The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-09-16

/ duced the Treasurers statement which
after setting forth the States debt and
| the States investment, went on to saw.
| ''The real and personal property in the
State in 1893 was assessed at S265 Se7
| 1913, which is not more than two-thirds
| it's real value" This they consider soma
| what as an offset to the Treasurer's az
6davit in reply to the railroads com
plant.
After introducing the Auditors re-
ports. Mr.. Burton, for the Coast Limo
| introduced the following extract from
Governor Vance's message to the Gem
| eral Assembly of 1870 Public Docu-
ments of 1879, page POI, in which he
said: 1T is to be regretted, and | have
no doubt is very surprising TO the finance
committees of the last General Assem-
bly, who thought the tax bill would yield
| sufficient revenue, and so it would and
more, under a better scheme of assess
ment / can not conceive it possible TO
devise one which would operate more I'M
equally, unjustly or prejudicially to the
Treasury The rule for the county, town.
and township is different and the values
of property situated in the same locality
and Of the same character. are as yari-
ant and unequal as the unaided arbitrary
and often indifferent opinions of the as
SCISSORS may chance to be. Very little
property is assessed to within the neigh
borhood of it's value, but that does not
matter: the essential idea is to have the
assessment bear the same uniform pro-
portion to the true value of the property
taxed unless this is secured one man
pays a vastly higher tax than his neigh
b.,, ,,l ,.,,a 4nu-nch or comfy than tho
adjoining township or county, and it is
in the power and often happens in prac-
tice of the county assessors and COM
missioners to defeat the will of the Leg
fislature by lowering the assessments.
1t also levies a heavy tax on honesty
and compels the conscientious man to
pay double or treble the tax paid by his
less scrupulous neighbor. A remedy for
this evil is demanded alike by justice and
good policy. What that remedy shall be
your wisdom must devise. We do not
want amy increase of taxes, but an equal
ization of taxes and faithful collection
of those which are levied"
Also Governor Jarvis, in his message
to the General Assembly of 1888, said
Legislative Documents 1888, pages / and
y:
I'm the Auditors report there is a ia
BILE never before published, to which |
desire to direct your special attention.
refer to the table showing the assessed
value of land per acre in the different
counties and of the leading articles of
personal property which appear upon the
tax list 1t will be seen that these val
ues in all the counties are surprisingly
low, and by comparing one county with
another they will be found to be very
unequal / beg that each member will
examine this table and see how horses
and mules are valued in his own county.
4 stranger looking over this table would
think that lands in North Carolina We're
wretchedly poor and grave doubts would
arise whether it is not best to suppress
the table unless its publication is likely
TO lead to the adoption or some plan
by which the property can be assessed at
something like its actual value. know
of no subject likely to come before you
more important or more difficult to deal
with. 1t is manifest that under the pres
ent system, the valuations are greatly
below the cash value of the property, and
very unequal in the different counties. =
On page 2S2 of the Auditors Report of
1883, Mr.. Burton went on to say, 70
9ST.907 acres of land were valued at
SS4. 075,375; town lots $20,667 ,536; total
$104, 742, 911.
In the annual report of the Auditor
(Furman), for 1895, it is said: Il invite
attention to statement No. 8, it being
comparative statement of the value of
real estate in this State, as returned by
the owners thereof to the United States
census takers for 1890, and the value
of the same property as appraised for
taxation in 1891. The discrepancy is
astounding, and can only be accounted
for on the ground that the census table
shows the value of the realty as the
owners thereof believed it to be, while
the other shows the value placed upon it
by the appraisers for the purposes of tax
alton following an unwrtten law to APP
praise property at only 2-3 of what they
think its real value to be. In this i'm
stance it is appraised at only about one
half of what the owners thought it was
worth"
The summary in the report for 1895
shows the following for the entire State:
Census valuation of real estate, $27S,-
800, III; true value, $260.191 ,466; value
of exempt real estate $1S,207, T06: value
of real estate as assessed $142, O6S, 932.
BY the Auditors Report for 1898 layer,
AUDITOR, on page 1914, Statement 2, it
is shown
Acres Of land 27,s29,773, val
uati0n ............. $40, 063, 057
Acres mineral, quarry or
timber interests, H. 51 :. 430552
Town lots, S6,196 -. ;. 447S6,560
$155, 220, 169
In the Auditors Report for 1893, page
10, it is said: THE annual reports issued
by this department express the taxable
value of real and personal property for
the preceding year. The report for 1897
expressed the taxable value of such
property for the year 1896, and this re-
port 1S9S) presents the taxable value Of
such property as returned for the year
1897. The assessed value of railroad,
telegraph and steamboat property is ex-
pressed by each report for the same year
for which the report is issued The ag-
gregate value of all property returned
for taxation in the State for the year
1896 was $257, 437, 227.99. This is the
lowest aggregate value of property ever
reported for the State, The increase in
| vol,,o for +ha yoar 1903 oyar tho vno y.