St. Paul daily globe., 1896-03-08
CHICAGo,s ASSESSMENTS.

Some time ago the press Of the coun-
try was furnished with advance sheets
of the report of the labor bureau of the
state of Illinois, a large portion of
which was devoted to the results of an
investigation into the methods of as
sessing property for taxation in the
city of Chicago, as compared with other
portions of the state. So glaring were
the undervaluations made to appear
that the statements were discredited as
inspired by a bias that had not hes
itated to distort facts or misrepresent
them in order to create a prejudice
against wealth. Tables showed that
business and office property was as
sessed at less than 10 per cent of it's
market value; that choice residence
property was assessed at about s per
cent Of its value, while. cheaper resi-
dence property was assessed at Is per
cent of it's actual value. Unimproved
realty was valued at less than per
cent of it's real value by the assessors
Recently we made mention Of the ap-
pointment by Mayor Swift of a COM
mission of business men, some Of them
experts in real estate values, and all
or them familiar with them, for the
purpose of making a complete exami-
nation of the real estate of the city
and report on it's actual market
value The object of this extra official
oody's work was to create a public
opinion that would compel the asses
sors to make assessments as required
by law. The commission has lust
completed and submitted to the mayor
its report of the valuation of the land
and improvements embraced in that
portion of the city lying north of Mad
1son street and between the lake and
river They find the market value of
the land embraced in this district is
$S4,O93,53O, and the improvements on if
are worth $2S,299,57O, making a total
value Of $107, 1893, 100 The report saws
that the assessors valuation of the
same property for the year 1896 was
S6'971 ,S2O for the land, and for the i'm
provements, $3.902106, a total of $1O,-
S73,9SO. The difference between the
real and the assessors valuation of this
small portion of the city is SOC, 1000, 900.
The vindication Of the report Of the
labor bureau by this business COM
mission Of business men is complete.
The percentage of real to assessed
value is the same in both.
In addition the commission report
that they find in this district prop
erty marked exempt" on the assessors
books having value of $3,41716O for
the land alone. with improvements
valued at $252, 2,290. This includes prop
erty owned by churches and charita BILE
associations which is rented for pur-
poses other than religious or charita BILE.
and Is not, under the law. exempt.
Some Of the instances of undervalua-
tions are very striking. One piece of
property on Dearborn street is as
sessed at $4,000, on which the commits
sion place value of $254,OSO. Another
piece, assessed at $1,45o, has a market
value OF 1850, about forty times the
assessors valuation. Another piece
worth $4,000 was assessed at $4,000.
while an adjoining piece, worth, $4,000,
was assessed at $1,000. It is impos-
sible to reconcile the assessments with
the facts on any other theory than the
rascalityoof the assessors and the equal
cr1minality of the owners. Even Grass
ignorance will not account for it,