The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1905-01-27
NEW TAX coMMiss TONER BE-
LlEyEs TAXES OR PEo:
PIE VIII BE RED cEo.
LEeislsA Tu RE y rs NEW CARD,
Up SLEEVE oRf COUNTY.

work las been given q good start and
That every step nov tends o}thes I'M
proyement of the law and its machin.
cry any body I'M West Virginia
has amy doubts as toathef good points
and the efficienc Of the new. tax laws,
il mot Mr.. Dillca, aad ..e promises,
that the beauty Of their workings viii
soon be made SO plain that he who
runs may read. VI, b s5s Il
have i already made, consider.
able progress In the work. said Mr..
Dillon, and have every reason to feel
satisfied AS 1T Is a brand new con.
:ditiop of affairs I'M the State, and.
chang sseyeryS phase Of the tax gather,
ing methods 81 Sis but natural that
many difficulties were to be met with
at first, but all that have been en-.
geountered In launching our craft have
been surmounted and we are now
fairly into the real1 work. a
Among the first things to be done,
igsftf y -
cessarily, was the appointment Of
county tax commissioners, whose du.
ties consist of REVEALING and reassess:
ing the property in the counties where.
they hold office These have all been
appointed, and are being instructed in
reference to their new duties. In a
number Of cases the work in coun.
gty has been found too great for one
man, and SO a number Of assistants
have been appointed.
The Brewery Taxes.
The office has now taken up the.
question Of collecting the back taxes
due from breweries and distilleries
and that this is in itself Of consider.
able Importance cansbe shown by the
mere statement that the amount owed
TO the State from these classes in the
way of back taxes remaining unpaid,
will pass 100000 Some Of the firms
that owe back taxes have already set.
tiled with the office, and sno trouble
at all has been experienced with the
noI:residents corporations.
The wholesalers and retailers OF
the State have paid the amounts due
readily, and tits only the larger brew
5erles that object to the settlement
which We have offered inSthe hopes of
avoiding the necessity Of entering suit.
We have offered the compromise OF
calling all back taxes settled Il the
firms will pay forsthe time from May
e, 903, ito May 4 !, of the present year.
isWeScould readily charge them for five
years, but they make the point that
they did not know of the existence Of
the law compelling them to pay whole.
Ssaler's tax In addition to the manu-.
sfacturer's tax, and therefore establish.
ed branches in many places where
the amount Of business done would
mot have justified the expenditure Of
$3.50 erSyear, which is the amount Of
the tax, and, realizing The justice Of
the claim we have made the com.
promise proposition. IF these settle
sments: are not made shortly we in.
tend bringing suits against all the de.
glinquent corporations.
~ Ants Lose Out.
The claims Of the opponents of tax
reform will not be realized. That is
plainly evident from the progress we
have already, made. Not one Of the
poorer people; whom the opponents
particularly appealed to in their fight
against tax reform, will have to pay
&onej cent more Of taxes ,thanlthey ever
did, but on the contrary it is an abso.
lutte Ecertainty5that they will pay less.
The Legislature shows a disposition
SS.tol enact laws limiting counties in tie
amount that can be levied, not allow
ing them to raise larger amount by
taxation than was raised in 1904 and
this embargo will remain in effect un-
tila1907. when the new laws will be
in effect in their entirety and all will
he assessed alike s,.5
by that time 1t will be found that
the reassessment will have multiplied
the assessed valuation Of property in
West Virginia by four will have,
brought itsup from s2GS,OOO,OOO, the.
present figure, to 81 900, 100000 or ST..
900 900 900. We know this to be a
most conservative estimate, for we
know Of oil wells that are assessed
at but a few. hundred dollars whose
value runs into the thousands, and we
know Of large tracts of territory that
Is still assessed at the old farm land.
value Of about $40 per acre. when it
has been producing oil territory. for.
years and is really worth twenty
times that much.
n -.