West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1898-07-28
Dodslns Their Taxes.
A Demand For Reform In the whole
Assessment Business.


With your permission. desire TO
give the public, and especially the tax.
payers Of Kingwood district, at least n
faint idea of the situation In regard To
the assessment of the personal prom
erty of the district as a basis of taxa
tion. While at this time have no
desire to personate anyone, I want a
understood that neither wealth nor In.
huence will deter me from doing all
that / can 20 subject the hidden wealth
of the district TO share its equitable
proportion of the burden of taxation
in the borough of Kingwood and the
district at large, / want to say right
here that the writer OF this article Is
responsible for bringing certain mat
ters of apparent violations OF the reve-
nue. laws TO the notice OF our County
Court While this is true, and / have
no desire TO retract in the least. ana
Will not do so. l want IL nnderstood
that II Is not the small fry that / am
after II Is the men of wealth. or who
at least make large pre- te nsions aiong
that line, but who claim TO the asssssor
that they have no money over and
above their liabilities If this be true.
the sooner the public knows II the bet
ter IL will be for ali concerned. fla
great many that could be named are In
the condition financially that their as.
sessments represent them to be, we
VIII gladly take them by the hand and
say, Brother, forgive us; we did not
Know that You had failed" include
no one who chances to have been
missed by the assessor. neither anvone
who understood that they had the
right TO withhold OF their personal
property an amount equal TO the tim
Der that they had sold from their real
estate and who mad been granted tenn.
porary relief by the Court on account
of the sale of said timber, while IL was
right and proper for the assessor 20
take up all that was missed ia this
way. There has no charge OF evasion
been made against them.
The fact that the assessors bonks of
kingwood district show a falling off OF
personal property for the year 1897 TO
the amount of nearly e25, 600 and for
the year 1898 about $1,000, is giaring IN
the extreme and is plain index that
something Is rotten. The effort that is
commenced is for the purpose Of aud.
ing out where the rotten place Is and
correct IL, even though It be necessary
70 present certain cases TO the Grand
Jury where the evidence will warrant
so doing.
The writer is satisfied that King.
wood district is advancing in popuia.
ton and wealth At this time more ran
idlythau some of the other districts OF
the county. Her mining Industries are
now a. great, II not Rreater. than any
other district aud she boasts of having
the wealtbiest men by odds In the
county. In the face Of the forevoine
facts, - any woUder that there Is
reform asked for aud demanded ? with
our railroad levy at perhaps so cents
on the si0o valuation. our teachers
fund ~ 80 cents. with 10 cents added
for debt, and our bt iIding fund At so
cents, with % cents added for debt.
(which. by the way. is violation OF
law, and our Cor rporation tax 90 cents.
whore are we going 20 lard unless we
can bring out the si0o 600 or more in
the district which Is not assessed ? Our
taxes within the Corporation will figure
up to 40 least % 10 on the one hundred
valuation. And this is not all. In
cases Of men who are indie bted for their
property. they not only haYs this enor-
mous tax 70 pay, but ia addition have
the interest % pay on their Indebted
ness. Ia tue face Of all this. can we
say that our middle men Of America
have any better show than - granted
by the powers Of Europe 70 their sub
jects i say shame on the man who is
blessed with means far in excess Of ms
liabilities who will svade. or attempt
70 evade doing bic whole duty toward
the support Of the government under
which he lives and prospers.
As there are many mistAlsen theories
Ira regard to the duties and responsi-
bilities Of an assessor. des.ro 10 call
the attention TO some law 10 regard 70
the matter .Any assessor failina 10
oske ang call and admtnistef tbo e.th