Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1894-09-06
RELIEF TO THE PEOPLE.
BENEFITS OF DEMOCRATIC RULE
CLEARLY SHOWN.

Com parison of the Records Regarding
state Taxes-What Counties Paid and
Received Back Under Rusk, Hoard and
Peck "A Statement BASED on Figures
and Not on Fancy-Another Illustration
OF the Ignorance of the Republican Press
Regasdtac State Affairs.
MILWAUKEE, Aug 2J-When discussing
the question Of state taxes the Republican
press exhibits a degree of ignorance both
appalling in magnitude and reprehensible
for its partisan bias
While the records of the state are open
to public inspection and the books of rec
ord in every county clerks office in the
state contain the history of our public af-
fairs, they will not take the pains to con-
suit them for information which ought to
be familiar to every one who ventures to
d iscuss the question Mt all. hhey repeat
dly assert that during Rusk's administers
ii on no state tax WIS levied and that dur.
ing the first three years of Democratic
rule the state tax levy was increased for
each succeeding year. The fact is that no
state tax has been levied for general state
expenses since 1883 by any party An
educational tax has been levied by all
parties for the past thirty years. Prior to
1885 no state tax was levied for the sup
port Of the common schools of the state.
by chapter PSI Of the laws of 1855 tax Of
] mill on the dollar was levied for com
mon schools purpose The proceeds of
this tax is distributed annually to the
various school districts of the state ac-
cording to the number of scholars con-
tanned therein. The effect of this law was
to relief school districts of the necessity of
levying so large district school tax as
was formerly found necessary. 1t also
served to equulize the tax burden by COM
polling the richer counties to help main
tain the schools of the poorer ones.
TAX FIXED BY LAW.
As this tax together with the annual
levy provided by law for the state uni
versty is fixed ut Il certain percentum on
the total valuation of the state, any in
crease Of such valuation will result in an
increased amount to be returned to the
counties for the support of the common
schools and to maintain the university.
An increase of the state tax levy under
these laws results from and is an incident
of the increased valuation OF the state.
The only method by which state taxes can
be reduced by the administration officers
Of the state while the valuation of the tax
able property in the state remains un-
changed is by transferring funds derived
from other sources to the common school
fund and to the university and normal
school fund income and apply them to the
support of these institutions. This has
been done this year for the first time in
the history of Wisconsin. The valuati on
Of the state MS determined by the state
board of assessment for 1894 is 5000 900, 600
On this valuation under the law Of 1883,
above referred to, a common school tax of
$G00,u00 must be levied or an equivalent
sum supplied from the general fund. The
state university tax on the same valuation
at $50 mills on the dollar, ms provided by
law would require Sl35, 900 more. OF
the surplus now on hand in the general
fund S132, $40 has been applied to meet
these two charges. In this manner the
state tax levy for 1894 has been reduced
three quarters Of u million dollars, while
the revenues which go to maintain the
educational interests of the state remain
unimpaired.
WHAT DEMOCRATS HAVE DONE.
TO illustrate the effect of this policy Il
comparison is here given of the amounts
levied against four counties in 1883, 1870
and 1894, the last years of the Rusk, Hoard
and Peck administrations together with
the amounts returned to the same coun
ties during the same years for the support
of their common schools. The ones given
are representative Of the larger, middle
and small classed counties of the state.