The age-herald., 1900-08-05
Birmingham, July S1. 1900.


 To the Editor of the Age-Herald.
 It is with reluctance that we appear in the public prints, but we hope we will be pardoned under the conditions that prompt us. For two years we have smarted under the injustice of the back tax law and have waited patiently for some one more competent than ourselves to handle the subject, but the old adage, what is every bodv's business is nobody's business" Is the apology we have to offer, as the third year of raising values approaches and no one has attacked the measure, we could not in justice to our own clients withhold our comments longer. Therefore we at tempted in an article in one of our city papers on the 21st instant to express our views on this great public question In substance we said as follows:
 The back tax law. as it is termed, is "menace to good government" or, perhaps better to say, a menace to good citizenship and is a matter of vital concern to the tax payer. In our judgment, it should be amended or better still, repealed
 
 to disturb the tax values of real estate in the county besides the expense Is very great under the present law, and of course it comes out of the pockets of the "dear people," We cannot censure MT. Wetmore, the back tax commissioner, for raising the assessments each year. he receives no salary, but a commission on the raises. He must live as we'll as his corps of assist ants; therefore, he is compelled to raise E. fba ol,1eo h without pensation, as we understand the law. We know full we'll the old argument that salaried official will not do his duty, but try him, and if he does not, get rid of him and try some one else. Nine-tenths of the labor of the world, both civil and political, is paid a salary.
 If we remember correctly. this Is the third year that the assessed values have been raised by the commissioners in the face of the fact that the taxpayer makes his returns at the rate fixed by the board for the previous years, at least that is what we do for our clients, and nearly everyone else that we have heard ex- press themselves on the subject, trust ing that if they do this they will escape the annual annoyance they are subject to; but, alas, real estate advances rapidly, 1t seems, each year in market value or in the estimation of MT. Wetmore, his assist ants and attorneys. If you will not re- peal this unjust and unequal tax burden, then amend so as 10 TX ValueS TOT nVe years, and give us a breathing spell, and basis on which particularly buyers, can calculate with that much certainty what proposed investments will yield; other wise capitalists will hesitate to invest their money with us. This five years re- spite will obviate the necessity of dragging the taxpayers annually to the court house to show cause why their assessments should not be increased.'
 The Board of Revenue spent a month : or more of hard work going over these citations The expense attached to the court is no mean figure. All this expense comes from the taxpayer indirectly. The taxpayer when he appeals to the Board of Revenue is confronted by MT. Wetmore, his assistants and attorneys. If the tax payer feels aggrieved he cannot afford to employ an attorney and take the time to carry the matter before the Circuit Court; so he takes his medicine like a lit- tie man. The law says the taxpayer must return his property at the actual cash value-this Is very hard to determine. The i rule, until few years ago, was to give the property In at 60 per cent. of its mar ket value, but that rule, under the law, is abrogated: but the custom does yet pre- vail in nearly every state in the union. We have taken occasion to write to many points to ascertain the custom prevailing, the result of which we give in this article. There Is another reason why the law should be repealed, that Is, the inequality of taxation. In many of the counties of the state the law is a nullity. Why? The counties are poor and as the back tax com missioner cannot make any money out of it, it is not enforced. Again, we are in- formed that the Board of Revenue will decline to cooperate in some counties; therefore, in those counties the assess ments are not raised, but poor Jefferson was paying about a fifth of the taxes of the entire state before the back tax law went into effect No law Is a just law that will offer an opportunity for man to make a false sworn statement and es- cape his share of the burden Let us illus trate: MT. Jones gives in his property for 1899 at $5, 900; MT. Wetmore raises it to ST. 800; Jones argues the matter, and agrees on compromise verdict of s6000. Now, then; suppose instead of giving it in for 1900 as we do for our clients, at $6,0Oe (the agreed Board rate), he assesses it (sworn to), for 5000, then he Is cited, a raise to say, 5000, instead of appearing, judgment is taken by default and it Is