Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-08-03

ty valuation being raised by the state board
1Z5 per cent, but nothing has been said
about the decrease OF acre property in Wy
andotte county, and while / do not desire
to defend the assessment laws of the state
of Kansas any more than | would desire tC
defend the action Of the state board. still il
is well to puncture the action bv the state
board of equalization, and examine into
this great increase of valuation and see
how much better the corporations in Wyan-
dOtte county were treated by the state
board Of equalization, and how much worse
the people in general are treated by this
wonderful increase of valuation.
In the first place. the state board of
equalization gave as reason for raising
the valuation OF the personal property, that
the big packing houses, stock yards and
other big institutions were trying TO es-
cape their full share of the burden of
taxes, and, to protect the farmers, il re-
duced the value Of the land. believing that
the value OF lands returned, tO-Wit. S3s. 30
an acre, was unreasonably high, not stop
ping TO reason that the cause of such big
valuation per acre was not created by
valuable farm lands in our county, bUc
was produced by reason of the fact that all
OF our big Institutions, packing houses.
stock yards and others. are located on lands
described by metes and bounds, and ap-
pear upon our tax rolls and assessment
rolls as acre property, having been pur-
chased originally in tracts, and which were
never plated, when in fact and in truth.
from an examination of the returns, II will
appear that without the city lands, farm
property in our county IS valued at an
average OF " per acre.
Burden on the People.
In making this increase and at the same
time this sweeping reduction, the state
board threw a burden on the people in
general, and protected the large institu-
tions, and it needs only a man with but
little brains to see that the state board
committed this act, either through glaring
inCompetency or wilful intent as a proper
showing was made TO the state board. and
they were fully apprised of the conditions
OF affairs in WyandOtte county, and it
= a
pleaded at this time, so the people will
have TO judge and determine, why this
Now. TO start with. the valuations are
returned to the state auditor. showing the
total value of lands (meaning acre prop
ertyD, described by metes and bounds also
the value Of lots is shown. the same
with the value Of railroad property and
personal property.
The valuation of lands or land does not
mean farm property. but all lands in Wy
andotte county, whether located in the
cities or IN any township outside Of the
cities. and necessarily includes all acre
property. whether used for farms or for
manufacturing purposes.
The total value OF all lands in the five
townships In Wyandotte county, as re-
turned by the different assessors or town
ship officers, amounts to S. .307, 455, and TO
assist the poor farmer tor rather for DO
litiCal TeasOnsl the state board of equaliza-
tiOn without any request from any tax
payer of this county, and In a secret man
her. makes d sweeping cut of q per cent
"
purpose Of getting a whack' at the cor
pOrations in our city. they increase the
personal property valuation 125 per cent,
ana in summing up the increase and de-
crease. We find the acre property or lands
in Nyandotte county are decreased in val
UatiOn in the sum OF 1854 55S and the per-
scuaI propertv is Increased Sap 125 lsay-
ing net increase for the people to paw
on, and not the corporations in the sum
or S2l1,J69. and this Increase has to be borne
by the merchants. wage earners and the
people IN general who do not pay on acre
property, but who live in homes located on
city lots and who nave only small amount
OF merchant stock on hand for very in
gonOusly the state board, with their eyes
open and fully apprised OF the conditions
in this county protected the corporate in
terests. and here is the way II vas done,
taking 20 illustrate twenty or our lead
ing industries. and 70 can easily be figured
out how the state board protected the In
terests OF the good people and salivated
the corporations:
First of all the total amount OF decrease.
as fixed by the state board, amounts to
$69i. $50. and OF this amount $S19,07b goes TO
thu. credit of the corporations while on
crease, the 125 per cent. added TO the per-
sOnaI property valuation of these same
still balance in favor of the corporations
in the sum OF sl03. .2SS. simply reduction.
and made so By the state board OF equali-
zation.
To arrive at how It was done, the fol-
lowing corporations have their plants To-
Gated on acre property inside OF the city,
and their property is listed on the tax rolls
as acre property. and the following valu-
ations Of the following corporations are
herewith submitted. showing that they pay
taxes on said valuations as acre property.
and are among the property owners who
derive the benefit from the q per cent re-
duction as made by the state board of
and l herewith submit the
valuations OF the acre property owned by
the following corporations. on which they
pay taxes together with the valuation Of
the personal property on which they pay
taxes, showing the FER cent of increase and
decrease as fixed by the state board and
how any sane man living in this communi-
-y can see how he has been benefited and
the corporations saiivated- is more than 1
ran figure out.
The law provides that the county COM
missiOners may and are authorized TO
adopt the figures fixed by the state
board of equalization on which to make
their annual levy, and the state board are
quoted as saying. that It Is no fault OF
he board that these valuations cannot be
made 20 apply for all purposes, county and
school as well as state" and in reply can
lnly saw We are thankful that the powers
of the state board are only limited to tax
alton for state purposes"
The result OF this whole scheme or
action of the state board of equalization |
was simply this in a nutshell: The farm
all