The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-10-20
iJNcIE JoE CANNON TOLD THE
BIG CROWD A THE OPERA
ioUSE
VoRD5o ENAToRS ELkINS
ON TEiEsTAx soUEs TtoN.
.BeIow is what : he says:

bSt0Sg1sl SFSWQaLz1S85e4yS -
The main purpose of the new tax
Law compel the assessment of
millions upon millions Of personal and
intangibIeSp which has hereto.
fore escaped sFtaxations and to more
nearly aqua1fze taxation of lands in
thesHarfous count les. making the large
land owner pay as much in proper
ton as the small one The new law
reduces he limit for taxation for
State county and school purposes
soneS hall that is from $1N70 on the
hundred dollars to s5 cents. This is
c1eaISl a reduction.
.ow IF byreason of the operation
saof the new law personal property,
such as credits, notes, mortgages,
moneys, stock and bonds in all the
sscounties are placed on the assess
z5ments list of tax books, valued, for ex-
anpIe say Eat@fve or ten million dol
lars in each county, that never paid
any taxes before-wh will surely
s be the case; then, will it not follow
that witt the taking off ofone half
sthe taxes as before stated, and the
add tion Of such large amount of
properly to the taxable list that never
was taxed before, that the levy, even
ons actuaI values. will be so low that
the taxes must be considerably less
than ever sbefore2
work this out and you have
st esanswerto sthe whole question.
That Democrats Want.
The Democrats in this campaign
seemingly don want this personal
properly that has been in hiding and
8escaping taxation under the old law
put on the assessment list, but want
to- low 1T to escape as heretofore,
and the small land owner go on pay
ling axes, the lands of the large land
ssoWnerSnotb being assessed, at their real
value For instance, in my county
3 and this. is the case in all the coun-
ties Of the State----I know two farm
5sers living side by eide owning about
$50 acres each improved lands on
which tn ey pay about equal taxes, but
one sof the farmers is 1oaning 100000
stoE the people Of the county, on which
heels receiving 6 per cent 10 8 per
cent and on which he does not pay
one dollar of taxes Now is this
Eright2 Should notathe farmer own
ing the 100000 Of personal property
pay taxes on t, as he must do under
the new ! avg Then, again, it is
sWell known fact that in the large
counties of9the State, men who own
only a house and lot, or rent one, pay
lakes from SIS to $50 or 500, while
they are worth in personal property,
money credits, etc, from 5000 to
$500 600 each. The tax books in the
various counties will confirm this
statement as to such men paying lit
stlegeor no taxes. In justice to the
small property owner should this con-
stinue The new law will correct this
inequality and outrage by compell-
Ing under the strictest kind of an
oath and the eye of a tax commission
sersa nd#competent assessor, all people
to8make a true return of all taxable
prop
Under the new law it is made the
duty Of the tax commissioner and the
various assessors to compel fair and
lust returns of property. This will
result in putting on the assessment
list hundreds of millions Of dollars
sofSpersonal property; it will also com
spel5theS owners of large tracts of land,
mineral timber, improved and unim-
proved, tospay taxes on something
like the actual value, which was not
the2case under the old laws, and doing
these things will unquestionably re
duce taxation
Viii Not Increase Taxes
s4Sss sa@TheSDemocrats claim that the new
law viii increase the taxes. This is
not the case, because right in the be-
ginning it reduces the limit one-half,
as before stated. But they answer
that you are now going to assess
property att its actual value On the
subject of assessment the new and
old law is nearly the same. The old |
law requires personal properly to be |
assessed at its actual value and real /
proposed at its true value. Substan-
tail no difference. The new law
followed the findings of the tax com
mission, composed of Democrats and
alike
Ihe Real Objection.
$50 that the question is not that the
taxes will be increased and assess
Inents at actual value will be hurtful,
but the real objection to the law is
- rs - "a