Golden Valley chronicle. (Beach, Billings County, N.D.) 1905-1916, 1909-09-03
Protest Against Present North
Dakota Assessment Methods

state bar association, Prof. j. E.
Boyle, of Grand Forks, set forth
his views of the duty of the law
yers of the state with respect to
the improvement Of our present
system of assessment and taxation.
Prof. Boyle sets forth the growing
demands of the state and its SUBJ
divisions for funds from taxation
and comments upon the machinery
as at present constituted. The lat
ter part of his address, which en-
bodied his suggestions for the re-
form of our tax system, is append
ed hereto, and should serve to
arouse profitable discussion Of the
subject.
"Here is local man elected for
a very short time term and at very
small pay. He may earn $50
year and no more. This is no way
to get expert service. yet a man
who can correctly assess the COM
mon forms of property in his dis
trict must be an expert in values.
AS rule a man who by long deal
ing in real estate becomes an
authority on land values in his re-
gion. would not be looked up to as
a good judge Of the value of
horse or COW. Yet, the assessor
must list and value % classes of
property, and each class at its
''actual value in money!" He
will never learn to do this by work.
ing at it 20 days a year at $500
day.
The assessors meet in the spring
with the county auditor, to get
their blank books and to discuss
the law and their duties. Here,
as a rule, they decide whether to
assess at 100 per cent Of full value,
as the law requires, or at so per
cent or at Is per cent. Alta meet
ing of this kind which l attended
in this state, the motion was made
and carried unanimously that
structures on farms be assessed at
five per cent of their value. The
county auditor furnishes the blank
books, also copies Of the last years
assessment record. And there are
cases known where the local as.
SCISSOR took this last years record,
and sat down in his own chimney
corner and copied it word for
word, barring the frequent mis-.
takes in spelling and transcription
of figures which he made.
AS to the town board Of review,
this is mere joke as far as curing
real defects go. Few people ever
appear before this board to COM
plain. Look at the minutes on file
in any court house. Few changes
are made unasked. The county
board makes horizontal increases
or decreases, accentuating rather
than curing defect between indi-
viduals. The state board is ply
sically unable to do more than
crudely and roughly smooth out
some of the worst inequalities be-
tween different counties. This
board has the ardous duty of as
sessing, from data on file, every
railroad. express, street car and
telephone company in the state.
If you will pause and think Of the
hundreds of local telephone lines
with their thousands Of miles of
wire and thousands Of instruments,
you will appreciate some of the
work, done by the state board Of
equalization. A very casual study
Of the state board of equalization
report reveals the gross inequality
prevailing in assessment, after
the three boards are done with
their work of curing defects.
Take the 1908 report, for instance
and turn to automobiles. YOU
would expect to find these assessed
at about the same figure in each
county. In McHenry county, they
are assessed at $347 each. In Nc
Lean county at $83 or about one
fourth as much. In Rolette the!
are worth $500 apiece; in rraill
$l41. In Williams there are onl,
ten automobiles, and they arr
worth $ll7 each.
Look at the assessment of money
The report shows that there is no
dollar in Dunn, Kidder, Merce
and Morton counties.
Watches. There is not watch
according to the report in Bowman
Cnx.nlso.a