The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1897-12-06

the officials looted the treasury. 1t seVfus
from . passage in the annual message
OF Gov. Ogiesby for 1887 the looting be-
gins before the money reaches the treas
ury and that among the chief OF the
conspirators are men Of eminent re-
spectabiiity and great wealth. who. ac-
cording to Gov. ogtesby. though hon
est In all other transactions OF life. have
felt obliged In the matter OF taxation
to protect themselves by evading fair
valuation OF their property"
Whenever there is an evasion OF
taxation by one class IL falls upon an
other, and IT is sufficiently well known
that when this discrimination takes
place 1t is the property-owner OF modest
means who gets the worst OF ii. II il
a perfectly established fact that large
amount Of personal property escapes
taxation. unjustiy. partly because ii
cannot be discovered by the assessor
and partly because its owners refuse to
list it at its true value.
This is not limited to the ordinary
possessions of q citizen, but Is repre-
scented In large figures by that class OF
property which may be considered
through ill-advised legislation to be I'M
der double tax When q piece OF real
estate IL assessed at its real value. and
pays a tax to that extent. 1t should be
free from any other direct or indirect
land taxed. but il there is a mortgage
on 1t. that is taxed also. This manifest
injustice provokes taxpayers. who
would ordinarily be fair about paying.
to rebel against what they consider an
imposition which they are powerless to
prevent.
How widespread IS the evasion OF tax
alton is shown by report of Comptrol-
Ter Jones for 1894. He says that in 1869
the assessed valuation of the city was
1856. s20. 900. while that of 1894 was only
s247, 425. Az. In other words, according
TO the assessors. the value of property
in the city of Chicago is now sis,494, 55S
less than it was twenty-f five years ago.
when the population was but 100000.
He explains 1t by saying that lit is en-
tirely due to the absurd system of as
sessing now in vogue, which permits the
rich to escape taxation and adds to the
burdens of the poor
This explanation Is not confined to
Chicago. however. In recent article
written.by Comptroller Roberts. of New
York, some facts and figures are given
which are very interesting as bearing
upon the evasion Of taxation by wealthy
people. whose property consists mostly
of mortgages. stocks, bonds, notes and
money. He selected lot estates in vari-
Gus parts of the state. ranging in value
from $50. 000, 900 down to s102, 432. The
comparisons are startling. For in
stance. the appraised personal property
of the $s0.o00.0 900 estate had been as
sessed the year before decedent's death
at $500. 900. One appraised after death
at $40, 252, S57 was assessed the year be-
fore death at $500, oO0
OF nineteen estates, not one of which
was less than s., 000. 900, the highest as
sessed value the year before death was
$400, 900. and in one case II was only
$1,000. There were thirty-four other es
tates, ranging from s54.559 to $3.50, so,
which were assessed the year before de-
cedent's death at absolutely nothing.
The total amount of personal prop
erty in these 10 estates. as shown by the
records of the probate court. amounted
to s2l5. 132. 800. but Its gross assessment
the year before the death OF it's owners
was but ss.Sis.al2, or only LII per cent.
OF the actual sworn value of the prop
erty as received by the heirs.
A curious phase OF the matter is that
the personal property owned by the peo-
pie OF the state OF New York is only as
sessed at about 2 per cent of Its actual
value, while real estate is assessed at
more than two-thirds OF its actual
value.
Is ii not about time that there was a
reform in our method OF assessing prop
erty and ievying taxes:
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