Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1886-04-15

1t is recommended that the law gov
erning the taxation Ofprivate banks be
carefully revised so as to prevent such
manifest injustice.
The Incorporated banks of the state
naturally regard this ASA Fwrong and
they have accordingly been resorting to
the; courts for relief against it, and in
alm0stEall cases with success, the courts
having held that such inequalities
should be relieved against. A number
of such suits are now pending in the
northern part of the state. In an i'm
portant sense thew involve the entire
tax duplicate, for they, have been insti-
tuted as test eases, and, if successful,
the result 'willSbe to lessen the tax vafu-
ationS Of our property many millions of
dollars and throw our whole system in
to such confusion as to produce the
most embarrassing nsequences. The.
Attorneys -GeneraL with the fpprovaIao of
the Governor and State Auditor, has
employed local. counsel to representthe
state in these suits, and everything
possiblea will be done to successfully de-
fendTtaeni. An appropriation should
he made to defray the expenses of such;
defense, including counsel fees. '2>- ~
1t ID obvious that SO long as the pres
ent valuation of real estate stands great
injustice will be done to all whose prop
erty is even approximately correctly
valued, and the state will continue un-
able to meet the public demands with
out embarrassment. .a -T
1t is recommended, therefore, that a
- REvALUATIoN 'i ht'.
be had at once, instead of waiting for
the next decennial valuation of 1890.
In order, that this may be done in such
q way as to secure fullsand fair ap-.
praisment, 1t is recommended that
there be constituted a
STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION,
consisting of eight members, not more
thanfour of whom shall be of the same
political party, to- be appointed by some
suitable authority, from the electors of
the state, to hold their Offices for a fix
ed term, and whose duty it shall be to
supervise, as well as revise and equal
ize, the valuations to be made. The
number mentioned is thought to be
large enough to enable each of the lead
ing industries of the state to be repre-
sented, and at the same time not too
large for efficient action. FEEE
It IS also thought men soselected will
have the interests Of the whole state
more in mind than IL they should be
elected to represent some particular
district or locality, in which case ex-
perience has shown they are to apt to
act as though their highest duty was to
secure the lowest possible valuation for
their respective constituents.
1t is further recommended that the
duties of equalization new devolved up
on the Governor Attorney General and
State Auditor as to bank shares, and on
the Attorney General, Treasurer of
State and State Auditor as to railroads
HE transferred to and imposed upon this
board, that there be, in short, one and
the same state board, and one only, for
the equalization Of all classes of proper
ty. It ID further recommended that in
all cities having d board of tax com.
missioners it be made the duty of such
board to appoint all the assessors and
Appraisers.
It is confidently believed that is such
Legislation can be had as is here at
tempted to be indicated, the tax dupli-
cate can be so increased as to approxi-
mate our real worth, and that valua-
ltions can be so equalized as to secure
n "