The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1900-04-25
TALKS TO ASSESSORS.


THE State Tax Commissioner has
issued little book of Constructions
to Assessors and Boards of Re-
view" The book does not attempt
to define the law, but is filled with
sensible ideas regarding the making
of assessments. and gives sugges-
tions for making proper valuations,
etc. One point brought out is stat
ed in the book as follows:
The correct valuation of property
by assessors is of course of the most
vital Importance. 1t would be al
most waste of energy to discover
and list all taxable property unless
correct valuations are placed upon
the same. Failure to correctly
value property for taxation is the
source of more injustice, complaint
and litigation and more difficulty in
the work of town, county and state
boards of equalization, than any
other fault or omission in the adj
minis tration of the tax laws For
many years it has been the practice
in nearly all parts of the state to
assess ali kinds of property at con-
siderably less than actual value
This practice cannot be too strongly
condemned. From it spring vir!ua
lily all the evils of incorrect valua-
tions and inequitable apportionment
Of tax burdens. 1t is of course true
that an assessment made at one
third or one-half or any other
fraction of full values could work no
injustice as between individual tax
payers in any one assessment dis
trict. Tn some districts perhaps
this is accomplished as nearly as
human skill and judgment can Or
dinarily approximate such result in
the time afforded for the work; and
it is doubtless attempted with vary
ing degrees of diligence and success
in many other districts. But in a
large number of instances it would
be impossible to discover any uni
form ratio or proportion between
assessed and true values. 1t is not
believed that such cor ditions are
often due to intentional omission Of
duty on the part of the assessors.
The long continued practice of I'M
der valuation has resulted in a
gradual and almost unconscious
adoption of arbitrary valuations or
sets of valuations for assessment
purposes, having little reference and
no uniform relations to true values.
This comes about in part from TAX
ing valuations to some extent from
former assessment rolls. com pairing
one item of property with another,
which in turn has been valued bv
comparison with still another, and
so on, without keeping in mind the
true value or some percentage of
true value as fixed standard. In
this way great want of uniformity
may exist in the assessment of a
single district without any inten-
tional wrong-doing on the part of
the assessor.
But If each assessment were made
at some uniform percentage of true
value, there would be no uniformity
of the percentage as between differ
ent assessment districts or as be-
tween different counties; aud until
the practice of UNDER valuation is
wholly abolished the work OF county
and state equalization must continue
to be mere approximations, often
little better than guess work re
sulting in much injustice and dis
satisfaction. Besides this, it is
highly important that the true value
of all taxable property in the state
be definitely ascertained as a basis
for calculating the proper taxation of
railroads and other interests taxed
by license fee or other special
methods, and this of course would
be accomplished if assessments were
made in full compliance with law.
Until the practice of permitting
each town assessor to fix an under
valuation on each piece of property
is done away with, county boards
will never be able to deal equitably
in the matter OF equalization as be-
tween the towns. The trouble is
that there is no correct basis left
for the county boards and state
board of equalization to work upon,
and the result is that the matter of
equalization becomes virtually q
great matter of guess work. The