The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1888-02-03
THE EQUALIZATION BILL.
Letter from Senator Georgo q.
billiard.

A4AASCA
A marked copy OF your esteemed
paper is before me, in which you
pounce upon the Equalization bill
Senate Bill No. 10. Your 'immedi'
ate Representative aud l are in
perfect accord on this measure. 1t
IS greatly improved by amend
ments, not in the printed copy you
have.
BY FOUR own declarations about
the inequality OF taxation yon have
stirred us up to try to procure re-
lief. But we look 1t the matter as
Lawmakers, not as theOrizerS. We
must put it down III black aud white.
Pardon me for quoting from the
Governors message of 1886, Tor
facts, which show that the greatest
mischief is probably not IN the iHdi-
UidwaL assessments, but in the gross
naturalization of all the property
IN entire counties. Iqnote from the
message OF 1886:
"The average assessed value of taxable
lands per acre in the twenty counties
mentioned below are as follows; Goa
homa county, $2.55 /; Pike county, $3.50
Sharkey county, 81 20; Rankln county,
81. 30; Washington county. $4.3S; CO.
piah comfy, ABS; Tate county, 1910 +;
Yazoo county, $5.17 I; IsSaquena county,
$3.50 Chickasaw county, $4.l0: Talla-
hatchie county, $2.7l Newton county,
SAILS Oktibbeha county, s. .44i Suntiow-
er county, 81, 90 NOxubee county, $5.I7;
Kinds county, $5.47; Prentiss county,
1910: Alfalfa county. $2.46; Tuhica coun-
ty, 81. IS, and Montgomery county. $5.19.
1t will be Obse rved that Tate county coun-
ty gives q much higher valuation per acre
than the others mentioned"
Now l ask you, a you sit down
aud eat oysters and fish, shrimp
aud crab-gumbO, at every meal, and
yet not comprehend that four intel.
ligent, honest men correct some, at
least, of the grOsseSt Of the under
valuations of whole counties, as
shown by the extractf That ex.
tract shows, ii it is worth anything,
land it is taken from the Auditors
bOoks) that in a county where the
lands produce from one to two bales
of cotton TO the acre, the lands are
not assessed at one,half the valHa-
ton of other counties where the
lands only produce a bale OH from
two to five acres. Four of the
Staiwartest tools in the State could
do some good in such cases. That is
the mischief the bill is aimed at.
The proper execution of the law
will have the effect to compel % more
perfect equalization OF assessments
betareen Individuals in the same
county, aud in this way If you
reside in a county, where every foot
of improved land is worth fifty dol.
lars per acre, and your land is as.
sessed at three dollars per acre,
while your neighbOrs', of equal val.
ne, is assessed at two dollars, the
assessments are both so grossly
below what they ought to he, that
it in a matter Of no consequence,
bat If the Board should raise all the
land in your county, Composing it to
be all improved) to two thirds of
the real value, or to thirty three
and "A third dollars per acre, then
you would vince and stir up your
home Board of Supervisors, aud
compel them to put your neighborS
land at three dollars per acre, when
you and he wOuld pay the same tax.
1t makes no difference, you observe,
whether your land and his were as.
sessed at three dollars or thirty.
three and q third, or each at fifty
dollars per acre; you would act.
ually pay the same amount of tax
at either figure, because your coun.
ty as a whole must pay so many
dollars OF the State tax, aud that in
proportion to the real value of your
lands, as compared with the real
value of the lands in the other
counties of the State, and all per-
sonal property is in the same cate.
CORY with the lands under the bill.
Your idea that the bill is a good
M for collecting data for the ecu.
sus of 1890, is pleasantly, l know,
but since the people of this country
are behind all nations of the earth
in practical statistical Information
in this most ordinary affair of State
craft, I submit that the effort in that
direction is a laudable one and
would be of great practical utility.
You say
ain other words, if we pay 5000 State
tax at present, aud the grand assize
(BOard) should conceive the idea that our
property on the whole was assessed at
Ouly half its total value we would be
charged with $1,000 State tax and the
Board of Supervisors would be required
to raise values Of the assessments to meet
it,"
Aud why mott provided always
that il were your just and proper,
proportion of such tax, according
to the real value of all your pro
perty, in comparison With the real
value of all the property in other
counties. That is the very essence
of fairness.
In conclusion, the bill carefully
avoids the idea of going into the
counties to equalize assessments be-
tween the several individuals in
the county. That is right. / pro-
pose to stand by the right Of local
sslf-gOvernment, unless it should
be developed, in the future, that
the people ia the several counties
cannot or will not eqnalize assess
menfa among Themselves. / do be.