The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1881-12-03

LOT Lrue, COTIcCt ssHu OHuAooo s'
ments. and MAINTAIN that those can be
best made by the people Of tho parish IN
which the property is situated. They
are far more competent to deal with the
problem than any other authority what
soever. Our esteemed contemporary
Joins hands with the;New Orleans Demo-
crat in supporting tho project Of State
Board of Equalization. In other words,
it proposes to invest commission sit
ting at sono central point with the
power to assess every mans property
and to say, arbitrarily and withoutaap-
peal, what amount of taxes shall he paid
by each citizen of the State. And this
scheme is sought to he justified on the
ground -rspeetedly1sadvanced..sby the
Dcssocrst in it, able series of editorials
on the assessment question the.
local authorities, aud people:of the parish
can not be trusted to make fair valua-
ton. Ergo, if we .can...not trust local
authorities, we must centralize the gov
erunent, and tho matter of taxation
must be governed by State commission
and not by local agencies.
1t is true that our fathers knew nothing
of State Boards of Equalization and
were able to.-support.- thcirsgovern ments
without resort to such inquisitorial
institutions; but it is said that three or
four States have. Observation-Disclosures boards.
Suppose they have; what does that
argue in favor of the plant What Of
the thirty odd States that have not found
it necessary to resort to this extreme
II it is claimed that we are to give up
our local self govornment in questions OF
assessment because three or four other
4 States have dono SO, we can answer thai
the argument has no force, since more
than thirty of our sister commOnwealths
have refused to relinquish the valued
prerogative.
! A State Board to examine into aud
ascertain the value Of the property OF
every tax payer from the Arkansas line
! to the Gulf would have mOnstrous
labor imposed upon it. How would it
proceed As. Its action is to DO final,
certainly the tax payer ought to 10 heard
before his rate of assessment is ostab-
| lished. Must the tux payer appear in
personi Must he tFudge down from
Caddo or Claiborne, from Calcasieu or
West Carroll to appear before the for
pidable council which has the right to
double or treble what he may consider o
just valuation of his property Perhaps
the honorable board might listen to the
tax payer if represented by lawyer, or
possibly broker. Thus We would find
the farmers of North Louisiana aud the
prairies aud the cotton and sugar plan
ters, when consigning their crops to
their merchants, charging them to be
careful to select some attorney or broker
to represent them before the autocratic
arbiter of the valuation OF their property,
How is this State Board to be consti-
tuteds Shall tho Executive appoint it,
and thus be able to reward and punish
his every friend and enemy in the State
If the members are to be elected by the
people, you 60 back to the right Of self
government, but you ask pleibiscite
overthrowing local government and es.
tablishing commission vested with
greater powers than Napolooi,'s dynasty
ever executed.
We oppose = State Board of Equaliza
ton because we favor just and equitable
assessments. If local influences operate
. in ono rs.ss of the State to diminish as
sessments, we can conceive of no reason
f @hy they should not operate in like
, manner in all other localities. The Law
, favors no section, no interest, no man
, it confides the great question Of assess
ment to the people themselves, where o.
right it belongs.
Local interest and influences demand
, and obtain fair valuation in this anl
r other parishes. If individual instance!
/ of injustice to the tax payer occur, the,
are mainly 1ae to his own inaction ant
, u failure to take advantage of the facili
ties afforded fer hs projections by exist
ing laws; And II the injustice be inaic
: ted upon the State, it must be ascribet
, to the natural pronenass of some me,
, to dishonesty and the utter impossibilit,
Of framing laws that will be perfectG,,
Q all their operations. Our parish treasur.
l pays dollar for dollar and has discharged
> heavy debts. that had accumulated il
past years. We hear the same accoun
:: from nearly all the country parishes
and if the parish eau maintain itsel
/, upon the assessment roll surely the Stat,
should do it as we'll.
: 1t is urged, however, that the Stat,
I can not derive sufficient revenue to sup
port it from the rate of taxation allowed
by the constitution. If this be so, is j
proposed to evade. the constitutions
limitation and increase taxation by arbi
I trarily ausmenting assessmentsl If TIN
convention made a mistake in limlti,i!
. the rate of taxation to q figure that vii
. nat SIlnnnrt the St:ltA onyafnmenf