The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-09-26
sMHAT#THEIR PURPOSE us AND
wHAT&THEY WiLLAccoMPLlsH
-ALL THE STATUTES RE
GENTLY ENACTED BY THE
SPEcIAL$sSEsSIoN CLEAR
EXPLAINED
AND THE GREAT BENEFIT THEY
WlLLSBRJNG SET FORTH
cLEARLYA AND DISTINCT
LY-voTERs, READ
THIS.

the special session of the Legislature
have been published and widely
distributed. The acts cover 155 print
:ed#pages andas they appertain to
entire system OF collection, assessment
disbursement Of revenue, are OF
sthe@utmost importance and far each
in#their effect. They mark a de-
5cided.step forward toward a fairer
sand#more Just system of assessment
and lower rates Of taxation and their
merits need only to be fairly consid-
cred and fully understood to meet with
general approval. !
What the Acts Are In Brief.
In brief, theySreduce the State tax
rate. from t~hirty-fve cents to five cents
on the rndred dollars by 1907; in
crease certain license axe and create
ones, thereby raising a large
amount of new revenu for the State
from these sources; reduce the max
8imum county levy to sixty cents in
stead of the presentlinit Of ninety-ive
cents: limit maximum levy for
the regular school building fund to
twenty cents instead of forty; making
"a total reduction of SIS cents in a total
&O7#GS t.(U OF oiS DhcLibits III
authorized expenditures by any Off
Ger of the State, county courts or
boards of education; require the cOun-
ties having special Criminal Courts to
pay the salaries of the Judges; pro
vide for a Tax Commissioner, who be-
comes the head of the tax assessment
system of the State;$ create a better
ESystemof assessor and assessments,
much8of which in regard to the duties
#of the assessors goes into effect in
1900; provide for a re-assessment OF
all b real estate of the State in 1908,
under the direction of the Tax Com
missioner, by commissioners appoint
ed by him, the valuation being subject
to review andacorrection by the County
Courts and by the State Board of
Public Works, as an equalization
board make the first tax levies in the
new values or appraisement of e
estate apply in 1906; provide for as
sessments of pipe lines, telegraph lines,
telephone lines, car lines, railroads,
etc, annually by the Board OF Public
Works, requiring complete and accu-
rate sworn returns OF the true and &C
tual values Of the property from these
corporations; increase and perfect the
c%ollatera inheritance tax; change the
method of conveying prisoners to the
penitentiary, saving thousands of dol
lars annually; fix the fees to be
charged, adding new ones and raising
old ones in the Offices of Secretary OF
State and Auditor, which are to go to
the State hereafter as new revenue;
require that the regularly elected as
SCISSORS of the counties beginning in
1909, shall thereafter annually assess
the real estate as well as all other
property, the special re-assessment OF
real estate OF 1905 holding until h a
time; provide that corporate and all
other property shall be returned for
taxation at it's true or actual value;
require counties to pay $4,000 a year
toward the education and support OF
their reform school inmates and those
in b w. Va. Asylum formerly called
the Home for In~curables); and a mum
Der of minor matters of more or less
Importance.
The general scope of these bills Is
to perfect the taxation assessment syS
TEN and give it q head n to cause
all property to be valued as the const
tuition contemplates, at>its real value
in order that there may be G)uniform
ity and honesty in valuations of similar
property; that cd the rates of local
taxation be greatly reduced; that CD
direct State taxes may be wiped out
as far as possible, and the needed
State raised otherwise.
Dur present system of unequal auc
low values with high taxes is fatally
defective. The object of h e law
is to put corporate and all property or
the same equal footing, to assess al
property at its value, equally and uni
fornnly, and then to reduce State. conn
ty and municipal taxes.
1t VIII take no more money TO rUr
local and State governments under one
system than another A full tax val
uation therefore means low taxes. Fhs
Keynote OF the bills is 'faiTer valua
tions and lower taxation" With lowe
taxation Invisible personal propeTt!
Will more largely appear on the,tax dll
plicates. The State revenues are tt
be raised from license and privilege
taxes Inheritance taxes, etc.