The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-01-15
TAXATION.
The Problem Of Obtaining Fair
Valuation and Il Low Rate.

No subject VIII come before you at
this session fraught with more vital
interest to the stat than the deVising
of Il ploper scheme for asCertainin9
the true value Of all property in the
State to the end that each individual
or county by proper taxation, shah
bear his or its part of the States bur
den. and that there be no faIsa valua-
ton or unjust discrimination,
Thc Constitution. Art. Y, Sec. 3, pro
Videa that laws shall b. passe ed taxing
by pnifOrm rule all moneys, credits,
etc, and also all real ana personal
property according to its true vale
IN money! and yet this SIMPLE but
vital provision is uniV1r ally violated
both in the assessments not being uni
form, nor according to their true
value. While impossibl" to devise any
scheme of taxation that shall fall
equally on all, still the nearer we can
approach TO requiring all to value
their property according to it's true
worth, just so much the nearer we
come to fulfilling the constitutional de-
mand for uniformity. This subject
therefore. requires your deepest
thought and most careful examination:
and if the session should end with your
having uccomn!iShed nothing else but
settling this troublesome question on
Il fair basis. you still Will have earned
the plaudit, well done, faithful scr
wants.
the State is $461. 0.66S.32: but in my
judgment. if personal property was
fairly given in, and realty justly as
sessed, and railroads and other corpor-
ations fairly taxed. it's actual value
would be a billion dollars, enabling us
to have a much lower rate than at
present and still have a much larger
revenue to meet all the growing needs
of the State.
\ fair valuation and Il low rate are
what are necessary to get more pco-
pie and outside capital. while Il low
rate and high valuation fri@htcn away
beth the hOmes@cker and investor.
BY reading the report of the Audi
tor you Will see that forty-tive counties
out of the ninety-seVen receive more
from the State than they pay taxes
TO it: and while we might expect such
Il condition from a very few weak
counties still when we see the same
thing done by large and prosperous
counties, we know 1t is because they
have put an unfair and too low value
on their property, and are therefore
perpetrating q wrong on the State and
the other counties
This wrong is accomplished by the
assessors in some counties valuing re-
atty at So So, 90 and 95~ per cent.
of its value while the assessors in
other counties where land is equally
fertile and valuable, assess it a 33 1-3,
40. 50. ar 60 per cent. This is a pal
pable violation of the Constitution, ana
is unfair both to the individual tax
payer, or county, that thus pays more
than taxpayers in other counties,
where property is equally, if not more
valuable. All of this can be reme-
died by making a few changes in our
present law, which, in the main, is a
good one but only needs a more ef-
fective way of enforcing it.
Under Section 5203 Vol. II Revisal
of 1905, assessors value all realty in a
county, and a taX-liSter. under the pro-
visions of Section 5217, receives from
the owner q sworn list of all his per-
Sonal property of every description.
Require the assessors. as is now the
law, to view and inquire into the true
value of all the realty in their county,
and without letting the owner have
any knowledge of what valuation they
have affixed make their report to the
Board Of Equalization. Then require
the lSt-taker. in addition to making
every taxpayer list under oath give in
all his realty OF every description, no
matter whore situate as we'll as his in
tereSt in it, with also his estimate of
it's true money value. That the list