Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-02-14
/ LETTERS no THE EDITOR.
.xB0Ur LAND ASSESSMENTS,
c0CP0NS, &c.

article how unrestrained the assessors
arc who determine and tx, every five
years, The value Of real estate as basis
lor taxation. showed that their de-
cisicns were not subject 20 revision in
The interest Of the public revenues !;
that their work was not supervised by
any tribunal in behalf Of the State and
could not be called in question except
By private individuals who may think
that too high or too low o valuation
has been put upon their lands. Inc
& valuations of the assessors, however
low thcy may be, however mueh TOO
lcx. arc to be taken for FIVE years as
the ,rue taxable value OF the
lands. The commissioners OF the
revenue. who yearly thereafter
make off the land-books, are required
70 be governed BY the valuations Of the
assessors, which the law says '' shall
be permanent and shall not be changed,
except to allow the addition Of the value
Of improvements, or total or partial
deduction Of the value Of such i'm
provements." In making off his land
books the commissioner is required to
add :. the value Of any building and en-
closure not heretofore assessed, if
found to be Of the value Of 800 and
upwards" and to add the value Of all
new buildings at their actual value at
the time Of assessment" He cannot
make any deductions on account of
natural decay or other causes, unless
the building and enclosure has been
either wholly destroyed or decreased
in value below sl00, or where
the value of the building has been
impaired by violence TO the extent OF
800 or upwards "; but in these
events he shall make proper deductions.
Now, one would expect, under such re-
quirements and restrictions as these,
that all the counties without exception
would show an increase, greater or
less, from year to year, as the value oil
improvements was added to their land
books; and yet it appears from the ia
BILE given in the Dispatch of September
18th last that there are at least twenty
counties in which the handbook values
are less in 1884 than they were in 1880
tin some cases many thousand less);
and many other counties where the adj
dition in four years amounts to but
few hundred dollars, where one would
look for many thousands. | do not
name these.counties, because the figures
Of the Dispatch table may be in some
instances incorrect. l will simply say,
however, that Henrico, which shows
an increase Of taxable real values of
$3.50, 900 between 1880 and 1885, shows
a decrease OF values of 900 between
1850 and 1884, which indicates no i'm
provements during those four years, or
ut least more distractions than improve
xnents.
The fact is, the yearly land-bOOks of
the commissioners are sujected to no
proper supervision. True they are re-
quired to be laid before the supervisors,
but this Board is only directed to
compare each copy of the handbook
with the handbook of the preceding
Tor every fifth year with the books re-
turned by the land-assessor, with the
records of the clerks office when ne
cessary, and with such transcripts, &C.,
from the records Of other Offices as the
commissioner shall lay before them"
They are not required to inquire dill
gently whether all Improvements have
been added at their "actual value"
and what deductions have been made
for losses, and whether properly made;
and we suspect that in many cases the
examination is at best perfunctOry.
Now, l sturdily maintain that all
through the State, in cities aud in
counties, and especially in the former,
all real estate should be assessed hon
sstly at its "cash value" in the man
ner now prescribed by law for ascer-
tanning said "cash value" and that all
improvements should be added from
year to year at their "actual value"
Any departure anywhere from uni
form, unbending rule leads to all man
ner of injustice to the State, and to in
justice and inequality of burden as
between the counties. The arguments
: in favor Of an invariable rule Of assess
ment at "cash value" as determined
by the law, are unanswerable. 1t full
fills the requirement Of the Constitu-
ton that taxation shall be equal and
uniform" II il should largely in
crease the taxable values of the State,
~ it would undoubtedly do-and we
fear here is the rub-it would enable
the Legislature to reduce the rate of
taxation for general purposes, which
wVpla h. great inducement to
capital to seek our borders for invest
ment in industrial enterprises. 1t
would enlarge our school funds, and
thus greatly improve our schools,
which We all are, or at least pretend
TO be, heartily in favor Of doing.
Again: School funds are contributed by
counties and cities according to proper
", and distributed according to num-
bers, 80 that some cities and counties
pay into the Treasury on this account
greatly more than is ever returned to
them. II would certainly 60 far 10
satisfy the richer counties and cities
with this system il they knew that the
less wealthy counties did at least con-
tribute dollar for dollar, according to
their means, TO the easury; which at
present many Of them are certainly not
doing. This same remark is appli-
cable also to the matter of " criminal
charges" which in some Of the coun-
ties les appears from the table lately
laid before the House Of Delegates) &C
tually exceeded in the year 1885 the
whole land and property tax which
they paid into the Treasury.
Finally, the honest assessment Of
reAl-estate values is due to the owners
Of personal property, especially bonded
property. There are q good many
people whose circumstances require
them 10 be bondholders, and who are
not sbloated bondholders, I" either, by a
great deal. Why should such an one
b., for instance. required 10 pay taxes
a q. O(0 In solvent hands af their face