Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-01-13
" Important Laws"

heading, is quite Il lengthy review
Of the revenue law us passed by the
last Legislative Assembly of the
Territory, which seems to imply that
ali of the sections oHHcd from the
revenue law of 1879, are repealed.
| have before me, IL printed copy,
in pamphlet form, of the last revenue
law, and find that nearly all of these
omHfcd scctions,. were still in force
4ttcr the passage of the act. 1t Is
held by some, that they were re-
pealed by implication. This would
possibly be true, were it not for the
repeating clause, which implies that
all acts and parts Of acts not in
conflict with the law, are still in
force. Hence, the Legislators re-
enacted, in substance, the law of
1879, and had it not have been for
the coditication of the laws at this
session, there is no doubt bat that
we would have had practically the
same law.
Section one of the act relating to
the codiiication of the laws, reads ill
part as follows:
Sec. l. hat all acts Of Il general na-
ture, revised AMI amended, and re-enact-
ed at tie SN Biennial, and the present extra
session of the Legislative Assembly. so
soon as such acts shall take effect, shall
be taken and construed aS repeating all
prior laws relating to the same subjects.
l understand that the coditication
was done by few of the experienced
members, and afterwards passed
upon by the Assembly without re-
consideration. The code will doubt
less materially change many of the
laws as first passed by the Assembly,
possibly some for the better, and
some for the worse.
Let us consider few of the most
serious effects upon the people, of
the revenue law as it now stands.
Space will only permit the mention
Of one or two of the many grievances
at this time:
list, The assessment of mortgages.
AS the law now stands, it is the duty
of the Assessor to assess a mortgage
at its full cash value and the land
upon which the mortgage is given,
at its full cash value. This is clear.
ly case of double taration, the bur-
den of which falls upon tho borrower,
and which he is compelled by law to
submit too, whether agreeable to
his will or not.
To illustrate: A has farm val.
ued ut $4,000. He borrows of B
81 900, and gives q mortgage Oh this
farm. If the Assessor does his duty,
under the present law, he will assess
A for the value of his farm $4,000,
and for his money on hand 81 900,
and b for the value of his mo tgage
81 900, an aggregate assessed valu-
alton of 81 900 on a real value OF
only $4,000. The borrowers are
many, and usually poor in compari-
son to the lenders, and hence the
law works a hardship on the many
and poorer class. Under the law OF
1879, the borrower could have de.
Quoted from the assessed value OF
of his farm, the assessed value OF
the mortgage on it.
I'd, The tax levy of not to exceed
6 mills for the support of schools.
1 do not know how this levy may
effect the common schools in other
counties, but in this county (King),
it will work a most serious injury to
our schools. We have 81 school dis.
tricts in this county. In 1877 and
1878, under a 6 mills school tax,
not q school in the county was able,
for want of funds, to continue full
time. while eight-tenths of the schools
could not average haIf time, or five
months school in the year. The
revenue law of 1879, allowed a tax
levy for school purposes, of not to
exceed 8 mills, and in 1880 and 1881,
under an s mills levy, our schools
only averaged about half time. But
one district in the county was able
to continue its school full time, while
school district No 1, in which the
city of Seattle is situated, was
obliged to suffer q vacation Of four
months, t~o of them being school
months, for want of sufficient school
funds.
The tax levy for school purposes,
for the years 1928, should have
been raised to not exceed 10 mills
on the dollar, instead of reduced to
six. Then those counties which re-
quire an 8 or 10 mills tax, could
have it, while those (if there be any
that only require six mills, or less,
could have the necessary amount.
Very respectfully submitted,
M. S. BOOTH.
Seattle, W. T January 7th, 1882.