Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1903-05-21
state Board Of Taxation.

TRENTON, N. j., May IA, 1908.
TO the assessors Of the State ofN J.:
As the time to commence the general
assessment for taxes is now at hand, we
desire to make few suggestions to the
assessing officers.
In general, the methods Of assessing
property in the State have improved, but
in a great many taxing districts the system
of assessing at a PERCENTAGE of true value,
and without uniform rules, still prevails.
This violation of the Constitution leads to
lamentable inequalities in valuations,
and produces constant friction, not only
between the taxing district and the tax
payer, but also among the owners of the
various classes Of property which are differ
emily listed for taxation.
In some taxing districts little effort is
made to assess personality, with the result
that real estate bears an unjust proportion
of the public burdens. This is in plain
violation of the Constitution and the oath
of the assessor.
The act approved March %, 1901, pro-
viding for the return of ratables and ex-
emptions by the county boards of assessors
has been complied with in good form in
most Of the counties, but there is still
trouble because some Of the assessors do not
appear at the meetings of their county
boards with the proper data. A mistake
in the return from one taxing district will
throw out the entire table OF aggregates,
and under these circumstances the State
Board of Taxation is obliged to return it to
the County Collector for. correction and
reprinting, causing a great deal of incon-
venience to the county officials, which
might have been avoided. The following
items are required =
1. Number of acres or lots in the taxing
district.
2. Valuation of real estate.
3. Valuation of personal estate.
A. Deductions for debts, other than debts
secured by mortgage
5. Total amount of exemptions allowed
veterans, firemen, and members of the
National Guard.
g. Net valuation taxable. This should
be the sum of real and personal, minus the
deductions fOU debt and the exemptions dlloaC-
ed gcterGRs fremen and militia.
Z. Number of polls assessed.
s. Exempt property, as follows -
q. Public school property.
b. Other school property.
C. Public property government, state
and municipal).
d. Church and charitable property.
e. Cemeteries and graveyards.
f. Total amount, correctly added, Of the
above five items.
8. Local tax rate per 500 valuation.
At the meeting Of the county board, if
any changes are made in the assessments,
the total valuation taxable, as equatiged By
them, will be added in a column provided
for that purpose, and also the apportion-
ment of state school and county taxes. We
would remind the assessors that no addi-
tional facts and figures are necessary, other
than those indicated in the blanks sent to
the county boards through the County
Collectors.
At the recent session of the Legislature a
revised tax act was passed. but this will
not go into operation until December 90,
1908, and consequently its provisions do
not effect the assessments this year. A full
and completely indexed copy Of this act
viii be sent to each assessor of the State
previous to making the assessments for
1904. No other changes Of Importance
have been made in the tax laws by the
recent Legislature.
Yours yeIy truly,
THOMAS B. USHER,
Secretary State Board of Taxation,