The advocate and Topeka tribune., 1893-02-01
To Believe Working Farmers.

county taxation" was introduced by Mr..
Moss, of Lyon county:
Be 1t enacted, etc.,
SECTION l. 1t shall be the duty Of all
assessors and officers performing the
duties Of assessors, in assessing property,
to assess all property at it's full value in
the following manner, 3. e.: All personal
property, all improvements on land that
are the result of labor and capital, and
all land values irrespective Of improve
ments, when 80 listed or assessed at their
true value, shall be entered in separate
columns, so as to give the full value Of
each class of property separately and
distinctly from the other
Sec. 2. The board of county commits
sioners in any county may in it's discre-
tion levy all taxes upon and in proportion
to the assessed value of land values, in
cluding all Improvements thereon; or
u pom the assessed value Of land alone,
exclusive Of improvements or personal
property; or upon the assessed value of
personal property alone; or upon the
assessed value of land, improvements
and personal property together.
Sec. 3. Nothing in this act contained
shall be construed as diminishing the
proportion of the state tax, which any
county might be required to pay into the
state treasury, under existing laws. or
under any law which may be hereafter
enacted; but in every county all land
values, improvements and personal prop
erty shall be assessed and returned in
the manner now or hereafter prescribed
by law; and in any county in which the
board OF commissioners may exempt
from taxation any class OF property, by
virtue Of the power hereby conferred,
shall nevertheless pay the same proper
tiCn OF the state tax which it would be
liable to pay if no such exemption were
made,
II the above draft of a bill were to be-
come law, what would be the effectP
Let us see. In Lyon county the farmers
and tenant farmers who till the soil pay
taxes on $4,000 of personal property as
against $5OO,000 personal property listed
in the cities. AS all taxes are paid from
wealth, and all wealth is produced by
labor applied to land, therefore if per-
sonsl property should be exempted from
taxation, the working farmers of Lyon
county would be relieved of $4,000
annual taxes, and through the exemption
Of all improvements from taxation they
would be relieved of as much more. We
have now exempted real wealth and the
wealth producers from $4,000 taxes
annually. From what source will we
make up the defciencyP
In this county there are 172,0OO acres
in cultivation, and 364, 900 not cultivated.
Who owns the latter? If one wishes to
take a quarter section from which to
make farm, he will find the owner lives
in some city, or away to the east of us.
So we infer that nearly all the idle land
is held by speculators or landlords; and
under the above law, if the people so de-
sired, they would shift the $4,000 annual
tax onto this idle land (364,0OO acres(
thereby making these gentlemenly spec
ulators and landlords pay just as much
tax for holding their land idle as though
they we're using it. Why notH Here is
a farmer who by hard work and economy
becomes the owner of 160 acres of land
which he improves with a handsome
dwelling, good barn, orchard, wells, |
fence, etc. AS reward for his industry |
and saving, the assessor tells him, II
must assess your farm $l5 per acre"
Besides that, his personal property is
assessed Rt S1 OO0 more. An adioininO