Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-01-22
ALESSON ON TAXATION.
First Assessor Fay's Views on the
 Waterbury System-Old Houses That Have Never Been Taxed-The Tax

Waterbury system-Old Houses That |
 Upon Manufacturers. Is To Editor of the DEMOCRAT: |l
 As any suggestion looking toward a 2 of taxes concerns the public Tn [ general, feel some confidence that you will find a space in your columns for the ] following communication on the sub- ject:
 That taxation in our city is unequal and therefore unjust, is matter of ire quent complaint. In looking about for a cause of such condition, one very evi- dent presents itself, and that IS, the peculiar system of assessing property that prevails in Waterbury. Under this system, our assessors are allowed only a little over two months to write up all the taxable property in Waterbury, to list it alphabetically, to have thelr list bt und and copied on "the abstract" and sworn to. It is easy to see that the time allowed is entirely inadequate for the
 work, and that when done mnch of it is left to guess work.
 People come into the office and in
 handing In their list, say to the asses
 sors: Put me in for the same amount | as last year." In many cases this state | ment has been repeated for perhaps l twenty years and so they have kept on paying the same amount year after year, | because the method of taxing property | is the same now as it was then. Some of the oldest residents bear me out in this statement, that thirty years ago the assessors were elected just as they are
 to-day, and that they had just as much
 time to do the work of the office then as
 they have to-day, even though the pop
 ulation of the city is now more than
 three times as large as it was then, and | he " f0 Ina aES five-fold.
 The absurdity of this state of affairs
 is apparent. And moreover the law
 leaves loop-hole for tax dodgers. Sup
 pose for instance, man of this class
 and there are several of them-builds
 couple of new houses which he does not
 wish to put on the list. He knows that if
 he does not hand Tn his list before No
 vember 15, the assessors will add ten
 per cent to the taxable amount for
 which he is assessed on the list of the
 preceding year. and he stays away,
 thus keeping the new houses, which may be twice, as valuable as the old
 one, off the list, while his taxable amount is increased only ten per
 cent. This year listed two houses that
 were built fifteen years ago and for which no taxes had ever been paid This is only one instance of many that tend to show how taxes are avoided ; and there are many similar property , owners ill this city.
 l It may surprise some of your readers to learn that there are more than two 0 hundred merchants in this city. doing a : prosperous business, whose names were s never on the tax list. There is another = subject on which there is general mis- $ understanding, and that is the taxable
 character of unfinished buildings. Many a people seem to think that unfinished l..:I n,, 0f.~x 1T the law explicitly says, that all property
 finished or unfinished shall be taxed fol
 it's actual value. It is general beliei
 that R. K. Browns five story block or e East Main street and Exchange place
 does not pay taxes because it is an un ,s finished building. This is not so. Nil d Brown pays more taxes than any othe
 taxpayer in Waterbury.
 e One question often asked assessors is e Why don't you put a heavier tax on thu 1T manufacturing concerns they cal
 stand it? On this question l take tn, ,e position that these concerns deserve e much consideration. To them and thei @ managers we owe whatever we are an( 8 have. Without them Waterbury would h quickly disappear from the list of i'm k porlant cities of New England. N, l. sensible man will deny that on the sue I. cess of the manufacturers depends tn d fortune of Waterbury and its people ct This Is so true as to need no demonstra
 tion Therefore it is our duty to do al il we can to encourage and sustain them ar rather than to weigh them down witt le the burden of heavy tax. There Is on ar concern in our city whose manager tol' c. me that they had been offered by tn d board of trade ill a certain western city le thirty thousand dollars, fifteen acres ( ,h land and exemption from taxation, k they would locate in that city.
 t. Now the means that I would sugges
 as a remedy for this condition of affairs Is is to change our system of assessment d Let us elect our assessors for two o 1, three years. and let them be intelligen ye men, men of known honesty, impartia ,d and firm and let them give their whol
 time and attention to this work. l hay s- letters from many cities i'll ditferen r. parts of the country and in most C CT these the system is much more rs ct tional than ours. I shall select few ( It. the leading cities in New England fc y, the purpose of comparison. Bridgepol ld elects four assessors for two years wit ly clerk. salary S1 200 each: New Have1
 five assessors, salary ,Sl 300 each; Spring or field, Mass, three assessors, term thre d. years, salary, chairman $1 200, secretary c- HOO, third assessor Sl 1000; Newpor n R. l., three assessors, for three year he salary, 5000 each; Holyoke, Mas of three assessors, for three year -e, $500 each, chairman S1OO addit iona A. Fall River, Mass, three assessors fe to three years, salary $i 200 each, a cler m- $500; Providence, R. l., three assessor or term three years, salary s2,4O0 eacl m- Scranton, Pa, three assessors, twent,
 one assistants, elected for three year 7 a salary Sl,00O each; Lowell, Mass, si el- assessors for two years, salary $1 ,O( ur each l have letters from twenty If,
 other cities in nearly all Qf which tl
 three years with salaries ranging fro nj, $1 ,0OO to $2, 400 a year. or. Now is it not time that the citizens he Waterbury should realize the absurdi 7as and injustice of the system we follow egs this matter and change it. If our tax 'ur were collected as they ought to be, the