The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-06-10
bov. esrero,v rece,vsd all we wanted. The

Tho first witness sworn was Lee Phillips
Secretary of the Munlcpa, Civil Service Board q,
the examination Of candidates for appointment
under the Municipal Civil Service. He said
| that, while he was the chief executive officer oil
the board he had nothing to do with the ex;
nminatons that the papers Were Er PREF
were under his supervision until they were de-
liyIcred to the candidates. ,.-.,.
| Edward 7. McTaggart, Deputy Tax Commi 8
| sioner in charge of the personal tax bureau i9r
the past six years. was the next witness Ho
told about the way in when assaS j iha , on
| personal tax bureau laid assessments upon
| corporations as well as upon individuals.
THE LEVY OF PERSONAL TAXES.
| Q.-How do you arrive at your conclusions in
reference to personal taxes to be nnid by cor
| porationsy Ain various WAYS. We have the
corporation directory, which gives information
| surplus Assessments are first made upon
capital stock. Then blanks are sent to the cor
| porations asking them to make the proper re-
| turns. /: no returns are made. the corpora;
| tons usually have their assessments Increased
Q"wRys do e"y you piVd do that tY| A-wel largely
| TO Impress upon these corporations the need OF
paying some attention to their assessments ,rn ~
punishment to them2 Alt might be con-
V.HBut what right have you to punish per
sons for refusing to pay attention to the blanks
Which you send out or eyen II they 90 p2t pa,
| these blanks is to give the corporations the op-
portunity TO make their returns and then to
have the assessment corrected by these re-
turns All corporations who do not make re-
turns do not have their assessments increased.
Q.-How, do you determine the personal as
sessment for individuals? A First we get our
names from the directory, Then Deputy Com
missioner fixes the assessments according to
Q,--Ah! There's that question Of judgment
bobhing up again. How is the judgment exer.
ciscl in reference to evyinG personal taxes
A-WcIl. we get a mans name, lind ont where
he lives. consider the locality. and, II he is a
well-known man. why. We. Judge that he has
ma mr. mar TO. Al, Ia, tD
locality and style In which lie does.
now MINISTER'S ARE ASSESSED.
QIWell. how, about ministers and doctors
and LAWYERS? How, do you assess minister's.
consider the church Of which the minister is
hE pa rSo We consider the 0Ga nt in which
the STYLE IN which the minister lives. and tax
him accordingly.
lister more easily; because you can find ont
what salary the church paws him 7 Ave do
not make any such inquiry. We haven't got
GLOW about assessing lawyers? DO You
guess about them in tho same way? Al
don't admit that our method Of laying personal
substantially like this: Wei suppose. for IN,
building, We know that rents in the Equitable
building are high. We then learn that Mr..
M M9IS snS snI SNih
ninth streets. We know that to live in such a
locality a man must have some means and
yer and we conclude that he must have per
sonal property that is taxable. Then comes in
assessment.
During this explanation Mr.. Moss stood with
smile upon his cOuntonance> and seemed to
be much entertained by the testimony.
TAX OFFICE INCoNGRIITIEs.
Deputy Tax Commissioner Engelhard was
recalled. From the character Of the questions
drawn that the Committee or its counsel or or
both believe that assessments had been laid
not according to any system of scientific equal
ization. but according to the needs Of the Tam
many organization. Mr.. Moss. reading from
the tax books, showed that the prop:
600 in 1885 and NE!u ia 1853 T5e
property at Bis Fifth avenue. was assessed
property at $40 Fifth avenue was vas; assessed s
$4,000 in 1898 and 500 900 in ls0" Mr.. Moss
pointed out that In one case the increase was a
little over IL per cent. in another case about
IL per cent. and in another case about 20 per
cent.
ence in the percentage OF increase on adjoining
pieces of property? Al didn't assess on per-
ceptag ages assessed th on my own iu6dgms9t
Q.-On what was the opinion based? A-on
U.--On what was the think. based? A-on
what IS up hero pointing to his head.
volving the va ue OF some property. and called
Mr. Engelhard to give expert testimony. call
f hm SUw hn ws p sR1nd c9
the value Of a certain piece OF property and
you gsys your opinion The LAWYER on the
your oopinio3 What Find Of an answer would
as an expert I'd do as the experts do. I'd find
out what value YOU wanted placed on that
snd til. sPe ow ret to knnak
down a cent.
doh then. that is the kind of testimony
testifying as an expert.
A,-And according to the ideas Of the orgeni-
cation Al don't know anything about the
ideas OF the organization.
DREwERIEs LET orr LIGHT.
The witness was asked how many buildings
there were in his district, and no said about
deducion. the witmess having ~ testified Hf ' o4
Thursday that he worked 100 DAYS, that Engel-
dard Must Mos naf to 2
to the block in which are located the Ruppert.
Jones and Decker breweries and Eroperty,o Of
showed that the brewery properties had not
had their assessments Increased at ALL while
the gas property had been increased from
Q-How did it happen that you lot Of the
the o" c G 9s s9on
. DO vow know anything about h plant o,
Al do not
Q-Why didn't Won find out? Al didn't
think it was necessary. | could make the as
sessment without going to those matters.
DEPUTY TAX COMMISSIONER HAYDEN RECALLED.
Thomas j. Hayden. Deputy Tax Commits
sioner for tho borough Of the Bronx. said that
he lived in the Bronx, but short examination
brought out the fact that he moved his resi-
dence there only few weeks after his appoint
ment., and has since that time lived almost
entirely, in Manhattan. although he claims
q residence, above the Harlem River,
creased the. assessments on property and
that none OF his figures had been changed
He had been q real estate man for twenty
years. he said. H., was asked why. when the
assessments on Bronx property had stood
almost the same for 1897 and 1893, he had in
creased them 100 per cent. Tor 1899. This was
his judgment Of what should he done under
present conditions. he said.
Q,-Do YOU think the assessments for the
two previous years wer" unfair? A-Well. II
am compelled to answer it. will say that [
don't think they were honestly made.
Q.-DO you know who made them7 A
Thomas e. ArnO.
Later on Hayden modified this statement
and said that he only thought Arno had com
mtted serious errors Of Judgment. He also
said that he assessed on iull valuations, and
not on Z! per cent of recorded sales Mr.