The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1901-08-20
CONCERNING !.
II ASSESSMENTS.

Much Is being said and written al
present concerning ass essnidnts, each
assertion, no doubt, carrying with ii
its own popularity. Along Those
lines would like to ask q few ques.
tions and make a suggestion.
How does an assessor arrive at the
value Of q piece Of property To
this question no doubt there may be
several answers; one Of which may bs
by obtaining a knowledge Of It's
market value when last sold. But
In a great many instances 1t, no
doubt, might be that years have
lapsed since the property 10 question
changed hands; perchance It never
was sold since II was built. In tho
latter case, the best the assesst : can
do is to learn what its building price
was, then proceed to use bis judgp.eat
as to whether the propertyn u aqes,.
tion has arisen in va lue, or deeriofat,'
ed In value. In his estimateths, a..
sessor may err; In that case ! sup:
pose the board of revision "maynIy).
correct the error. However, the al.
rangement is a poor one at best.
In a great many cases tile exact
value OF property is known; then 1t Is
an easy matter to arrive at an equi-
table assessment. No doubt thers
are a great many ways Of getting at
the value of property; but, in the
main, there is more or less guessing
OH the part of the assessor and very
often not little deception on tue
part Of the owner. Thus, ! may say,
it is an impossibility to arrive at q
just assessment nnder the present
system Of land tenure. Nevertheless
we must do the best we can. To
this end would suggest that all
property be assessed according to its
rental value. And If the reader will
give close attention to the following
he, no doubt, will see that 1t is the
best method of assessment yet offer.
ed. -
For instance Frank B-owns
piece of improved or >unlmprovedN
property and rents it to George s.
at $50 month. When Frank B.
decides to rent his property he will
want a return of six per cent on the
money invested as we'll as the taxes,
water rents, fire insurance and two
and one half per cent for repairs
Thus VIC will have 1920 interest (six
per cent? $52 year. taxes and wa.
ter rents -four spigots) merged, on a 4
basis Of Sl.50 city tax, SO cents cour.l
ty tax. Insurance $40 per year, anl
$50 two and one per cent per annur
for repairs; the total would,he. &2a
per year or SO. 50 a blolfei,
From the amount of rent charged
$50 a month, 1T seems to me that any
man filling the position of SCISSOR
would surely know the rates the in
surance companies charge, also the
TAX rate and the water rent; he alsj
must know that any property owner
wants at least six per cent on the
money invested as well as a percen.
'age on repairs. Suppose he came
to my door and upon obtaining ad-
nittance my wife, my housekeeper,
)r myself would inform him that we
paid $40 per month rent, he could
EASILY calculate $l20 interest; $52
axes and water rents: $40 insurance;
$50 per year for repairs. Value of
$4,000. Then assess the
at $4,000 for there can be no
20 per cent. or so per cent. value.
The value of property that was
occupied by the owner would have
o be determined by that Of the
,earest like property that was
'ented. unless the owner was hon
'st enough 10 acknowledge ito true
'alue.
II this method Of assessment was
ldopted, 1t would result in two bene.
its, first, the owner would not re-
ort to exorbltant rent, lest his as
essment would he raised; second
lie would keep It up to the highest
INIT, SO that he would receive as
arge a share Of interest as posi-
lie. In either case, 1t would re-
'ound to the city's good fiji ancially.
offer this as a suggestion; per-
'aps some one who is interested
hight offer an improvement In
~ next letter, l will endeavor to
how how tho city fathers can raise
wo. or perhaps three hundred
thousand dollars per annum. other
han by taxing real estate.
w. J. HOGAN.