Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-09-26

TAN DEPARTMENT,
.,,v THE saaN Wasn't zulL-.

,,,v THE 5aaN Wasn't cylLT.
II cav Uncle Ben" said Frank, '"why
:. Won build new barn? You need
d0il and YOU must have money enough
QUE ~ from the sale of your crops the
la' az. few years to pay for new buildings
p'S a. fences and make your home look a
aa''' an per cent. better, to say nothing
num- me saving. Why, that old, tumble
o. ,,,n harm doesn't hold more than one
a soIf Of your hay and grain, and the loss
a isar, stacking out OF doors must be far
ii .oro than the interest ON the cost of a
NV Nv, barn. Besides that old rookery is
,iseraee on such fine land as you have
.ora and then there must be some
a asnrer OF its blowing down in one of
4 .Sese heavy gales and killing some of
your stock"
well, Frank" answered his uncle,
..o1 Won say is true enough, but guess
ron don't just understand the situation.
you see, in the first place, I haven't
o,,itc enough saved up to build such
harm as ! want, and SO would have to
hire some money and pay interest on it;
INIT then l wouldn't think of building at
resent if l had more than enough"
why, Uncle Ben, don't you want bet
Ter bui,dings?"
"of course do, my boy; but then you
sec Just as soon as l put up new barn
the assessor would come along and raise
fine valuation of my farm, and the taxes
would be so heavy that it would take
about all could raise to pay them. Only
last year cleared up and drained that
bit of swamp land down beside the road
there and built few rods of highway
fence alongside of it, where the brush
and weeds used to grow; and the as
SCISSORS raised the valuation five hun
bred dollars, and that added about
twelve dollars to my tax, besides the in
crease Of highway and school taxes, and
all that on account of clearing up less
than an acre of land"
well, uncle, it made your farm look
ever so much better. That brush patch
was always an eye sore to me, at least. !"
Yes, Frank, it did look bad enough
light there beside the highway, and I'll
admit that it made at least five hundred
dollars difference in the appearance of
he farm. But then I could not afford
10 make many such Improvements and
DC compelled to pay the increased tax
IN them"
'But, uncle, why are the taxes so high
mere? 1t seems to me as if thew were
outrageous"
ooh! you see the town is bonded for
$4,000 to aid in building the Midland
and we are paying the interest
on the bonds now, and shall have to be-
rim payment Of the principal in two or
three years. The bonds were made pay
able in twenty years and we have been
paying the interest ever since"
"Well, Uncle Ben, would like to talk
over this bonding business some other
time; but now we will talk about
this tax on improvements. Now, uncle,
you have about one hundred and fifty
acres of land here. How much were
your taxes last year?"
''Let me see; there was $140 for town,
county and State tax; then there was
81 school tax, and I worked out $40
highway tax, making in all about S17o.
"Well, uncle, that is about 81. Is per
,cre for your whole farm. Now, how
much does Smith pay on that fifteen
lcre swamp pasture of his down there
your field?"
''Oh! he doesn't pay much on that
Why, his school tax on that was only a
few cents when was collector last year,
and l asked him how much he paid in all
on it, and he said about three dollars. :"
but it is good land if it was brought
into cultivation, is it not, uncle?'
Eyes, of course, it is; and / tell you
Smith makes pretty good thing off OF
it now. You see he pastures his young
stock there, and it is good pasture, too,
as the scattering bushes on it don't in.
iure it much for that purpose, and it is
just wet enough to raise an abundance
of green grass the summer through.
Why, he has nine or ten head of cattle
in there, and then it's increasing in
value every year as the land is cleared
up and improved around it. suppose
when cleared up that acre adjoining il
that it added as much or more in pro
portion to the value of that field as i,
did to the value of my farm.
''But, Uncle, did these assessors ado
to his valuation on that account?'
ooh, no; of course not; he had MOI
made any Improvements on it"
ooh, see. They don't tax the value
of the land, it is only the improvement;
that are taxed"
"Wen, l guess it amounts to abou
that after all"
But, Uncle, don't you think it would
be nearer fair thing if the land wert
taxed according to it's value, without re
gard to the Improvements, SO that Smitl
would have to pay as much on those
fifteen acres as you pay on fifteen acre
of your land?"
well, don't know but it would.
never thought much about that before
but guess, come to think of it, Smith
would be likely to cut the bushes OF
and improve it in that case, for he don
get quite as much value off it now as
do for the same number of acres.
"But, Uncle, if you don't have to pa,
any tax on improvements your tax woult
be no more to the acre than his is now
would it? And then you could build
new barn.