The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-07-01
SAME OLD CROWD IS DOING THE KICKING Tax Commissioner White Issues
 Statement on Raises MASS MEETING FOR TODAY Real Estate Association Will Lead a Movement of Protest Against h.
 creases Made On Tax As-
 sessments In the City.
MASS MEETING FOR TODAY

The big mass meeting to be held this afternoon at o'clock in the rooms of the Commercial club promises to be large ly attended and full of incidents worth witnessing. The property owners are raising a big protest against the, raises in taxes made by Back Tax Commissioner Frank s. White, Jr.
 Mr. White is not worried, but simply states that the kckers are the ones who always kick and have never come to him to even try to reach adjustment
 J. L. Yancey, president of the Real Estate association, is the leader in the protest movement, and he declares that the system of allowing a tax commission CT per cent on his raises is unjust, and such a storm of disapproval should arise as to sweep it off the statute books at the next meeting of the legislature
 He states that the people whom he rep resents have been treated unjustly, that in many cases their tax value has been set at a higher figure than the real value of the property, and that legal steps will be taken to protect them.
 White Issues Statement.
 Commissioner White issued the follow ing statement yesterday:
 While I regret to get into contro- versy in the newspapers, yet I feel that the conditions which prevail are not un- derstood by a large part of the property owners of this city and county.
 '.I desire to say in the outset that these property-owners who were cited to ap- pear before the board this year are those whose property assessments were not raised last year, and in a large number of instances the value of the property has never been raised. The law pertain ing to the raising of under-valuations re- aires that the commissioner appear oe- fore the Board of Revenue with list of the cases, stating the amount of the pres ent assessments and the contemplated raises, and if the board is satisfied that the under-valuation exists, the property owner is cited to appear before the board at some subsequent time to show cause why the valuation on the property should not be raised. I spent nearly four weeks in reading these cases to the Board of Revenue in the month of June, and not in any single instance did the board refuse to docket case, stating in substance that I had been reasonable and conservative in the proposed raises.
 Appraised By Disinterested Men. Tt is the policy of the state tax com mission, whose agent I am, to raise the value of property over the entire state to 60 per cent of it's true market value, and those who has assessed their property on this basis will certainly not be raised. The state commissioners are conserya- tive men, or they would not be- retained in their positions. I employed two dis interested conservative real estate men, who are taxpayers in this county, to ap- praise the property in Birmingham and vicinity; men who know values and whose compensation was not in anywise contingent on the amount of raises made by me or the commission, and I have been largely governed in issuing citations on a basis of 60 per cent of their ap- praisement.
 Same Crowd as Always.
 'T desire further to say that there are always persons who rebel at raise and an investigation will show that those who are inaugurating the movement of pre- venting an equalization of taxation thus lessenng the burden on the individual taxpayer) are those who always oppose raise Tn their assessments, however small. To demonstrate whether I am reasonable in making adjustments, in three days approximately $100O,000 m raises have been adjusted and accepted by numerous different property ty-owners, to whom citations were issued, and In only about half dozen instances have the property-owners gone away without accepting the raise. Not one of those who are aiding the movement for pro- posed mass meeting has approached me to discuss or obtain adjustment of the raise on the property which they repre- cent.
 T am endeavoring to discharge my duty in conscientious and fair manner, both to the taxpayer and to the state of Ala bama.''
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