The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-04-17
WHO PAYS THE TAX
NE. WEBB SEARCHES THE CLERKS
RECORDS FOR TIE ANSWER.
He Then Prociaims That Wichita Does Not
PAY One-half the County Taxes-Thinks
Committee of Fifty Have Claimed Too
Much--Ed. Dorsey Takes Down a Big
Book and Reads a Chapter, Which Tells
Who Pays and What for--The Railroads
are Factor in Tax Payins--Other In
formation Regarding Tax Paying.

''I notice that some Of the speakers
at the meetings OF the committee OF
fifty speak of the city of Wichita pay
ing seven-e;ghths OF the county tax,
! said County Commissioner Webb yes
terday. and l just want to remark
that they are mistaken about that.
.'Of course there is a good deal of
wealth in the city of Wichita but there
is also a considerable amount of asses
sabls property il Sedgwick county
outside of Wichita that pays its share
of county taxes.
Il have taken the trouble to look
over the books in the county clerk 5
office and ! find that more than one
half the property assessed for taxa
ton and upon which the revenue for
the county is obtained is outside the
limits of the city of Wichita.
This statement that the city pays
such a large proportion of the county
tax seems TO be accepted without ques-
ton because of its frequent repetition.
The fact of the matter is that the
assessed valuation outside the city
limits for the year 1894 was S5.SSS,2 e9,
while the valuation for the city was
S5.n1,7S2.
Now. of course the same per cent of
county tax is paid on all property and
these figures show that the city OF
Wichita does not pay one half the coun-
ty tax. let alone seven-eighths.
4 reporter for the Eagle saw Edward
Dorsey in the county treasurer's Office
and told him of Commissioner Webb S
statement. Mr.. Dorsey brought out a
book and turning over the leaves said:
Il guess Mr.. Webb must have made
a mistake in his figures or else he has
obtained them before the equalization
was made. The entire assessed valUa-
ton of the county for 1894 was sl0.S69.-
e16. and by adding Mr.. Webb's figures
YOU see they make over $11 900 600.
which is nearly 100000 more than the
assessment He may have added more
than the county's share of the railroad
assessment.
The railroads of Sedgwick county
are assessed at $l.3S5.417, and if you
were TO substract all this amount from
the taxable valuation outside of the
city you would have only 81, 00i ,Sl2.
Now if you take the returns of the
assessors before any railroad assess
ments are added and they show that
the property returned i'll the city as
about a half million dollars more than
the county outside of Wichita.
LAS a matter of fact the total of all
taxes paid by the city of Wichita far
exceeds that payed 10y the balance OF
the county and this probably accounts
for the idea that some people have that
Wichita pays a good deal more than
Cne-half the county taxes.
THE total tax levy of this county
for 1894 was 1904. 1106i, of this amount
$500 59l13 was leyyed on the city OF
Wichita and S114.5I9.51 was for all the
county outside the city of Wichita.
This shows that the city did. for that
year, pay neraly two-thirds of all the
taxes.
Now that does not show that Wich-
tia pays two-thirds of the county tax.
1t simply shows that We pay higher
rate of taxation here in the city. Our
higher tax comes of our more eXpens-
i've schools, water works. paving and
other items of tax that the people out
side of Wichita do not have to pay.
The fact of the matter is that taxes in
this county outside of Wichita are not
very high
These figures were taken from the
assessors books and are undoubtedly
correct. They show that the city of
Wichita pays more for government
and schools and public improvements
twice over than all the rest of the
county.