The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1904-10-14
co1pARIsoN o. vALUEs.


IL ae and cry aas gone forth from
shs Dsmo4atic politicians that Actual
vslu.s N the assessment Of real estate
sFili Be felt, most by the small property
ser and that tne burden of taxation
eehes lifted from the large property
snea Suppose we look into this q
r. @Actual value according TO
their argument y more taan cash val
ue- as prevailed under the old system.
A small farm, say worth actually one
taoasand dollars, under. the old system
hadsa scasr value" Of one thousand dol
Lars and was assessed closer TO its ae-
tuSd value than 4 larger farp. Say,
~ take a one hundred thousand dollar
tract Of land. That IS it actual value.
but there are few distances in which
That amount. A. the natural result it
was not assessed any where near its
actual value under the old system. In
otsaer words, under the old system the
small farm afforded taxes to the state
on an assessment much nearer its actual
value than did the large tract. The
small tract was assessed higher in pro-
portion than the large tract. There
was taen a hardship on the small prop
srty owner He paid more taxes in pro-
portion to mis- holdings than tine large
property owner, because the Cash
value of his small farm was nearer the
aactual value" tnan the cash value" of
y ,ItYf.
10 Illustrate: Take a lot forth $1,000
and farm worth 100000. There are
many VINO were in position to buy the
lot where there was none who had the
means to buy the farm. As conse-
queaee the cash valus" OF the lot was
much more in proportion than taat OF
the farm. and as taxes were levied on
the cash value the levy ON the lot was
pr6portionately greater than that on
the farm. As the result the lot owner
paid more taxes on his lot than the
man with the big tract There you
have the small property owner paying
more than mis- share of the tax and the
larga owner paying lsss than his share.
The old law said the value should be
wlat the property should be at forced
saie. Take that feature Of It. At
saaiR-s sale there Is usually spirited
bidding on small farms and practically
none on large tracts. Why? Because
men are found in number who have the
mems to and are DESTROYS of buying
small tracts Or farms. and men arr
scare who have the means to AMI are
DESTROYS of buying large tracts. Result
ant from this small tracts sell for far
more in proportion at forced sales than
do large tracts. Then basing the tax
on the prices at forced sales it is read
lily seen that the tax on a small tract
is far greater proportionately than on
large tracts. To iurther illustrate tnis.
suppose the sheriff puts up for sale a
small farm. whose actual value is $1,000
That IS not large amount of Nancy
and you may find score of people at
he sale bidding on it because they nave
the price. The bidding will become so
spirited that it is actually run above
its actual value and knocked off. Under
the old law that is what the assess
ment is. or is based upon and il the rate
IS $40 on the hundred dollars. waicl
was The old rate the owner pays Sl7
tax. Now, take tract of hand, whose
acsual worth is 100000 1t IS put up
at eherifT's sale. There is not score
of men to buy 1t. Why? Because
there is not tut number that mas the
money or that really wants so mud,
land. As tho result il stands but little