The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-12-30
President, National Tax Association.
Commissioner, Ohio state Board Of commers

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An intelligent study OF the stat,
and local tax laws nov, in operation
| In the several states will disclose the
fact that these laws have been formu
lated with little knowledge of or re
| gsrd for the requirements of economic
principles. In this respect Ohio Is no,
more unfortunate than many of the
| other states. ,f
The Golden Rule Of Taxation.
Never tax anything
That would be OF value to your state
That could or wodld run away, or,
That GOULD or would come to you"
--EnOch Ensley.
:. Article ~, Section 2, Ohio Constitu
ton adopted 1891.
Laws shall be passed. taxing by
uniform rule, all moneys credits. In
vestments in bonds, stocks. jbin,
stock companies, or otherwise: and
also real and personal property &C.
cording to its true value in money"
Those who formulated the existing
constitution legislated into 1t this
rple Of taxation which was at that
date, 1851, the rule in customary use.
This rule binds the people of 1907 to
the knowledge of the subject pos
sessed by the people of former CEN
tury who were dealing with conditions
wholly unlike those existing today, an
inelastic rule which deprives the peo-
pie of all power to deal with present
day conditions as their intelligence
may show them to be best. Legisla-
ton. injected into state constitutions,
results in the government of the pres.
ent by the dead brain of the past. It
permits no growth In intelligence. It
provides for no changes in conditions.
Having suffered from this evil, great
care should be exercised not to per-
petuate 1t In any amendment to our
constitution that may now be submit
ted to the people. We should recognize
the fact that we arc not more capable
OF legislating for the people who wifi
were those who lived here so years
ago to legislate for us.
The Uniform Rule OF Taxation, Ap-
piled to Real Estate.
The rule of taxation lcgslated into
the constitution of 1851 requires the
taxation of all property. tangible and
intangible. at its true value In money
and at uniform rate. This is the
rule of the general property tax. rule
that Is condemned by every well-in-
has been. tried and abandoned by the
people Of every civilized country ex-
cepting the American states.
The practical impossibility of as
sessing all property for taxation at it's
true value In money is due to the fact
that value Is not concrete nor sta
BILE condition. Any statement of-valuc
Is simply an expression of opinion. II
Is not possible for those whose duty
II Is to value property for taxation 70
agree In their views regarding value,
whether they are owners or assessors,
though every one of them may be alb.
solutely honest,
that 1t shall be assessed for taxation
at its true value in money. How many
OF you are competent to fix that value?
II you attempt to do Il every one of
you will give II different value. Tris
accounts for the absurd statement of
the value Of watches returned for tax-
alton In this state. II Illustrates tie
or three dollars per day to value all
the real and personal property wi.l,in
q taxing district and requiring him %
have his work completed within nine.
Y. days II exposes the egregious
folly OF requiring small body of men
to meet In Columbus once in ten
years to equalize the value of all prop.
erty within the state. and of making
their decision binding upon the state
for ten years to come. What higher
premium than this is needed to induce
undervaluation? The county commits.
siOners or assessors who can secure
the greatest relative differentiation
for the real and personal property
placed on the duplicate OF their coun-
ty Will free the taxpayers of their
county from the payment Of CORE
spending portion OF the state tax, not
Tor one year only, but for ten. Tho
same inducement to differentiation
influences the action of assessors for
taxing districts within county and
OF individual taxpayers within taxing
districts. The shifting of the medicines
OF taxation, where some are undertax-
ed, causes others to be overtaxed.
This is condition that does violence
to every requirement of justice. To
demonstrate how impossible II Is to
enforce the uniform rule In taxation
ployed, ! have had investigations
made to show what success has been
achieved, after .fifty-fiye years Of ex.
perience. In Adams. Brown, Monroe
and Montgomery counties All trans
fers OF real estate recorded In these
counties for the year 1906 have been
Ing value was not properly .cxpressed
were excluded from the list. The
value at which each piece OF property
was assessed for taxation has been
entered on the list in parallel col
umn with IT'S selling value.
This exhibit shows the average tax.
able value OF real estate In these coun.
ties to be the following per cent of its
selling value:
Adams ............ 43.d per cent
Brown ............ 50.3 per cent
Monroe ........... 3G.7 per cent
Montgomery ...... 37.1 per cent
Assuming that selling value is tho
true value In money Of the property
sold, this exhibit proves that in these
counties from 49.7 per cent to 63.3
per cent of the truo value of real es.
tate eyaded taxation In 1906 by under
valuation. FIt
But this iA.nof all that IL shown In
this exhibit. The statement of an
average Is an acknowledgment that
there were Valuations below and also
above the average. To show the wide
variation In this respect. the two OK
tremes may be taken In Adams coun-
iy. 191 transfers were assessed at an
average Of 11.3 per cent of selling
value. while 121 transfers in the same
"a