The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1906-07-26
VALUATION FOR TAXATION.

The Durham HcruM remarks that
+ it is not Il safe proposition to Judge
/ hat a town is worth by the tax
looks" Tile HrfaN editor must
! lave had his mind on Wilmington
fhen he wrote that paragraph Tor 1t
f an not be denied that there is
hood deal Of taxable property III tins
/ own which does not contribute one
lent i'm the way Oi taxes to support
Ing city. state and county govern
lnrut, 1t does seem that there should
| ,o some way OF making these people
bear their share Oi government eX-
benscs. There is one thing sure, the
b00r man can't dodge his taxes. lie
has to come up every time. II he
Hoes not do so his wages, II he Is an
[mpluve of some other person, are
learnishccd. Ii working Tor himself
H. has to go down in his jeans ana
|ish up the amount The man VINO
HODGES the tax assessor is the man
ii means, the finaucier, the schemer
|yho thinks the chief end Of life IS
Successful financiering OF any kind
|rhe man who gives in his property
|or taxation at its full value has to
kay for the tax dodgers also.
DO our wealthy citizens give in
heir property ut any thing like II lar
[yaluation? Ii they did SO would not
he total valuation in this county be
Jar greater than it is? Furthermore
I he percentage Of taxation would be
|nnch lower and the burden would
BE- borne by all alike. The man who
has property worth one thousand
FloIIars should not be compelled to
hay a great deal heavier tax III pro-
portion than he man who counts his
wealth bv the tens OF thousands or the
ofthOusands. but he does so
Tie man who is worth a hundred
thousand dollars should pay one
hundred times more tax than his
who owns only one thOuS-
frnd dollars worth Of worldly goods,
but how many Of them do it? They
Hodge the tax and the poor man
Loots the bill Tor them.
Of course some people won t like
this kind of talk i'll Il Wilmington pa
|per. but we feel confident that every
|man WHO has any acquaintance with
general manner OF the giving III
ri taxes int his county will endorse
|the correctness OF our position. II
|all property were given III for taxa
kion it would not cost those who
bay as much rs it does EOW. In
creased valuation would, OF course,
re ducc percentage OF taXatlon.-Ni II
mingtoH Messenger.
What the Messenger says about
tax dodgers in Wilmington, applies
wit h equal force to Henderson, though
perhaps not so larg 'ly. If any one
doubts this let him 90 to the tax
books and see for himself. Some peO,
pie are never SO poor as when they
go TO list their property for taxa
ton. There are those who give in as
the total amount OF their persona
nrOpnrt1- Lnucoh oil and l.itnhnt
furniture, etc, Il sum not III excess
OF the value of the contents of Il Sin
Gle room in the house. some times
This is not right and there ought tc
be some way to get at ii fair valu,
alton OF all the taxable property
The burden OF taxation should bt
more equally distributed.
We believe also that land valuations
are too low. Ii the valuation wa:
raised the tax rate could be reduced
So that the burden on the tax payer
would be no greater. This would
make a better showing for the wealth
OF a community and create IL better
impression of the condition OF The
country