Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-10-09
WEDNESDAY. ocTosER o, 1889.

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4 inhexible. AYERS & LYNCH.
WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER o, 1889.
The Taxpayers' Grievances.
There is q loud and justi6able wall
amongst Angelefios this year about their
taxes. The rate for the county within
the city is $1.50, and added to this is the
rate for the city, which makes total of
$3.50 to urban taxpayers. It is not
pleasant to have to meet imposts like
this. It is calculated to make the holder
of real estate turn saffron or green. &C.
cording to special taste in colors which
indicate spleen.
As matter of fact, for the convenience
of the argument, if the city and county
of Los Angeles we're an incorporated
community, We should sustain about this
comparison with the city and county of
San Francisco: The Bay city and county
were originally assessed this year at
somewhere in the neighborhood of
$500, 200, 600. The State Board Of Equal
ixation granted them reduction of five
per cent, which brings their valuation
slightly below $250,0O0. 600. Under the
one per cent. limit of taxation, which
canLot be exceeded there, the utmost
possible exaction to which the taxpayer
of San Frapcieco may be compelled to
submit, will be a mulct Of one per cent.
In other words, the utmost possible sum
which the taxpayers of the city and
county OF San Francisco collectively will
be called upon to pay will be $2,500, 900.
A full consideration of this matter can
not be reached unless we bear in mind
the fact that the city and county of San
Francisco are supposed, in this year of
grace, to contain about four hundred
thousand people. In addition, San Fran
cisco is the center of the largest
personal valuations known to the
Pacific Coast. There have accumu.
iafsd, the. large sums which have
been made in mining operations
and in the movements of commerce for
forty years past. And yet two and a
half millions Of dollars is all that the
Nicholas Lunings, the Tevises, Stanfords,
Crockers, and the whole millionaire
guild, in common with their less preten-
tious fellow-citizens, will be compelled to
raise to meet the inexorable taker of
municipal tolls.
When We come to Los Angeles county,
however, the case is different. Though
the population of the city and county is
q scant hundred and fifty thousand, be-
tween both We shall be compelled to pay
into the State, city and county treasures
q sum within foar hundred thousand dol
lars of as large tribute as is paid by the
city and county Of San Francisco. In
other words, for every $6 and small
fraction that the taxpayer has to pay on
the valuation of his property in San
Francisco, the taxpayer Of Los Angeles
has to pay $l3 and a small frac-
tion. There is nothing specially
agreeable about this fact, particularly
when one bears in mind the hundreds OF
millions of dollars of personal property
that never come to the surface in San
Francisco valuations.
One Of the notably delightful pecu-
liarities of the present tax levy to Ange-
lefios is the knowledge that, of the
enormous cum thus raised, $651 900 will
go up to Sacramento, that finicky and
artificial city which only lives on the
bounty of the State, and which
puts in it's whole time in decry-
ing, lying about and back.capping Los
Angeles. If we had State of South
California, this sum would be amply
sufficient to pay its total expenses, and
it would meander through friendly
hands, and fructify. There is no joke,
nor any semblance Of joke. in paying
over 1851 900 to the strong boxes of q
hostile country, every dollar of which
will be incidentally employed to black
guard and berate Los Angeles county.
Another notable feature of the tax
levy this year is the sum of $279, 900
which has been appropriated for the
roads of this county. God knows where
and how it is proposed to blow in this
AAShoys ~ Will AL OIL ilkclluoOu, De
used to spoil the few remaining hard-pan
roads, delightful and always acceptable
to the drivers of teams. which still re.
main in Los Angeles county. Half the
money, properly expended, would give
US two or three beautiful boulevards,
which, in few years, would rival the
splendid Magnolia avenue of Riverside.
Probably q tenth of this sum will be
used in spelling psssably good roads,
and the rest will be packed off heaven
knows where.
We give formal notice, here and now,
that the HERALD, in the interest of the
taxpayers, proposes to know this year
exactly what becomes of the ROAD fund
and to keep an oblique eye on the other
expenditures Of a'sum collected by taxa
fion that can fairly be called colossal.
The amount Of the taxation this year
is not the only interesting point which
should attract the attention Of the tax
payer. The Telegraph has advised US
that the new county Of Orsnes has