As low A. fifty cents an
acre. Those persons feel II burden To
pay the taxes on thesc lands At the prsrmt
rate Of assessments. We do not see how
the Board Of Equalization is I" arrive at a
props.r aud just a.s-->sment. We arr fear
ful that the result OF TIN, plan wonld lie To
place this portion Of the state At the mercy
Of the southern portion. which would be
very unfair and unjust