The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1896-12-11
STATE BOARD OF
EQUALIZATION
Several Members Now Visiting Clat-
sop County and Astoria.
OUR VALUATIONS ARE HIGH
Compared With Other Counties. clat-
sop Is Paying Too Large'a Share OF
the State Taxes
OUR VALUATIONS ARE HIGH

Messrs ]. a. Holland. Of Vale. Nal
heur county; c. A. Johnson, Of Hepp-
ner, and o. p. Goodail, Of Union, the
new members Of the state board Of
equalization. are visiting In the city,
guests Of their co-member OF the board.
Mr. O, wlngate.
When seen by an Astorlan reprcsen-
tativc. Mr. wingate said last evening
These gentlemen who are visiting
Clatsop county with me. and who are
the new members OF the state board OF
are here 10 become person.
ally acquainted with the values Of prop
erty in Clatsop, and II we have time
We will also visit Columbia and Clack-
amas counties. They are here at their
own expense for the purpose OF getting
information.
As far as Clatsop county is con-
cerned. as compared with other coun-
ties Of the state. valuations OF property
are too high. Some classes Of property
have bern raised within n year over
what they were assessed last year,
causing the county 20 pay more than
her share OF the taxes. The board Is
organized 10 equalize values as between
counties. The county board OF equali-
xation equaliEcs values ~ between In
dlviduals. / believe firmly that the as
sessment laws Of oregon need very
careful revision In many particulars.
There seems 10 be no power. for in
stance. 10 compel any county 10 have
It's roll on fle In time for us 70 equal
izs e. Our session Is thirty days from
the first Tuesday IN December II the
roll is not In on time. we have no way
to compel II to be sent In. There are
many other points In the present law
which need revision. II the tax roll OF
the county is not passed upon By the
board as 90 whether the taxes are equi.-
able or not as between counties. II fire.
quently places counties falling to sent
In their rolls 10 much unnecessary ex-
pense and creates uncalled for burdens
upon the tax payers. There is great
lack OF interest upon the part OF the
people al large in the matter OF taxes.
They do not look after their taxes at
the right time After assessment rolls
have been turned in and passed upon
by the board Of equalization, 1t Is too
late to make protests. Now Is the time
to protest and secure Establishments.
For example take the one item alone OF
town lots and improvements. The as
sessment under this column In Clatsop
county has been raised this year over
1900 900 above what II was last year.
As compared with other counties In the
state Il should have been lowered by
that amount instead OF having been
raised. My business is 20 equalize the
OF property as between coun-
ties, and do not want to critIclse any
one. but 1t does seem to me that we
ought to take the same action In the
matter OF taxes and our fair proportion
as community. OF the state taxes,
which We have to pay as we would
IN our personal affairs. In other
words we should use every endeavor to
make the business Of the community at
large successful and keep down its
expenses, one only needs to examine
The record to learn startling facts. We
have maid 800 900 more than we shnuld
have paid on account Of state taxes, all
because due diligence was not used.
know It is claimed that we have
in this county Of over $4,000
lOO, but l do not believe 1t, on legit-
mate basis, compared with other coun-
les in the state and other sections of
he country, we should not have val
lation OF over half of that amount"