The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1894-06-01
Mr.. Alexander, Stand Up!

OnS potent reason 1Or lue present Hdlu
times in this county is the inequitable as
sessments made by assessor Alexander
last year. People are struggling to save
sufficient money with which to pay their
taxes. According to law all taxes unpaid
on the first of April become delinquent,
but through the kindness of the county
court the taxpayers have had all exten-
ton of time and the sheriff instructed
not to force collections. Yet many per
sons have paid their taxes, which has
caused many sacrifices. This is especially
true of the persons who pay taxes on
amounts under $500. The property of
such persons is, as rule, assessed at
higher valuation than that of persons
worth many thousands, and this latter
class are for that reason, very assiduously
working in the interest of Mr.. Alexan-
der.
The law of Oregon provides that all
property shall be assessed at its true
cash value" and the con- titution pro-
vides that "al1 taxation shall be equal
and uniform" The question now arises,
Has Mr. Alexander complied with the
law? No. To illustrate how far from
the spirit and letter the last assessment
was made, we will cite for instance: A
house which cost IS, 900 to erect i'll 1892
is assessed at $1,000; another house
which cost in 1892 $4,000, is assessed at
81, 600; another house which cost 5000
to erect in 1888 is assessed at s., ,2oo. A
man who swears to an undertaking on
surety that he is worth $50, ,oCo is assessed
at s., 500, and one who swcars that he is
worth $4,000, is taxed on $4,000.
These people are of course trying to Sc
cure the reelection of Mr.. Alexander. A
widow who owns notes aggregatlnS So
900 is assessed OH their full value. This
unjust discrimination works a hardship
on the honest taxpayer. Why should
money and notes be taxed at their full
value when other classes of property arc
assessed at from 90 per cent. to 50 pei
cent of its value? Such a system as
this is continual temptation to such as
have money and notes to conceal them
from the assessor. Another thing is this
that person who OWNS small farm OF
a small dwelling in town worth from $40c
to $1,000 pays proportionately more
taxes than the rich man whose farm OF
residence is worth many thousands
These instances are proof positive that
the statute has not been complied with
and that an unjust discrimination has
been made in favor of the rich an6
against the poor.
As was said in this paper last fall, i
assessors uniformly discriminate agains
money and notes and in favor of lanG
and stock and improvements, the natura
result must be that money will not stay
where such conditions exist. That is the
4 reason why capital will not come to Ore
gon for investment. Money, the mos
ticklish of all commodities, is perpetu
ally avoiding localities where ignorant
) captious and pernicious legislation per
mits such conditions to exist. If asses
sors are not intelligent or courageous
enough to assess visible, tangible property
up to its actual value and give money ;
fair chance with other property, then Or
egon need not expect the introduction O
money into the state. Her resources
must needs remain dormant and unde
veloped and she will be bound to lag be
hind her sister states in prosperity ant
importance.