St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-04-02
A VERY Low TAX RATE.


Made, and the Way the City
Does Business.
The total tax rate of this city for this
year is 20 mills. This does not repre-
sent the tax rate for 1887: it is the tax
levy of 1887 made to meet the expenses
of 1888. This is very important thing
to consider. st. Paul does business upon
cash basis. 1t does not tax to meet
the expenses of the outgoing year; it
taxes to defray all expenses of the
coming year; that is, instead of the tax
rate carrying the city over until March,
1888, only, as is the way some large cities
do business, it carries st. Paul over
until January, 1SS9-the expenses being
provided for always year ahead. This
very thing has much to do with the
city's credit in the NJ ney market.
But this 90 mills does not represent
the city tax rate proper. Deduct from
this state tax of 10 mills, imposed by
the state Legislature TO meet the eX-
penSeS of the state, a state school tax of
l mill required by the legislature, a
county tax of 81 mills to meet the ex-
penSes8Of the county administration,
and 81 general 1-mill school tax re-
quired by law, and you have
city tax rate of IA mills,
when is levied at the option
of the city government. The other 6
mills are added because the state of
Minnesota and the county of Ramsey
say they must be added, no matter what
the city tax rate proper may be. This
IA mills does not represent really the
city tax rate proper, for AZ mills Gin
Guiding the general 1-mill school tax
not state school tax are required by the
board of education, coordinate branch
of government with the city council yet
separate corporation, the members of
which have hitherto been elected by the
people. This cuts down the tax rate to
1012 mills, as optionally levied by the
city council, to defray the department
expenses of the administration, and this
is regarded by all cities in comparative
statistics as the real city tax rate
How does this compare with other
cities?
st. Paul is conceded to be the
Lowest Taxed City
of any Importance in the country ex-
cept, possibly, Detroit If the figures
for 1856 are taken from a comparative
tabulated report of January, 1887, St.
Paul was taxed lower than Detroit by
IL mills. st. Pauls city tax rate was
9.6 mills, and Detroit was 1917 mills.
For the same year the taxpayers of Chi
cago paid 36.S mills; Brooklyn, 29.2
mills; Columbus. o., PIT mills (the
same as Syracuse, n. W: Cincinnati,
1858 mills; New York, 22.9 mills; Mil
waukee, % mills; Toledo, 145 mills;
Charleston, S, c., 10 mills; Buffalo,
Ills mills; Louisville, % mills; Jersey
City, 29.4 mills: New Orleans, 2O.2
mills; st. Louis AL mills: Baltimore,
II mills; Newark, N. j., 20.3 mills, and
so on. The city which came nearest to
st. Paul's very low tax rate was San
Francisco ten mills.
There is another thing in connection
with the tax rate, however, to which it
is necessary to refer, for it is too fire.
quently overlooked by the taxpayer, and
that is the very low assessed valuation
of this city. The lower the valuation
the higher the tax rate must be, and the
higher the valuation the lower the tax
rate, for the tax levy is based upon the
assessed valuation. The minimum as
sessment produces the maximum tax
rate. This is readily understood. Let
500 represent, for convenience sake,
the expenses of the city, and $4,000 the
assessed valuation. To meet the ex-
penses 10 mills tax is necessitated.
But supposing $4,000 is only 40 per cent
of the actual cash valuation, and in
stead of $4,000 the assessor figures up
$4,000 on a 60 per cent basis. To meet
the expenses $500 the tax rate would
be only Clio mills. If the full valua-
ton was given and assessed at par it
would be S25, 900, and the tax rate then
would
Diminish Correspondingly
to mills, for by an inverse ratio the
tax rate decreases to only 40 per cent of
the original rate as the assessed valua-
ton increases from 40 per cent to par.
Take the assessed valuation of the city
upon which the present tax rate was
based. 1t was 90,S00,000. No well in
formed business man, however con-
sentative. will admit that this represents
the actual cash valuation. From good
authority it is learned that the assessed