Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1897-02-25
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
TREELAND, FEBRUARY 25, 1897.
1t Is Time to Call "A Halt.


Instead of increasing the tax levy to
meet the current county expenditures,
burden which would fall on the people
generally, why not increase the yalua-
tion Of coal lands to what would be
just figure? The valuation placed on
coal lands is ridiculously low, compar
ed with what it should be, and this gross
injustice ought to be righted. Coal
property does not bear its just and rea-
sonable burden of taxation, and an in
crease of 100 per cent could be borne
without doing injustice. That's the
direction duty points, Messrs. Commis
sioners, and the plan is a safe one to
follow. The people are taxed enough
NeaoSdealer,
The Ne1oSdedler strikes at the root of
the trouble. With a proper valuation
placed upon coal lands, and for that
matter upon all assessable property,
there would be no deficiency. Instead,
there is bareiaced and llagrant viola
tion Of the law practised in the commits
sioners' office year after year. Local
assessors may return property as often
as they wish at the value the law says
property shall be assessed. These re-
turns, however, do not stand. The com
missioners, without authority from the
state, scale the figures down to one-third
and sometimes to one-fourth of the
amount sent them by the assessors. The
revised figures are then made the basis
for the commissioners estimates, and
the tax duplicates are made out accord
ingly.
This system is an ingenious one, mas
much as it prevents property holders
from making any objections worth
noticing. The small owners, like the
big ones and the corporations, are favor
ed, not nearly so much, OF course, but
sufficient to keep the great majority
from complaining, fearing that the
valuations of their own little homes may
be raised to their true value if noise is
made.
This fear acts as a splendid check
upon those who desire to enter protest
upon the system which permits unjust
assessments to be practised annually in
Luzerne county, and in the absence Of
protest the inequality and injustice con-
tinues and grows more noticeable every
year. There are coal lands in this
county assessed at less than ! per cent
OF their value. Not an acre in the
county is assessed at 80 per cent of its
value.
These facts are known to hundreds of
people, but the proper steps are not
taken to remedy the evil. The man
whose home is assessed at perhaps less
than 80 per cent of its worth considers
himself fortunate in escaping that much
of tax burden, and leaves the objecting
to some one less favored. Little does he
think that in few years he pays double
and treble the amount he would il all
property, coal lands especially, were
rated and taxed at the value placed
upon them by experts.
The extra two mills which the com
missioners intend lsvyng, making a
total OF eight mills for county purposes,
is an outrage upon common sense, and
the new board, from which so much in
the line Of genuine and wholesale reform
was expected, deserves the severest
censure which the citizens of Luzerne
county can inflict. The increase is un-
necessary and uncalled for. II the
funds are inadequate, and it should not be
surprising to find them so, the remedy
lies in having the assessment books re-
vised by intelligent men and taxing all
property al its true value, as the law
intends should be done. Amy other
method places a stigma upon the board
which honest men will not tolerate.
The proposed issue of 800, 600 worth OF
4 per cent bonds by the commissioners
smacks so much OF the ridiculous that
comment must be reserved until it learn
ed positively whether Luzernc is govern
ed by set Of corporation slaves or bymsn.