Hutchinson gazette., 1899-04-20
ASSESSMENTS AGAIN.

Much has been said and many ex-
plantations made regarding the assess
ment Of personal property ut full value.
Commissioner Myers letter In last
weeks Issue WAS plain and covered the
ground well, and should, II Seems to
US, remove all doubts and fears re
gardlng inequalities. However, we
still hear considerable complaint and
fear that the State board tf equaliza-
tion will not so adjust matters that
this county will only pay its just por.
ton Of State taxes. Regarding this
we wish TO say few words aud give u
little information which was given to
the writer about year ago by Secre-
tary Of State1Bnsh. Immediately af-
ter the assessors hold their meetings in
the various counties and establish u ba-
sis OF assessment, the county clerks
send reports Of the meetings to the sec
retary of State stating the basis
adopted.
When the state board OF equalization
meets, II has all these reports before Ii,
and as Mr.. Bush explained to the edi-
tor Of this paper, they Hx an amount
for each item, cattle, horses, wheat,
etc., which as nearly ss they can de-
termine represents the real value.
Then they commence, with the counties
In alphabetical order. Some OF the
counties Of course assess ut full value
as required by law. Some assess part
Of the items at nearly full value and
Others at less. Some resolve to assess
at fourth, some third, some a half,
ETC., but after the basis of 80 many
dollars per head for cattle, no, 3, horses,
ETC., may vary considerable from the
one-third, one'fourth, or one-half,
In Anderson county, we will say the
resolution was TO asseSs horses at
Sl5 90, while the board considers horses
to be worth $50 90. II therefore con-
slders that horses are assessed at one
half On cattle we will say the resOlu-
tion calls for assessment at $40 90,
while tire board thinks the real value
is $50 co. Cattle will be set down as
assessed at two thirds, So they go
through the entire list, and they may
find that the average per cent Of the
real valuation at which the property
was actually assessed, varies from the
one-third or one-half rule. In most
cases it probably would not be much.
II they find Anderson county has as
sessed at one-half real value, the val
uation is doubled to get the real valua
tion. Now the tax levy is made by the
legislature Of so many mills on the 6ol-
lar. But as the law contemplates that
all assessments Ohall be at full value,
this number Of mills will be figured on
the real valuation as ascertained above.
For example, suppose Anderson county
has returned personal property assess
ments to the amount of 100000. BY
the process above, the state board of
equalization has ascertained that this
represents one-half the real value Of
Anderson county's personal property.
and that $4,000 Is the real value. II
the tax rate levied by the legislature
for State taxes is five mills, then 1t is
figured that Anderson county should
pay, $4,000 personal property tax to the
support Of the state, and the county
officials are not fed Of the amount the
county is required to raise. They then
fix the rate Lecessary to do it on the
one-balf real valuation as returned by
the assessors,
There have been some who have ex-
pressed the fear that while it might be
their duty to do so, the State board of
would not 90 to the trouble
of such an equalization. AS to this we
can only say that the populist board
did this as explained by Mr.. Bush, and
the republican board will not dare do
otherwise. II they should not the fact
can be easily discovered and 1t would
not be favorable for their political
health In counties which have assessed
at full value.