The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1903-03-06
TOTAL WEALTH OF WISCONSIN.
Still Greatly Uuderestimated by Tax Commits.
sion: .c9mmiss:on's Figures Of Farm
Values. They' Fall Short Of
tie Census Rctnrns-

Issued in Behalf Of Visions n Railways, .
IN article number 2 We stated that the
estimate made by the Tax Commission of
inc true value. of the non-railroad property
low; In the present article and in several
o. Its immediate successors we shall point.
1mt some Of the most important Of the Ell
TOTS made by tho Commission.
nm the report that has just appeared the
LAX commission Oh page 21J says: The
commission from the investigation of facts
years from 1895 to 1901. has ascertained ana,
aeterminrd the true cash value" OF all the
Of efS9 81 olt!' SIe mG g the he state to be the sum n.
,pase PIG Of Its report the commission says:
',,lhc lowest amount Of the market value of,
s.e stocks and bonds Of the railways Of the
1en1l az ana ahe averise or seven years uS",-
eral bonds, is s217. sj4.o 2e = Having siSca
!nesc two sums the commission. although it
aoes not draw this conclusion itself. pre-
sents and discusses these sums In such II
way that the reader will say. 1.-The railway
ttb1 n nave approximately one.eighth: OF
tne property OF the state. therefore they.
ought In justice be called on to pay q like
proportion Of the taxes"
III the railway companies believe that
their property represents one-eighth of the
property OF the state they would be willing
to hear nnc-eighth of the taxes. But they
40 not bclievc that 81. 504. 346,O w fully rep
reSents the cash value Of the non-railroal
properly III Wisconsin nor do they believe
tn"t tHelr properties can on any equitable:
basis be valued as high as $217, SD, OPS.
nn ~ II is possible to show that the taxable
$500. MN.OCO. then even if it be conceded
that the railroad properties are worth
$21t;s'4. O26' the railroad companies can in
justice only he expected to pay a little more
than o%netwe'fth of the taxes.
We VIII now show that il very large. part
OF the taxable. non-railroad property was
making its estimates and the property it
did find it greatly urdervalued. The farm
ing 'n'nstry viii be considered first.
IN discussing the value OF farm property
we nave the results Of the national cenSls
Of 1900 to guide us. The census RETURNS
show very conclusively that the Tax Com.
While 1t has succeeded better than many
antlclp"l"d in getting property on the tax
rollS 'hat for:leily to 4 greater o. less de-
gree escaped taxation its work along this
line IS, however,, but half done. =.
Let us now compare the valne of farm
property Of Wisconsin as determined by the
LAX commission with the census returns.
OF course it will he remembered that the
valuations Of the census are for the year
1890; and that even the census enumerators
did not find all the property in the state.
Ting variations. The census gives the value
on Jun" !, 1900. OF the 10. SG2. 727 acres Of
lanl ia the 1G9, 7o5 farms of Wisconsin rs
of $2i. 20 per acre, and no fair minded man.
will contend that this is more THAN the
farm lands Of Wisconsin are worth: The
us SlAtS VIZ NNlut vi June l.. lSNWJ. or
the buildings On the farms of Wisconsin as
Fl5o.Go4.970. Adding the two sums just
given we find the value of the farms and
bg 1lhd on June I: 1909. was Scse, 147 $50.
IL 1900 of the 80. 9So. 307 acres of land in
Wisconsin. together with the value of the
buildings on it as sGI3: 49,, go. village and
city land, regardless of whether or not it is
subdivided into lots Is OF course not in
cluded In this item. This is simply the
value Of the acre land outside Of villages
md n3ftAc and ~ tho h,i1li~r. ,~o,, At.
land.
Those who have compared the census fig
ures and the valuations Of the Tax Com
mission. but have not examined the figures
closely have jumped to the conclusion that
the farm lands Of Wisconsin are now as
ssssed by by the state nu board at very nearly
failed to note that the census returns only
cover the land Of the state that is already
in farms. or Is, s62, 727 acres. while the Tax
Commissions figures cover the whole area
cities. or s2.oS2;so7 acres. e -"
Now let u" make a comparison Of the vnlu-
ations OF the Tax Commission and the re-
turns Of the census after the latter figures
have been supplemented ny an estimate Of
the vnlnc of the acre lands Of the state out
side of cities and villages and not found in
farms: md after all the values have been
brought down to 1902. the date of the lattsr
estimates made cn y the n T2x SSSemmissior.
Farm arm lands n,,;h,,n and Improvements ain, other
Ten per cent. for increase in value
from l3Wn t" lJV2 SO. O;4, 2G9
Farm bulllllg' 155. 6D4, $40
from Loon" to l9os 5.5co, 4o7
ore lands. c"t-ovcr lands, etc...... l3l. 1o5, 500
Total $3.50 .95S, 22G
TAX CO~MM1SSlOEEtS
Tax commissioners valuation of the
acre land Of tho state and of the
buildings on the said land was In
1900 $3.50 1925 go
Increase in value from 1900 to 1902,
1t being assumed that country, city.
village. lands and buildings have
increased ut the same rate. ..... lS,4O9, OS9
$673, 734,3lo
These statements show that the Tax Com
MISSIONS valuations instead Of being nearly
0s high as the census returns fall short OF
the latter by 1912. 223 .G07. when the valna-
tons are made to cover the same acreage.