The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1908-06-23
DISCUSSING FULL RENDITION

Full rendition may not be a new
! law, but the frills and ruffles added
by the thirtieth legislature and en-
dorsed by Governor Campbell are
entirely too new. From various
sources, and they are all honest,
come objections to the workings OF
the law as it is now sought to be en-
forced by the present administration
and these objections are all predica-
ted on sound, common sense reason.
Paul NAPLES, chairman of the legis-
lative committee Of the Commercial
Secretaries Association, in defend
ing former argument, offers the fol-
lowing suggestions:
There seems to be some slight
difference in opinion in regard to
full rendition. All are agreed that if
all the counties in the state would
render at the same valuation it
would make no difference whether
that valuation was the cash market
value or some fractional part there
of, with the exception hereinafter
stated. But all practical tests along
these lines have failed to produce
that result heretofore and in all
probability it can never be done.
Manifestly, then, the plan that will
meet nearly approximate uniform
valuations most nearly approximates
justice, and is therefore the most
desirable.
LAS has been shown before, the
variation in Texas has been from a
maximum of IA per cent to mini
mum of % per cent, showing a var
iation of 40 per cent If, under the
new law, some counties should use
the full rendition of 100 per cent and
others should continue to use the
minimum of 23 per cent, the varia-
ton would be increased from 40 to
II per cent, which would make the
burden of taxation outrageously
heavy and unjust on those counties
or individuals whose property was
rendered at full market value HUI
man nature is the same everywhere,
and there will always be those who
will not comply with full rendition.
Consequently the higher you make
the maximum the greater will be the
variation, which is just the evil we
desire to cure.
1T is not reasonable, therefore
to believe if the valuation should be
fixed at some fractional part of the
actual value, say SO or rs per cent,
that it would necessarily result in a
decrease of the variation? If that be
true, then manifestly the full rem
dition law was too drastic and has
increased rather than lessencd the
Inequalities of the tax burdens. The
farmers and all real estate owners
cannot escape the tax assessor, while
the tax dodger continues to dodge
and, indeed, will redouble his efforts
values, and, therefore, the farmers
and real estate owners tat least
those whose property was rendered
at full cash values) have additional
and unjust burdens thrust upon
them.
There is one other poss BILE OBJ
;Srl,t l.
which seems to me to be
quite pertinent to the question, and
that is the instability of values. Last
year, for instance, when the whole
country was enjoying unprecedented
prosperity valuations-includin
farm lands-were at their zenith, but
a whitening drouth came in July and
crops in some sections were ruined
and in all sections greatly damaged.
Then came the panic, leaving devas-
tation and waste in it's wake. How
about valuations now? 1t would
scarcely be an exaggeration to say
that the shrinkage has been any
where from 33 1-3 to SO per cent. Is
it not manifest, therefore, that if full
rendition had been made upon last
years valuation, it would have made
the tax still more burdensome on all
who rendered at full valuation? Ano-
Their argument why some fraction of
full valuation should be used instead
of full market value
Some way or other there seems to
hn no