The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1904-11-04
MADISON COUNTY TAXES
LeVlEs RESPONSIBLE FOR THE
INCREASES.
PLAIN STATEMENT OF FACTS
Chairman Mcfarland Issues a cireu.
lar In Reply to Statements OF the
Fusionlsts Misrepresentjng the Ef.
fects OF the New Revenue Law
n.rnm Tnr.lnN,a nnIINl

IlrOm IuutduN's DAILY.
The fusion parties, In an attempt To
carry this county and state in the com.
Ing election. have rcsortod To cam.
paigu ur misrepresentation and de.
ccpuun For want of an issue they
are cndcayoriug To bias the voters
against the new revenue law as the
cause of the greatly increased taxes
for the year 1904 In this and many
other counties in the state; Il law
which was not only demanded by them
as well as by republicans regardless
of party politics, but law which they
themselves not only indirectly. hut to
some extent. directly, helped to adopt,
and which some of their most repre-
sentative men have praised as the
best and most just revenue law that
we have ever had.
Il Is true. and It has been admitted
by all parties, that the state needed
moro revenues In order to decrease
the noatiug debt and pay for the many
permanent improvements necessarily
made such as the rebuilding of the
pententiary and the Norfolk hospital
for the insane and the enlargement of
other state institutions and that n
new revenue law was not only needed,
but demanded, for these purposes and
for the further purpose of distributing
the burden of taxation more equitably
than under the old law.
II the taxes on a piece of real es.
tate in Madison county will be greater
for the year 1904 than they were in
1908, the increase is due to the levies
made by the state, county, school dis
tricts. cities and villages. and If the
revenue law is responsible for any of
this increase It could only he respon
sible for the increase in the state tax
because the levics for county purpos-
es are made by the county commits
sioners, the levies for school purposes
by the school districts and the levies
for city and village purposes by the
city and village boards, and these lev
les are, or should be, based on the
amount needed by the county school
districts, city or villages for the fiscal
years.
At the beginning of the present fls-
cal year the bridge and road funds OF
Madison county were about twenty
three thousand dollars behind. and
nearly all of this Indebtedness was
contracted by county boards with fu.
sion majorities. This being a fact,
which cannot he denied, the fusionists
should be the last ones to raise the
cry of eNtraVaGanCC of public officials
in this county. The present board of
county commissioners voted levy
which was deemed sufficient to pay
this NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. the increase
in county taxes. Some school dis.
tricts, in fact the most of them, made
too large levies for their schools.
hence the increase in school taxes, !
and cities and villages by their levies |
increased their own city and village
taxes.
But in letter full of willful misrep-
reservations of facts and figures, ad.
dressed To land owners throughout the
county, by John +. Newhall and J. G,
representative and state senator res
pectively. wherein they wrongfully and
with intent to deceive the voter.
charge the republican administration
of state affairs with extravaganza,
these candidates say, "The effect
of this is beginning now to be
felt by the tax payer, Your real es-
tate taxes on the NW4 Q, %. 2 for
the year 1908, were S2S.S3; for the
year 1904. are S3969. The cause of
this increase is the extravaganza OF
public officials and the reduction OF
railroad taxes which correspondingly
increased yours. Next year they will
be more because the floating debt is
increasing"
Could more erroneous and mis-
leading statement have been made"
We think not. Let us analyze this tax
of 1903 and 1904 and see where this
big increase goes. Here are the Off
cial figures:
NWA ., %, .: Year 1904. state tax
$7,6S; county sl2.S0; road s6.40;
school $3.50; total s39.6S.
NWh 9. %. .: Year 1908. state
tax $3.50; county $3.50; road s1.l6;
school $132S; total s2S,S3.
AS will be seen from the above. the
increase in the state tax. for which the
revenue law may he responsible. is
only the small sum of s1.S5. while the
increase in county and road taxes, for
which the revenue law is not respon-
sible. amounts to the sum of nine dol
lars.
Now let us see about the railroad
assessment in the state as compared
with the assessment of other proper
ty:
Railroads.: 1903, $27,2S4 $4,000;
1904, $46.2SS. .7S46S, an increase over
1903 of about SO per cent.
Other personal: 1908, $40,972,-
59l.44; 1904. 500, $50 O,SSs97, an in
crease over 1903 of about 90 per cent.