Evening journal., 1908-04-08
Letter to the Earn..-.

Lullor The EVENING JOIIRNAT
AT the present time the members of
our State Tax Commission are consss-
erlng plans Of raising revenue for o,,r
state, and the members Of the state
Grange have been before the conn,is-
sion for a hearing as to the taxing of
farms and they pointed out the faot
that the farms are heavily burdaned
with taxes now, and that they couldn't
stand any more taxes, and thew asked
that the commission should not make
the burden any heavier which TO nv
inlnd was not enough to ask; for. as
the farms are now the heaviest taxed
property In our State. / think the
members Of the Grange should have
asked that the taxes be reduced in
stead Of being left as at present.
Hervey Walker pointed out the fact
that farm land is taxed at the rate of
800 per acre. and that il he improves
ms property the assessor Immediately
raises the assessment.
AT meeting Of the Grange Mr.. Wal
ker pointed out that you could buy a
farm for less than It is assessed for,and
that you couldn't stop up a knot hole
IN your barn without the assessors
knows 1t and raises your assessment.
Our present system of raising reve-
nue. is very unjust to all. As Mr.. wal
ker said, you cannot stop a knot hole
In your barn without being taxed for
It. The farmers are taxed on their
land, houses, barns, fences, horses,
cows, pigs, dogs, and all the improve
ments they make, and If they happen
to keep stallion for service, they
must pay a special license Of $1O.50.
All these taxes weigh heavy on the
farmer.
Now how can we raise the revenue
without taxing the improvements, sthe
horses, cattle, pigs or any of these
things which the farmer builds, makes,
grows or breeds The proposition is
very easy All we have to do Is to tax
the land Of our State according to the
value of it, and Exempt all improve
ments from taxation. Let the State
appoint commission to assess all the
land OF our State and then figure up
the amount of revenue the State viii
need and set the rate Of tax that will
raise the revenue and tax each one ac-
cording to the value Of his land.
Think this matter over and you viii
see how you would be benefited by
being exempt from taxes on your inn
provements, and just paying according
TO the value Of your land.
Let the state officials assess all the
land in the State, including the cities.
towns and rural districts. Now after
they have done this, we will suppose
the land Of the entire State to be worth
$50, 10000 Now suppose the State
needs 100000 to run the State If we
tax the land one-half of one per cent.
we will raise 100000 and we will not
need to tax any improvements, Now
suppose your land is worth $40 per
acre. Your State tax would be cents
per acre; another man has a farm Of
which the land is worth $50 per acre,
his tax would be Is cents per acre.
Another mans land is worth $40 per
lacre; his tax would be 20 cents per
lacre. Another mans land is worth $50
per acre, and his tax would be 30 cents
per acre. A hundred acre farm worth
$50 per acre would only pay $50 a year
TO the State. A hundred acre farm
worth $40 per acre would pay IS a year
TO the State. II you have only so
acres which is worth $40 per acre. you
would pay only $3.50 a year to the
State. and II you had only 10 acres you
would pay only so cents a year to the
State
Thus the State would collect from
Sussex county on $15,OOO,000 Of land
value at the rate Of so cents on the
loo. $4,000, and the same amount from
Kent county, making a total Of s150,0O0
from the two counties, and from New
lCastle county the State would collect
lon S50,000,000 Of land value $250,000,
lmalSing the total of 100000. Thus you
can see that New Castle county would
lpay 100000 more to the State than
both the lower counties combined, and
the greater part Of this would be col
llected from Wilmington, as II has
much more land value than the rest
of the county and more than both Kent
and Sussex counties combined.
Now suppose the county government
does the same thing, and the land Of
New Castle county, including Whining
ton is worth about S5O,00O,000. Kent
lcounty Is worth about s15,000,000, and
lSussex county Is worth about Sl5,0O0,-
000 and say II takes 100000 TO run
New Castle county. II we tax II 40
cents on the hundred we will raise
100000. Thus II your land is worth
SO per acre you would pay four cents
lper acre 10 the county, and II your
land was worth $50 per acre you would
lpay 20 cents per acre to the county
Say Kent and Sussex need 100000
leach to run their counties. II we set
the tax rate at 81 cents on the hundred
we would raise s1o05oo Thus II your
Ia A. ...o~tt, EN- 50, orra Vou would