The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1907-12-19

1act that These laws have been tOrmu
lated with little knowledge of or re-
gard for the requirements of economic
principles. In this re- n,,t Ohio is not
more unfortunate than many of the
other states
The Golden Rule Of Taxation.
'Neyer tax anything
That would be of value to your state,
That could or would run away, or,
That could or woull come to you."
--Enuch EnSlev.
Article -. Section >. Ohio Constitu-
tion adopted 1851:
Laws shall be passed. taxing by
uniform rule, all moneys. credits, in
Vestments in bonds, stocks. joint
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 it this
rule 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 a former cen.
tiry who were dealing with conditions
wholly unlike those existing today, an
inelastic rule which depriyes tle peo-
pie of all power TO dial with present
day ondiliOnS as their intelligence
may SHOW them 10 be best LeeiSla-
ton. lnjgciod irtO state constitutions,
results in The government of the pres.
ent by the dead brain of the past. 1t
permits no growth in intelligence. 1t
provides fer no changes in conditions
Having suffered from this evil. great
care should be exercised not to per-
petuate it in any amendment to our
constitution tAat may now be submit
ted to the people. We should recognize
the fact that we are not more capable
of legislating for the people who will
live in this state 30 years hence than
were those who lived here so years
ago to legislate for us.
The Uniform Ru!e of Taxation, Ap-
piled to Real Estate.
The rule OF taxation legislated into
the constitution of 1881 requires the
taxation of ali 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 wCll-in-
formed economic student; Il rule that
has been tried and abandoned by the
people OF every civilized country eX-
cepting the American states.
The practical impOssibility of as
SeSSlng all property for taxation at its
true value in money is due to the fact
that value is not concrete nor a sta
Hio Coit!i'Ioh' I'i ny S!dlVHelI' q! Naiue
- aiHtPiS an SApi'Saloh Oh OPINION. IL
- ! llot poSsiDlr lot loS" whose duty
Us dt ~ 10 NaiuG properly ior taxation 20
aSieG III ilelr view" regarding value,
Mne,iV' ' ,IloN "I' oNucIS CT assessors,
though every one of them may be alb
solutely honest
| have a watch. The law requires
ma 1t an b' assessed 1or taxation
al Us trEe NaIVe ~ mon y. Tow many
OF you are compel mt t) fix that value?
II you attempt 10 60 Il every one Ot
YOU WllI giN" II different value. This
accounts Tor the absurd statement of
the Naluc or watches returned for tax
atlon IN TINS state. 1t illustrates tEe
aDsHrdlty OF empIoHin% man at two
or three uolIafS per day To value all
the real ana personal property within
a taxing d!%illct ana. requiring him TO
nave ms work Completed within nine
~, days. II exposes the "%rGginuS
lolIE Oh requiring a small BODY Of men
TO meet III tolUmhuS once in ten
years TO ,eqUali2e the value 0f all prop
erty within the state. ana Of making
Ihelr decision binding unOn the state
Tor ten years to come. What higher
premium than thIS Is needed u induce
SlonerS or aSF"5$urS who can secure
tne GfeatcSi rc.allEe mderValuatiOn
lor InE req! ana ,pArSohal property
placed on tne dUpI,caj" OF their coun-
" WHI Tree the taxpayers Of their
sYNndir,- nortinn nf ',ho ,toti, " a w, 5t ,G
fnr onG vpaI. only mr. fnr t,n rrIIn ~
Same irincnmnnt ~ unJar,,,lrotinn
Influences the actinn of asraegnrg f,r
taXing districts within a county. and
Of individual taxpayers within taxing
districts. The shifting of the incidence
of taxation. where some are uudprtay-
ed, causes others to be OVrrtaXed.
This is a condition that does violence
TO every requirement Of Justice. To
demonstrate how impossible it is to
enforce the uniform rule in taxation
by the methods that have been en-
ploy@d, ! have had Investigations
achieved, after tiftytiVe years of cX-
perlence, IN Adams. Brown, Monroe
ana montgomery counties. All trans
1ers or real estate recorded In these
counties Tor the year 1906 have been
computed. Those in which the sell
ing value was not properly expressed
were excluded from the list The
value at whlCh eac2 piece OF property
was assessed Tor taxation has been
-, W ~. S 'iN ~ ~ 'idlSl Col-
umn with its selling value.
This exhibit shows the average tax
able value OF rea estate in these cOun-
ties to be the following per cent Of it's
selling value:
Adams 424 nor cent
Brown .. 503 ner cent
Monroe " AZ = ner cent
Montgomery " WI ner cent
Assuming. that selling value is the
true value in money of the property
sold, this exhibit proves that in these
counties from 49.7 per cent to GS.3 |
per cent OF the true value of real es.
'ate eyaded taxation in 1906 by under |
Naluatlon.
But this is not all that is shown in
oniS u o1,nr eNiliD't. ne statement or an
AVERAGE thg - an encouragement that !
oho,.o NJ. Ne aaiuaOloiiS Il prloW ana also
dOONt liiS average. 10 Snow Jne Wlue !