The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1908-07-01

either the employment of inferior as I
SCISSORS or in nasty and ill-considered |
assessments, neither of which, obvi- |
ously, would be an Improvement upon !
the present system. II substantial |
compensatory salaries are to be paid, |
the additional expense would be so
great as torender il inadvisable to
modify the system IN TINS manner The
Commission upon this point recon-
mends the retention OF the present sys-
tenn of assessment by one man with
the retention of Courts of Tax Appeals
constituted as at present Of three
members whose decisions shall as now
be. subject to appeal to the Supreme
Court. 1t may be added that one
member of the Commission personally
would prefer to have tax appeals in
the first instance heard by Circuit
Judge in place of Tax Court because
of the greater familiarity of Circuit
Judges with the law and their greater
ability to correctly weigh evidence, but
| he, in conjunction with the remainder
| Of the Commission, realizes that the
majority of taxpayers would be better
satisfied with the judgment of three
men in the Tax Court who as now are
chosen because OF their familiarity
with the values of the property upon
which they are to pass and not because
of their experience or ability in mat
ters of law A further consideration
| in favor of the retention of the Tax
| Appeal Courts as against the substitu-
| tion of an Appeal to the Circuit Judges
is, as to the First Circuit, that the
three judges whose appointment is
now authorized by law have their time
fully occupied with the matters which
by law it is their duty to hear and de-
termine and, as to the First Circuit
and to a lesser extent as to the other
circuits, that a Court of Tax Appeals
is likely to render its decisions with
greater expedition than the Circuit
Judges who have other cases to con-
slider and decide.
In theory, at least, it would be pre-
ferable, too, that the members of the
Tax Appeal Courts should be appoint
ed by the Supreme Court or one of its
members rather than by the Governor
who is the head of the Executive De-
partment, of which the Tax Office is
! VI dICll, anu WHO Ill IIldJ sense is d
party in interest in the controversies
to come before the Tax Courts. The
Organic Act, however, in Section 80
provides that the members of all
Boards of a public character shall be
appointed by the Governor by and
with the advice and consent of the
Senate. This applies, in the opinion
of the Commission to the appointment
or the members of the tax appeal
courts. In practice the Commission is
not aware that the Governor has in
the past in the slightest degree abused
his power of appointment, and until
such cause or well-grounded appre-
hension of it arises, the Commission
thinks that it would be inadvisable to
ask Congress for the necessary modi-
fication of the Organic Act upon the
point.
AS tending to further perfect the
system OF assessment and obviate
some of the objections which were
sought to be obviated by those sug-
costing an original board of assessed S,
the Commission recommends that a
board of five, which for purposes OF
convenience may be called the Board
OF Equalization, be created, one men,
Der to be chosen from each Taxation
Division and a fifth member from the
Territory at large (but neither the
treasurer of the Territory nor any Su-
pervlsor of any County nor any tax
assessor or collector to be eigible)
with authority to frame rules and reg
ulations not inconsistent with existing
statutes intended to secure uniformity
| in methods of assessment and anna ,itv
and fairness of valuations throughout
the territory, to call the attention OF
any assessor to any dereliction OF duty
on his part and to offer suggestions to
any assessor concerning the proper
performance of his duties, and to pre-
scribe forms of the returns to be made
by the taxpayers, both as to property
and as to income, with as detailed re-
quirements for information as it NAV
deem proper, such returns and the re-
qulrements thereof to be uniform to
all within any given class, and with
authority further in such board to re-
wise, alter and repeal such rules, regu-
lations and forms from time to time
as in their judgment may seem proper;
further that it should be the duty of
such board to sit at least once a year,
say in the month of November. to
frame such rules and regulations and
F adopt such forms. The month of No
vember is here suggested because the
, board which the Commission has in
mind is one intended, not to take part
= in the actual fixing of assessments, but
t to render aid, before each period fol