The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-06-11
MR.. ABARBANBLL REPLIES.
He Wants Vacant Lots Taxed Not as
a Georgeite But as a Democrat.

To the Editor of 1.-THE Jersey City News'':-
Although I am a Henry George Single
Taxer, my letter of the 18th inst. was not
written from a Single Tax point of view,
but from that of a Democrat DESTROYS
that my party, now in control of NUM-
cipal affairs. shall make a good record
property in this city l am, also, naturally,
| personally. interested in having the tax
rate reduced to the figures alleged to have
been mentioned by Mayor Hoos. In that
desire l believe l have the support of
every man who WINS a house and lot in
Jersey City and of every tenant (who is,
rent. If l am a mere theorist then nine
tenths of the inhabitants of Jersey City
must be put in the same class with me.
| have asked simply for the actual per
Torrance by the Tax Board of their duty
under the law as it now stands, and I
think that Mayor Hoos is inclined to see
that this is done, in spite of his denial,
which you so prominently publish in last
evenings paper.
Pardon me for using my own humble
holdings of real estate as a concrete ex-
lot, if sold at public auction, would not
bring more thar Sc, 1000 at the most; it is
assessed for $4,000, that is to say 80 per
cent. of it's market value. l do not OBJ
ject to this. / do not ask that it's as
sessed valuation should be reduced; I do
not poster the Commissioner of Appeals
with fearful pleadings to lave it reduced.
What [ ask, what, in common with all
other holders of improved property 1 nave
a right to ask, is that every vacant lot in
| Jersey City should also be assessed at so
per cent of it's market value. That is
what / mean by equal taxation in local
affairs. 1t is the law that this should be
done. Would you care to place yourself
and your able paper in the position of de-
Tending an open and persistent violation
of the law?
And yet, is not this what you have, per-
haps unwittingly, done in your yester-
days editorial?
You state that .the proposition that
| vacant lots should be assessed at their
full value or at the same rate as similar
improved lots is a specious one. 1t APP
peals to the careless as an unansWerable
claim of justice and right. 1t is in reality
a very weak and questionable demand.
and its enforcement might lead to the
most disastrous consequences"
Whatever consequences it might lead to,
it is the law on the statute book, and, as
such, must and ought to be obeyed until
it has been repealed. At the present mo-
ment nearly fifty assessors in Westchester
county are under indictment for diSobey-
ing a similar law in New York.
/ might rest here with the statement
that 1t doesn't make any difference who
gets hurt, so long as the law is properly
But 1 take the liberty, with all due re-
spect, to deny hat its enforcement would
lead to the disastrous consequences you
depict. If there are four thousand vacant
houses in Jersey City today, it is because
there are four thousand families looking
in vain for work with which to earn the
money TO pay the rent. Inc building
boom you mention would be a God-send
to these people, and to the thousands of
other carpenters, masons, brickIayers,
painters, etc., who would be attracted here
by your W columns teeming with Help
Wanted" These people would soon fill the
vacant houses already built and to be
built at rents remunerative to the owners.
They would also need clothing, shoes,
provisions, furniture and other necessaries
of life. which the retail stores of Jersey
City would be only too glad to sell to
them.
In a word, all would be benefited ex-
cept the land SPECTATORS, who are keep
ing valuable property out of use because
the taxes on it are merely nominal.
AS to the city finding purchasers for
lots forfeited for n-on-payment of taxes,
you will see the lively scramble for them
at next Wednesdays auction.
All this, permit me to repeat. is not
single tax, but Democratic equal taxation.
J.. r. ABARBANELL,
Jersey City, June 10, 1897.