The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1892-03-11
A NEW ASSESSMENT NEEDED.

ment to the next will observe that the
valuation of property upon which
taxes are levied decreases year by
year, except when the county may
have experienced an abnormal growth
and prosperity. A large amount of
property, therefore, must CHI ang e
hands, be abated from taxation in the
hands of its original owners and not
being assessed escapes taxation alto
gether This hidden and untaxed
property can not be land, for the valu-
alton placed upon it by the assessors
and board of review can not be chang
ed by the County Commissioners nor
can it escape the tax gatherer. The
decrease in the taxable basis, there
fore, must be in personal property,
and the failure to pay taxes thereon
must be made up by increased taxes
upon the land and upon such person
al property-mostly that found upon
taxation.
AS an illustration of the irresistible
tendency of personal property to hide
itself from the eyes of the tax collect
ors, the assessed valuation of Hartford
county in 1866 was 81, 1896 The as
sessment of 1867 increased it to $12,-
9S6, 4S0-an increase of over five and a
half million dollars. This basis, under
the operation of the tendency we have
noted, lessened year by year until in
1875, before the new assessment took
effect, the basis was $12, 645, Goa re-
duction of $340, 781, as compared with
1867, and this, too, during a decade
the most prosperous, perhaps, Hartford
county has ever known.
The assessment of 1876, from low
er valuation of farm property, showed
a decrease of $3O5, 410. Then, again,
personal property, by changing
hands, began to escape taxation, until
in 1888 the basis amounted only to
$12, ,754. The next year the basis
was increased $394,s17, but fell off
about $40, 900 the following year. The
labors of the Tax Commissioner, in
ascertaining the ownership of various
bank and other stocks, increased the
assessable basis, which in 1891 was
2,851, 816. Besides the additions thus
made, during the last decade two rail
roads, the Baltimore and Lehigh and
the Philadelphia Extension of the Bal
timore and Ohio, have been built
through our county, with their sta
ton houses and other valuable i'm
provements along their lines. These,
together with the Susquehanna Paper
Mills, the Havre de Grace Shoe Fac
tory and other extensive works are
sufficient to account for the increase
in our county assessment. Deduct
these and it will be seen that there
has been no apparent increase in the
amount of personal property owned
by citizens of Hartford county.
We do not believe Hartford county is
poorer in material wealth to-day than
in 1876. Land, it is true, is lower
in its selling value than it was when
the last assessment was made, but
farmers are still paying on the old
valuation and there is no change in our
taxable basis from this cause. The
bulk and value of personal property
in the county is, perhaps, greater now
than it has ever been before and taxes
are high and unequally distributed be-
cause so much of this personal prop
erty is not disclosed to the County
Commissioners or the tax collectors.
1t is probable that a new adjustment
of the value of land would decrease
the assessment ON nearly every farm
in the county, yet this decrease in our
taxable basis would be more than
made up by the discovery of large
amount of personal property which is
now untaxed.
1t is immaterial, so far as our county
tax is concerned, whether property
be valued high or low, provided that
everybody is assessed in the same pro-
portion on all they own, whether in
land or personal property. A certain
amount of money is needed every
year for county expenses and the tax
rate must be made high or low, accord
ing as the assessed valuation of prop
erty is high or low. The higher the
valuation the greater the amount to
be paid to the State The lower the
valuation the higher the county rate
of taxation must be- The most i'm
portant thing is to have all the prop
erty in the county, of every kind, ex-
cept such as may be exempt by law,
assessed according to it's value and in
equitable proportions. Then, wheth-
er the valuation through the county
be high or low, no one will be COM
PEELED to pay more than his just dues
in taxes.
The same condition of affairs which
we have have described in Hartford
exists, doubtless, in every county in
the State and in the city of Baltimore
as well. A new assessment, therefore,
is imperatively demanded, by every
consideration of right and Justice, in
order that taxation may be equalized,
and the Legislature will be recreant
to its duties if it fails to provide for a
revaluation of property in the State.