The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-02-28

Of sedgwick spoke in favor of taxing
money and Adams of Butler against it.
The first Adams said money was property
and there could be no excuse for ex-
empting it, The second Adams. who is
a banker. said if it should be taxed il
would drive all the deposits in the banks
out Of the state, and create bank
panic The second Adams was out
voted
Mr. Waggener then introduced his
amendment providing that notes and
mortgages bearing more than . per cent
interest shah be uncollectible IN the
courts unless listed for taxation. This
amendment carried by vote of 40 to IS.
Enright then got through an amend
ment TO tax as personal property the
mains and hydrants of private water or
gas companies that are laid inside of
cities. This IS to tax within cities the
mains OF such conpan mics when the main
plants are situated outside the city
limits.
When the section providing for the
selection Of the two tax commissioners
by the executive council was reached,
Mr.. Waggener moved that governor
be substituted for executive council
This has been a bone of contention in
framing the bin 1t has been question
whether Governor Bailey shall be re-
sp0nsible for putting the new law into
be put upon the executive council The
same question enters into the compost
tion Of the entire commission Wag-
generfs anne uduant carried by a vote Of
50 to g. only few of the anti Bailey
faction voting against it.. The fuSionistS
voted with the Leland faction. as did
also Barker of Douglas
On motion of Dir. Waggener the state
asurer and secretary of state were
takea out of the composition Of the
state tax commission. leaving it COM
posed of the TWO appointed commission
ers and the state auditor.
ff the =fIn1rf 0f county
assessors. Mr.. Waggener submitted an
amendment making the members of the
board of county commissioners the
county assessors. The senate had amend
ed this feature by making the county
clerk the county assessor in every COun-
tv with a population of less than $4,000
people. and that in larger counties the
comm issi0uers should elect a county as
SCISSOR Nation moved TO substitute the
original section as framed by the joint
eommittee but that was voted down.
+ Waggener's substitute then carried by a
vote of IS 10 So. This time Leland voted
with Waggener and the fusionists.
Waggeners amendment threw all the
succeeding sections out Of joint and in
the trouble which followed the house
took recess
At The evening session Mr.. Wag-
gener's substitute for section is. pro
viiing that the county commissioners
should be the board of county assessors.
instead Of having the county clerk act
as such in counties of less than 25 600
7 people. and have separate county as
SCISSOR in counties above that figure. was
a gain taken Up and reconsidered. In
place OF it Waggener proposed that the
chairman q the board Of county COM
missiouers should be the county as
SCISSOR. so IS to avoid the necessity Of
making radical changes throughout the
tax bll. as his first substitute would
nAcesSirate This was voted down. how
ever. ana The section was left as it was
before the senate amended it, with a
county assessor in every county. no
mater H9AF many inhabitants IL has.
The senate had placed the basis OF
Nalua ti0n for assessment at Oue-tfir1
ot real value. but the house amended
this 10 one-fourth
Just why property should not be as
sessed 1t its actual value is not readily
apparent The chief reason given By
the advocates of a fractional VaIua tiol1
IS that a fun valuation would compel a
readJ dJuStTnent OF rate levieS- This ar
gument might have some weight Wers
1t not for the fact that there Will have
to be a eomDIere readjustment anyway.
At present property is assessed at all ths
way from one-nfth to fun value
Look ar the difference the proposed
plan VIII make in Topeka for instance. A {
present the assessed valuation of the
city is approximately SO 100000 and
the levy IS 4s cents on the dollar. I'm
der the house amendment the valuation
OF this same property viii be reduced to
$5,-Z5e90 and levy, to raise the same
raised to se cents What would pros
nective investors from other states think
of taxation figures like th0sa2
Why would It not be much better to
assess all property at IFS real value un-
if0rmly all over the state2 Under that
sort of = provision the assessed valua-
tion Of Topeka would be Increased to
S21000 600. while the levy would be de-
creased 10 - cents How much better
these figures would sound to intending
investors
The house took up the tax bill again
today and got through about 80 pages
Of it, or a third of the total The ma
jority Of the sections were passed with
out alteration. In fact the only change
of Importance was to specify that for
purposes Of taxation. water and gas
plants. situated outside of city limits.
shall BE considered as though within
tha city. This viii bring into the city
the pumping station Of the Topeka
Water company. which has heretofore
been taxed in Topeka township