The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-09-29
s. THEIR PURPOSE ] AND
WHATTHEY WILLAccoMPLlsH
ALI THE STATUTES Re
GENTLY SENAcTEp BY TIE
sPEclALSESsIoN CLEAR
LY ExPLAiNED
AND THE GREAT BENEFIT THEY
WILL BRING SET FORTS
CLEARLY AND DISTINCT
LY-voTERs, READ
THIS.


From the Parkersburg State Journal
The twenty-one a laws passed at
the. special s~essionEof the Iegisiatnre
zof1o4have been3pubiished and widely
distributed. The acts cover 15S PRINT
pages as they appertain 70 the
entire system of collection. assessment
and disbursement of emu are OIL
the utmost importance and far reacn-
Ing In their effect. They marx a oe-
cided step forward toward a falrer
and more lust system of assessment
and lower rates of taxation and their
merits need only to be fairly consld-
sered and fully understood to meet VIII
general approval.
What the Acts Are In Brief.
In brief, they reduce b state tax
rate from t~hirty-fve cents to i've cents
on the hundred dollars by 1907; IN
certain license taxes n create
new ones, thereby raising large
amount Of new ven for the state
from these sources; reduce the max
imum county levy to sixty cents in
stead. of the present limit Of ninety-fve
cents; limit the maximum levy Tor
the regular school building fund to
twenty cents instead of forty; making
a total reduction of s5 cents in a total
of $40 or oNE-HALF; prohibit IN
authorized expenditures by OH
Ger of the State, county courts or
boards of education; require the coun-
ties having special Criminal Courts TO
pay5the salaries of the Judges; pro
vide for a Tax Commissioner, who be
comes the head of the tax assessment
system of th State; create a better
system Of assessor and assessments,
much Of which in regard to the duties
S$of-the assessor goes into effect IN
1909; provide for a re-asSessment OF
all the real estate of the State in 1905,
under the direction of h Tax COM
missioner, by commissioners appoint
eddy him, the valuation being subject
to review and correction by the County
Courts and by the State Board of
public Works, as an equalization
board; make the first ak evies in he
neW#values or a~ppraisement of real
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 b true and &C
tual values of the property from these
corporations; increase and perfect the
collateral 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
shall thereafter annually assess
he real estate as we'll as all other
nronerty. the special re-aSSeSSment or
I real estate of 1905 holding until that
time; provide that corporate and all
other property shall be returned for
taxation at its 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 the w. Va. Asylum formerly. called
the Home for Incurables); n a mum
her of minor matters of more or less
Importance.
seEse. Inc general Soups
to perfect the taxation assessment sys'
TEN and give it a ead and to cause
all property to be valued as the const1
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 nay be wiped out
as far as possible, n the needed
State raised otherwise.
Our present system of unequal and
low values with high taxes is fatally
detective. The object of the new laws
is to put corporate and all property on
the same equal footing, to assess all
property at it's value, equally and uni
form1y. and then to reduce State, cOun'
ty and municipal taxes.
1t will take no more money tosrun
local and State governments under one
system than another. A full tax val.
uation therefore means low taxes. The
Keynote Of the bills Is "fairer valua
lions and lower taxation" With lower
taxation invisible personal property
will more largely appear on the tax du'