The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1906-06-23
III GREAT deal of comment has
- naturally beea aston ed

M GREAT deal of comment has
- naturally beea occasioned
throughout the county by the publ
cation in the ISLANDER last week Of
the figures of the Roche Harbor
Lime Company's assessment in con-
nection with the affdavits and testi-
mony in the well-McMillin suit as
to the actual value of the company's
property The ISLANDER does not
wish to be understood for moment
as contendlng that the companys
property should be assessed at its
admitted full value, as required by
law, or at sixty per cent of it's full
value, as directed by the state tax
commission, unless precisely the same
policy is pursued with respect to all
other property. It is a popular the
ory that the law is no respecter of
persons. The ISLANDER simply con-
tends that the rich man should pay
taxes upon the same percentage OF
the value of his property as the poor
man. This is the law, but unfortun-
ately it is ''more honored in the
breach than in the observance.
The evidence in the ell-McMil-
lin case shows that the Tacoma &
Roche Harbor Lime Company pays
taxes upon ONLY FIFTEEN PER CENT
of what is admitted to be low cash
valuation of its property. That being
the case it follows that EIGHTY-FIvE
PER CENT ESCAPES TAXATION ALTO
aErHER. Can the county assessor or
county commissioners, whose duty it
is under the law to "equalize" all
taxes once year, point to any other
Individual or institution in the county
equally favored? 1t is not likely, but
it does not necessarily follow that it
is their fault if they are unable to do
so. Prior to the revelations of val
ues disclosed in the Cowel suit the
assessor could only rely upon his own
Judgment, based upon the represent
ations made to him by the company's
manager. In all fairness to Mr..
Court it should be stated that he has
quite materially increased the com
pany's assessment since he went into
office and the ISLANDER believes that
he has faithfully and conscientiously
sought to do his duty. He has done
his best to correct many inequalities
in assessments which he has found to
exist, and his work has been subject
to annual review by the commission
ers, all of whom are old settlers, per-
sonally acquainted with very large
percentage of the taxpayers and ia.
miliar with property values.
The statement in this paper last
week that the company's lands are
assessed at an average valuation of
"only trifle over $3.50 an acre. was
an obvious error. The decimal point
was in the wrong place. The assessor
states that there are only two fortles
in the county that are assessed at
less than 800 per forty, although it
is admitted that there are a good
many forties in the county that are
not worth that much. Many land
owners are paying taxes upon larger
valuations on ''scab" lands than they
could sell them for, but in most in
stances the excess is more than coun-
terbalanced by assessments upon inn
proved lands which are much lower
than they are worth.
The task Of assessing and equaliz-
ing property values is not an easy one.
There is no reason to doubt that the
officials charged with that duty in
this county are honestly desirous OF
treating all individuals and all inter
ests fairly and that they will welcome
any reliable information or reason
able suggestions calculated to aid
them in their work. Assuming this
- be the case there would seem to be
no good reason why Mr.. McMillin's s
own evidence and the statements OF
his counsel should not be considered
reliable as to che value OF the Roche
Harbor Lime Company's property