The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-09-15
THE RATE TO Be CHANGED.
II May Be One OnG-hundTedth Of a
Hill Less Than Announced.

Commissioner Carson Thinks the Rate
May Be Made S6.29 on the Thousand
for Convenience Of Calculation.
County Tax Values and Why the
Rate Was Not Lower Than Last
Year-Cause of the General Deprecia-
tion in Values.
There is likely to be a change in the
tax rate of the county which will make it
somewhat less than it is now, though the
change will be an almost immaterial one
II was suggested to some of the com
missions yesterday by Tax Collector
MCGOWAN, who has the work of comput-
ing the amount of taxation due by every
citizen, that the rate be made 1929 on the
81, 900 instead of $3.50. This change would
make a difference Of one oue-hmdrcdth of
a mill on the 81, or about $500 in the total
of the tax collections.
The only reason for the change, if made
at all, will be for the convenience of cal
culation. 1t will be remembered that the
state rate is $461 on the thousand, and
with the county rate at $3.50 the total
rate would be 1901, but with the county
rate at So 20 it will be $1,000 The differ
euce and the saving of labor in Calculat-
ing with the latter amount can readily be
seen, especially where the calculations
have to be made as they do on so many
small amounts. The commissioners have
not formally decided to make the change,
but Commissioner Carson said yesterday
afternoon that he thought it would be
made.
COUNTY TAX VALUES.
A statement of the tax values of Chat
ham county for this year has already
been given. by the MORNING News, but it
will not come amiss here, as the collec-
tion of taxes is to begin at once, to show
just the amounts upon which state and
county taxes are to be collected this year.
In the first place, according to the re-
turns the total amount Of taxable prop
erty in the county is $50, SIS, SIS, the chief
increase in valuations having been in the
improvements in city and suburban prop
erty, especially in the southern part of
the city, and also in the increased valua-
tiOns in real estate. The total increase
has been S444, 8S7, or nearly half a mil
lion, 1926, 465 of which has been in the in
crease in city property alone The total
decrease in valuations in otherlmes, prin-
cipally stocks and bonds, amounts to
S349 200. This leaves a net increase in
the valuations of property in the county
of only S95, 6S7.
The commissioners anticipated a much
larger net increase than this amount in
view OF which they We're going to reduce
the tax rate even below what it was last
year, but that increase failed to material
ize, and new expenses built up such a
heavy budget that an increase was I'M
avoidable.
THE GENERAL DEPRECIATION.
The depreciation in tax values has been
general all over the state. II is a notice
able fact that in the value of stocks and
bonds especially has there been a heavy
slump. This is strange, too, as the returns
were all made before the monetary strin-
gency came on, and COnseq uently before
they had time to depreciate on that ac-
count But from the time that the distrust
and the Lack of confidence began to grow
there has been gradual depreciation in
the market value eff nearly every class of
securities. fer
+ Another cause for this decrease lies in
/ the fact that the county boards of equal
| iZers were done away with by the last
Legislature. This made comparatively
little difference in Chatham county as the
returns were practically the same. But
in many counties IN the state an alarming
decrease in the returns was seen, which
could not well be attributed to any other
cause.
This falling off in values will greatly
embarrass the state. The rate of taxa
tion was fixed by the legislature and be-
yond 81 81 on the thousand they cannot
GO This will cause deficit in the state
treasury which will have to be supplied
before the year is out, probably by tenn
porary loan which the governor is au-
thorized to make in the case of an emer-
gPnCV.