The Washington critic., 1890-02-24
LAWYERSON THE TAXES
INSTANCES QUOTED OF HIGHLY EX-
CESSlVE ASSESSMENTS.

the Facts Indorse "rhe Critlc'sr
Fight for Fair DeaIinE-"Truth
Never Yet Injured "a Community
With view to sounding opinion on
the proposed tax equalization and the
objection Mr.. Warner raised to the ex.
posure or agitation of public fraud,
The CRITIC staff has interviewed some
representative lawyers with the follow
ing result:
GEN. WILLIAM HENRY BHowNE-'I
think If The CRITIC is exposing frauds
1t is deserving of much praise for 50
doing. ] know myself that property
west of Sixteenth street was assessed
at much higher rate than property
east of Sixteenth street, because differ
ent assessors happened to make the as.
sessments. Even on this block unjust
assessments have been made and it looks
to me as If assessments are made in the
interest of the rich and against the poor
On at least two occasions tried to have
unjust assessments which were made on
property own, corrected, but met with
such treatment from the Board of
Assessors that thought 1t best to let
things stand as they were; in fact, the
game was not worth the candle, for
lost more time and had more trouble on
these occasions than the saving on
money on the corrected assessments
would have been worth.
Again l called on the Board of AS
SCISSORS and said: You have assessed
my house, 1916 X street northwest, at
higher rate than you have the property
which is separated from me by the en-
glne house east of my home To this
received the reply: we will hold you
to that assessment because it came to
our ears that you had made the remark
that the engine company next door
benefited your property
"Now," continued General Browne,
everybody knows as well as ! do the
fact that an engine company located
next door to ones house will decrease
the value of that property rather than
increase it, but like the engine com
pany. lis members are lot of fine
fellows, but my assessment should not
be made higher for that reason. | re-
member, in a conversation some time
before that assessment was made
friend asked me if the proximity of
the engine house to my house did not
decrease the value of the latter piece of
property. | didn't wish to say any
thing against the fire company and l
said no; in fact, ] rather liked it. This
remark, however, made my assessment
much higher than it should be. There
is a piece Of property next door to the
west which has been on the market for
several years, but its owner cannot sell
it because it is assessed TOO high. You
can see that it is an old wooden struct-
M h,tti Nai, &c no,,'e hon 1s
on this account
THE right of things is not considered
at all. 1t is unjust. ltis the system Of
| appointing temporary assessors, liable
to be influenced by spectators and
other interested parties, who can manip-
ulato them as they choose, that causes
the making of these unjust assessments.
| BY the present system your appeal for
readmstment of an uni Just assessment
must be heard by certain time or be.
fore the Board of Assessors which made
the assessment goes out of office. In
many cases you are told your appeal
could not be considered in time, and
when you try to learn the reason why
you find that new board is in Office
which can do nothing with your
appeal.
This is denial of justice to prop
erty. owners. Congress should pass
some measure to enable our appeals
on this question to be heard. TaXpay-
ers have more reason to complain un-
der the present system of assessing
property than any system know of. The
American people detest system which
denies the right of appeal, and think
our own method of doing this work is
the most detested on record. | know,
myself, that thousands of appeals for
a correction of unjust assessments have
been filed, but were never heard, be-
cause the board TO which they were
made went out of office before they
were reached"
MAHLoN ASHFORD - "The stand
taken by The CRITIC meets
my unqualified approval. For years
7 have given this subject much
thought, and the result of my eX-
perience and observation is in entire
accord with the case so forcibly pre-
sented by THE CRITIC. Why, at the
last assessment dwelling on the square
where l live, built over twenty years
ago at a cost of less than $4,000, was
returned at $4,000, while other dwell
ings in the immediate vicinity, built
not over five years ago at cost of
$40, ,00O were returned at half their
cost.
Now, do not mean to impugn the
motives of the assessors. Those of
them whom | know | believe to be
above leproach, and am glad to note
that The CRITIC has conducted this
discussion in all fairness, with dig
nifty becoming the subject, and has
shown no disposition to unjustly criti-
else any one.
"The trouble is with the system. re-
gard it as impossible to effect a just
and equitable assessment under the
present system, and whenever occasion
offered ! have advocated reform in
this regard.
I'VE should have permanent Board
of Assessors composed, say, of six citi-
zens. with such fixed salaries as would
secure their undivided attention and
service The increase in revenue that
would result from the adoption of such
plan would fully justify it, and
we would get an assessment just
alike to rich and poor Each member
of the board would have ample time
and opportunity to exhaust many ave
nues of inquiry as to real estate values
in his district and all errors in his find
ings could be corrected by the full
board sitting as court of appeal" "
What do you think of the views OF
Mr.. Warner on this subjects" inquired
the reporter,
I'm my Judgment" continued Mr.
Ashford, 'he is mistaken. In the ligh'
of experience and observation in Other
cities his position is wholly uutenable.
Take for instance the city of Baltimore
Its assessment system is an admirable
one. It's press has never hesitated tC