Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1894-03-23
ALL OVER THE STATE
PEOPLE BEGIN TO AWAKEN TO
THE FACT
That Excessive Taxation IL Grad.
ually Paving the Way to Ruin
I'm Union There Is Strength
state Organization Will he

State ORGANIZATION Will II
Formed To Retrench Expenses.
From all over the State comes tn
wall from over-burdened people in re
gard to taxes which benefit no one bu
boodlers. A letter from Tacoma t,
the Post, Intelligencer says:
"W. H. Fife comes forward with
solution; Let the people give them 5,
many days to reduce expenses ant
economize and if they do not do it lie
the people rise up in their might ant
drive them out.
Mr.. Fife is the heaviest individual
taxpayer in this city and in this coun
ty. His taxes this year aggregate
$4,000. The Chamber OF Commerce
said the expenses of the city govern
ment are twice too high, and Mr.. File
says the same thing about taxes, botl
city and county.
Mr.. File came here with about $75,
600. He invested every cent of it
Three years ago he was counting on
an income of $4,000 a year. To-day
he said: "At the present rate my
property will be eaten up by taxes and
insurance in five years."
Flies taxes represent five per cent
on the value of his property. Taxes
are twice as high now as they were in
boom times. For years Mr.. Fife has
been the richest property holder in
this city or county. Doodle govern.
ment is crowding him to the wall. He
has one vote and 100000 worth oil
property. Men paid to work for the
city have for weeks been devoting their
time to running in" and naturalizing
several hundred voters to offset the
votes of taxpayers like Mr.. Fife.
The Tacoma Ledger says that the
Commissioners of Pierce county and
their bondsmen are personally and
alone liable for $1SOOOO of expenses
incurred. On this subject special to
the P.-I. says:
The Supreme Court decision yes
terday, in the case of E. M. Hunt
against the Board of Pierce County
Commissioners, restraining the is.
suance and sale of 100000 worth ol
county bonds voted by the people last
spring, will be far-reaching, and will
seriously embarrass the county in mat.
ters financial. The II per cent. limit
of indebtedness was reached last
spring. Since May. 5, 1898, the county
has not issued q single warrant except
those drawn upon the special salary
fund. The witnesses in court cases
bailiffs, stenographers, County Com
board for prisoners and
other expenses have not been paid
since that time, and the immediate
prospect is that they will not be paid
for some months to come. The
County Commissioners, it is said, can
not purchase cord of wood or . ton
of coal, excepting on credit. They
can fund the present outstanding float.
ing debt by replacing the warrants
with bonds, but that will not help
matters any, for the limit Of indebted
ness was reached long ago, and the
bonds 30 issued are held to be within
the limits of unauthorized indebted.
ness"
The Seattle Telegraph says: "The
rate of taxation in King county il
about 3 per cent. upon a valuation
which is, to put it mildly, quite equal
to the earning value of the property
within the county. In this taxation
is included the levy for city purposes
and for the State. We shall not at.
tempt to estimate what the rate would
be upon the actual cash value of the
assessed property. Three per cent. ol
any value that any man, fit to be al
large, would place upon the property
in King county is degree Of taxation
positively startling. 1t appears to be
q lower rate than that OF Pierce county
and possibly is no higher than that ol
some other counties, but this does not
help matters in the least. The rate il
excessive, is calculated to depreciate
the value of property, to stop invest
ments and to keep everybody hard ur
for money"
The Yakima Republic says that a
demand is going up all over the State
for the annulment OF the last tax levy
so as to give the taxpayers relief
Granting that the County Commits
sioners have the power to annul tai
levy, it occurs TO us that to take such
course would be very unwise. If the
counties could escape any liability by
omitting the collection of taxes for g
year, the suggestion might have some
thing to recommend it; but as the di'
rect result would be that the expenses
of two years county government would
have to be paid next year with q lot ol
interest added, it seems to 10 that
serious mistake would be made by the
Commissioners in exercising such 9
power, if they really possess it. The
wiser course to take is to call a halt In
future expenditure. Lei
the experiment be tried for five years
of doing with as few officers as posi-
BILE and cutting the tax levy down &c
the lowest possible figure. That is the
only kind of reform in regard to taxes
that is worth thinking about at ALL"
Elsewhere in this issue appears
correspondence from Vancouver re-
garding the permanent organization
of committees of taxpayers in every
county in this State, the purpose be-
ing to adopt ways and means OF put