The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-09-29
ROOSEVELT TELLS
BRIGHTON MEaSURES
REvALuATlon AND TAxATlon.

AENHA1Ol
REVALuATloMAND TAxATIoN.
The Act, chapter III passed at thu
special session providing for the re
assessment of&the Sstlle of al rea
astete. "~according to theGtrue u &C
tral value thereof on the firstaday. .
January. 1905. directs the State to.
commissioner TO appoint one commits
resident and free-holder t~hereof.$ans
not res estate broker Or ~specniafol
in lands. who shall r-e.assess the ralue
Of all the real estate IN his county;
He shall give bond with good secu,
lity to be approved by the County
Court. In the penalty OF $4,000. condi.
TONED for the faithful pe~rformanceSof
the duties of his Office. and take oath
to faithfully. honestly and impartially
discharge the duties Of his Office. and
that he will neither directly nor indi.
rect1y receive or agree &c receive any
gift. reward or favor from the owner
of any lands in his county. or any other
person, to influence mis- action in max
ing such assessment. and that he will
without fear, favor. partially or bias
assess all the real estate in his coun-
Ety according to its true and actual
value, that is to say, at The price for
Which such property would sell If vol
unfairly offered for sale blythe owner
thereof upon the terms upon which
such property is usually sold, and not
the price which might be realized
upon a forced sale. These are the \
act9words of the statute.
If he discharges his duty as prescrib-
ed by his oath. all real property will
be assessed at its trre and actual
value. If all goes up, or down, in
the same impartial ratio, the rate of
taxation will go down ,shen valuations
go up n will go up when valuations
go down. The rate of tax and the val
uation do not control the amount OF
taxes levied, thatsis do not control the
amount of money 10 be raised. The
amount is regulated or fixed by the
needs OF the county, the city, the
boards of education, or the State.
To Illustrate: The County Court
first ascertains. in the manner pre-
scribed by law, what sum of money is
needed to carry on the affairs$o OF the
county. 1t then ascsrtains the reve-l
nues from licenses, and other sources
and the amount of any one on hand
available for current expenses, and
deducting these from the total need
value of the real and personal PROP
,+ -. rr.s - =. .E4
or number of cents to be levied on
S100 value in order to produce
or raise the sum needed to defrayI
the expenses of the county govern-l
ment. If 100000 are needed, and rs
cents on each 500 OF the assessed
value of real and personal property
will produce that sum, then the rate
is fixed at Il. cents.
The Court had the right to fix this
as high as 95 cents, but this
would produce about $4,000 more
money than is needed.
If valuations should by any possibil-
ity be doubled, then the rate would
be cut in two, and instead of being
fXed at rs cents would be fixed at
cents and still raise as much
money as before, and no man would
pay a cent more taxes than he did bel
ore.
1t is rank demaGogery, or ignorance,
hat asserts that an Increase of val
lation by reassessrnent. applied i'm.
partially to all real estate, will ~neces-
'arily increase any mans taxes AS
he valuation pes Up the rate of levy
,oes down. and exactly the same
mount of money is raised as before. If
ne. same total amount is to be raised
nd no more, how can the taxes on
ny be raised? To raise the
Mount of taxes would raise the sum
otal of revenue collected. II the sum
otal of revenue is moi raised or in
reased there can be no increase in
he taos OF anybody. f
If the County Court does not now
evy taxes for more money than it
eeds, though having the power to in r
rease the levy from rs cents, the
resent rate, to IS cents, will the re-
ssessment furnish any reason or in
ucement to raise more money than
needed? VIII the temptation be :