The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-08-05

SHEEPMEN FIGHT
PROPOSED RAISE

W Npnolu'l Aut lOuE lloN VI DlOAFoNo
being made. and by Saturday. ought
TO be ready to decide what action TO
take. Mr.. Bennion of Vernal. men,
bcr Of the board. calls attention TO
public misconception. The impress.
sion seems to be that the board has
made the 40 per cent rainse anyhow,
and is now hearing protests, On the
contrary. the board announces merely
proposition 10 raise the rate of tax.
alton. if. after hearing all protests.
it is considered advisable TO do so.
No formal action whatever has been
taken. and whether there will be any
is not yet decided
The members of the various county
commission and assessment boards
who appeared before the state board
this morning, held a brief conference
among themselves in the ante-room
when they argeed that an equitable
and satisfactory woy of solving the
livestock tax rate problem would be
the appointment of a revenue commits
sion to revise the revenue laws of the
state Such a board would be able
to so arrange for the application OF
taxation as to obviate injustice and
place the whole matter on an equitable
basis The county officers present are
very earnest In protesting against the
proposed 40 per cent raise. One spe-
cial reason is that the county books
are made up for the current assess
ment, and tax notices have either been
sent out, or about TO be mailed. Ac-
tion by the state board, as proposed
will force the county officers TO re-
open their books. go over their fig
ures again. revise their recapitulation
send out new notices and cause no end
of confusion.
]. NJ Scott of Millard county. who
appeared before the state board to-
day called attention TO the fact that
in his shire there were few local
sheep, but any quantity of transients.
He represented rather the cattle inter
ests on whom an imposition of 40 per
cent additional tax would work a gross
injustice The assessments are made
in January, with all the cattle on
home feeding grounds. and with the
proposed addition to the full value Of
herds, when owners suffered Subse-
Quent winter losses, as they always
do, with full taxation paid on such loss
es, owners would find themselves in
very hard straits. Mr.. Scott held that
fair valuation on cattle in his coun-
ty would be 16 a head with SO for
sheep.
Messrs, Elias Jenson and NJ. ]. Rich
ards OF BoXelder county. assessor and
county commissioner respectively,
were among the protestants today, re-
presenting both cattle and sheep,
They explained that the proposed
raise would tax one man higher than
another There were undoubtedly
some owners who so manipulated their
herds as to escape taxation; but be-
cause a few men were dishonest that
was no reason for Furnishing those in
terested in the industry as a whole,
A special point was made of the
fact that the books were all made up,
and the confusion attendant upon be-
ing called to do all their bookkeeping
over again, as already noted
Then there would be the question,
Shall we assess 40 per cent less this
year. in view of the threatened action
of the state board TO raise 40 per
cent? If no reduction was made, and
the raise carried out. the tax would
practically amount 10 40 per cent.
The fact that most of the cattle Of
BoXelder county are on the home feed
ing grounds at the time of the January
assessment. and can not escape the
eyes of the assessor. was emphasized,
County Attorney T. L. Foote. Coun-
ty Clerk #. w. Vlckers and Assessor
William Bailey of Juab county were
IL Al ,tS,rt -
They were not objeCting to any rea-
sonable raise in tax rate. say 10 or
l ) per cent, if IL was found necessary,
but 40 per cent elevation was alto
gether too high for Juab They con-
sideTed present conditions due TO the
law providing how long sheep may be
assessed in the county where they are
first found after January /. If one
county puts 100 per cent valuation
on sheep, while others place not over
so or CO. the sheep will all so TO that
county favoring the most
County Commissioner George Smith
of Summit said he was more inter
ested in cattle than sheep. Ii is proc-
tcally impossible for cattle TO escape
the notice Of the assessor as In the
"lul'l lllll'f NIIN hlt bSAlN ANu =lN
home, and not on the ranges, which
are closed by the heavy SHOWS So
there was nothing hid up In Summit,
out of the reach of taxation. Mr
Smith considered the present average
valuation of cattle $1743, fair for Sum
mltt. but ii is high enough without
any further raise The present assess
ment is at the full valuation.
Chairman Samuel Singleton of the
county commissioners and j. III. Kill
pack of Emery county, were earnest
objectors 10 the 10 per cent increase.
both as applied TO cattle and sheep.
which are now assessed in full val
ue In fact a full valuation would be
SIC to SIT for cattle, with $2.75 TO s.
for sheep. Any raise in the tax rate
would be a severe injustice on owners
| If there was any shortage in enumera-
tion 1t was in the case OF transients.
whose herders or owners may have
misled assessors, thus causing trouble.
In fact, Mr.. Singleton rather imagined
there had been some queer doings in
this linc-"tricks in all trades but.
ours and ours all tricks he quantity
remarked While prepared to admit
| there had been some questionable
manoeuvers in the listing of transient
sheep, he held strongly that such ac-
ton as the state board proposed to
take would tend to make men more
dishonest. or else drive them out OF
the business, Mr.. Singleton thought
the legislature the proper source for
remedy and the Legislature could
settle the matter very effestiyely A.
X Hansen OF Sewer county. former
county official, said his people were