Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1908-08-04
The Tax Commission Hearing.

the hearing advertised by the tax com
mission at the court house Thursday
OF the five members of the commission
only two, Hon. W. Il. White of Rock
land and NJ. L. Merrill of st. Adams
were present. The clerk Of the com
mission, Mr.. Robinson of Brunswick
was also here, and showed familiarity
with all phases of the subject.
On the other side of the table the at
tendance was about equally light. Foul
town assessors representing as many
towns were present-A. r. Tuell Of
Paris, NJ. r. Fogg of Sumner, B. F.
Glover of Hartford, and d. o. Dudley Of
Woodstock. County Attorney Barnes
was in for a short time. Hon. James S
Wright came in late in the hearing and
joined in the discussions, and some OF
the county officials were in for brief
times but took little part.
The proceedings were very largely in
the nature of an informal conference,
and though the discussions occasionally
strayed for little into some side issues,
as a rule they were confined very closely
to the question of taxation in some of
its phsses-and in the course of two
hours pretty nearly all phases of the
question received more or less attention,
even if the arrangement Of topics was
neither scientific nor systematic. A few
stray points only in connection with the
discussions are noted:
The members of the commission,
without giving any suggestion as to
what recommendation they should
make to the legislature, expressed the
general opinion that the burden of tax
alton falls most heavily upon the rural
and agricultural communities, and SEEM
ed TO feel, as indicated by their question
ing of the local assessors, that perhaps
something might be done in the way of
equalization by putting the care of the
poor upon the counties instead of the
towns, and by returning to the towns
for the construction of roads and other
municipal purposes larger share of
the revenue of the state than is now
done.
The question of wild land taxes re-
ceived much attention, but when all was
said, il did not appear that any one
present. either of the commission or the
public, had any clear idea as to any
radical change from present conditions
that is desirable.
1t seemed from his expressions that
Mr.. White was in favor of direct in-
heritance tax such as is now in force in
some states, to be assessed, not upon
the real estate of the deceased, but up
On such intangible property as appeared
to have escaped taxation for at least a
term of years.
The question of taxation of mort
cages, bonds, other securities, and in
fact, all forms of intangible personal
property, and the manner Of discovering
such property, was hammered over two
or three times in the course of the
session. The members of the COM
the report of the state assessors showed
very small amount of money at in
terest and other forms of intangible
property in the Oxford County towns
as well as in the other towns of the
state, for that matter. Mr.. White
frankly stated that in his view all tax
alton of mortgages and other evidences
of indebtedness is double taxation,
but that in the eyes of our state con-
stitution and laws all such property is
taxable and should be taxed.
Ii was stated by the commission that
in some states there is assessed on mort
cages a registry tax, five mills being
assessed on a mortgage when it is re-
corded, and no further tax ever being
levied on it, whether it remains in force
for one year or for twenty.
A listing law being referred to, which
would require every tax payer to return
a list of his property under oath, it was
stated BY the commission that their in
vestigatious showed that such law was
in force in several states, notably Yer
mont, New Hampshire and Ohio, but
that il was unsatisfactory and unpopular
in them all.
Speaking of the taxation of intangible
personal property, Mr.. Wright made the
statement that he thought the chief de-
feet in our tax laws was the lack of
means to compel assessment upon that
class of property, and said that while he
personally should not run after the
assessors TO tell them what he might
have, he was perfectly willing to make a
sworn statement if others were required
10 do the same.
Mr.. Merrill of the commission said
that in his opinion the chief trouble was
in the "man behind the gun''-the
assessor.
Reference to the present state road
law was made, and some of the local
assessors made the complaint that un-
der this law most towns could not get as
much back from the state as they could
under the old law. Mr.. Merrill of the
commission thereupOn made the state
ment that to his knowledge the present
law is a compromise, made necessary by
the opposition of the representatives of
the cities, who did not want to see the
country towns get back too large a pro-
portion OF the money assessed by the
state for road purposes. He said he
hoped a. see the law improved in this
respect, and II depended upon the people
through their representatives to do it.
One statement made by the commits
sion may perhaps be somewhat surpris-
ing. II seems that the commission have
been making tests with regard to the
valuation Of real estate as made by the
local assessors. In various places
through the state they have selected
a number of what may be called sample
parcels of real estate, and taken the
Judgment of the best qualified men they
could get as to the fair cash value of the
psrcels-not their value at forced sale,
but their real value as between seller
who wants to sell and purchaser who
wants to buy. After securing their
estimates in this way, they have gone to
the town books and secured the valu-
alton placed upon these same parcels by
the local assessors. Though their work
is not finished, they say that the COM
parison so far as made indicates that
real estate in general is assessed for a
little over eighty per cent of its full
value. In one county they found the
assessment to be lightweight per cent
of the valuation they bad secured from
other parties as stated above.
Oxford Pomona Field Day.
Oxford Pomona Grange will hold a
field day at Central Park, South Paris,
Aug. 81. State Master c. S. Stetson OF