The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1910-04-01
LISTERS OF COUNTY
DISCUSS METHODS
And Agree on Valuation Of Stock
In Banking Institutions
STATE TAX COMMISSIONER TALKS
Points Out 10 Listers Their Duties Under
the Law and Advises Them 10 Get
After Tax Nineteen Of -
County Towns Represented.

the Law and ADVISES Ihem to wv
After Tax DodseTs-klnetesn Of -
County Towns Represented.
The meeting VI the lislo. u the various
losas ol Miadham county oAiled al ne
request Vi Col hiIgTodge hAskins ~ The
liIalll,boro board VI nsseIs was held Tues
day forenoon aud afternoon, and The al
tendance showed that eonsldeFahie interest,"
VAS manifested IA the call cent OIL . ioft'
night ago. colonel Haskins presided at
the opening vi the Meeting and VAS chosen
chairman. ii. IS. Chamberlain VI the Brat
ilrboro board vi lislen Mas made seeie
taIy. The roll vi the Aslefs VI the county
Mas called and the following answered. ~
their names, IL. j, Hastings, Y, h. Mitch
ell aud Cornelius heeie OF Athens, a. y
Mellman, Oscar LAgrenoe, l., W. Bush
ii iirookline; b. II, Holland and W. 4,
SNOW oi Dover; W. j. Hay and ), .
Washer oi Dummcnion; b. IS. Wilbur, D,
A, Tanner and \. X. DAVIS Of Grafton Y.
4. Coombs and A. l.. Aeaw Of uulliordi
n. 4. Ihurber oi HALIFAX; A. W. hiddef,
X. II. Wheeler and \. h. Pierce OF ia
nlaiea; A. v. Stralton ot Marlboro; II.
4. sparks, A. l.. Lockwood aud Ii. T..
johnson OF Newiane; b. u, hannam, =.
x. Miller and w. 4. Pierce OF futneyi v.
N. Geoigc, 4. L. O,Bnen, j. u. MinaTd,
j. 4. Byrne and A. l. Bodies Of Rocking
ham; III. Z. Siratlon, l.. Is. Baleheldef
and T.. IL. Rulisr OF Iowishendi " a.
Sttceter, NJ. j. Stoddard aud A. Martin
dale OF Vernon, j. A. Perry OF Wardsboro,
Thomas Ashwell, Z. q. Miller and - d.
Morse OF Westminster, Z. H. Morse, james
Harrington OF Nottingham, and =; ).
A ....gs. l.. al
listers were present.
j. 4. Cushman OF Burlington, state tax
commissioner was introduced by Chair
man Haskins. lie said that he had already
attended meetings OF the listers in several
counties and he wished TO impress upon
those present the responsibility that rests
upon the listers OF town. lie said he
considered the office OF a lister one oil the
most important OF all OF town Offices, @,
pecially at the quadrennial appraisal oil
real estate. lie dwelt upon the necessity
of careful and conscientious work upon
the part OF the listers in making grand lists
nj this time. and dealt upon what consti.
tutes a legal grand list He said he had
prepared a copy OF the laws governing list
ers and that such laws would be sent 10
every lister in Vermont. MIR. Cushman
spoke at considerable length upon the list
ers insisting upon every Formally being
carried out in the filing OF inventories.
He read the oath or affirmation that every
taxpayer must make and said that sueh
oaths should be administered and sub,
scribed to with the same solemnity and
Formally that prevails IN court. lie sara
that when this is done the maker oil an
inventory will be more careful Of his state
ments. He also pointed out the fact that
a penalty OF 500 may be imposed upon
listers who accept an inventory which Is
not properly sworn to. While he believed
that it was ridiculous to ask every poll tax
payer to make oath he said there was moth
ing to do but insist upon 1t as the law
leaves no other course He said that the
listers OF every town should use their com.
mon sense in arriving at the valuation oil
property, and offered no set rule whereby
valuation could be determined.
The matter OF taxing bank stock held by
taxpayers was discussed, and that some
definite value might be put upon the stock
of the various banking institutions oil the
county by the listers OF the several towns
Chairman Haskins named committee to
prepare resolution to be presented at
the meeting. The following were named
as such a committee: y. Nj. George OF
Rockingham, L. B. Batchelder of Towns
II.
boro. The committee reported that it con
sidered it Just to put into lists the stock
of the following banking institutions at
the figures named: Peoples National
bank OF Brattleboro, $l75 share (par
value 5000; Vermont National bank, Sl25 |
"a share (par value 500; Brattleboro Trust
company s75 share (par value SlOO); Bel
lows Falls Trust company, $50 share (par |
value 5000; Bellows Falls National bank,
SIS a share (par value $780, The only vote
taken at the meeting was upon this CUES
ton and the result was unanimously in |
favor of the figures suggested by the com
mittee.
The matter of the improvement OF land,
such as has been done by the Connecticut
River Power company in the town OF Yer
non, for an example, was discussed. 1t |
was pointed out that the power company
had paid 800 an acre for land that was
formerly valued at $50 an acre. The ques-
ton arose whether the power company
ought to pay tax upon the increased valu-
alton as shown by the price paid, or the
land be considered Of less value because it
had been flowed. Mr.. Cushman said that
it seemed reasonable to believe that the
flooding of the land had made it more valu-
able and if this was not so he could not
see any reason for the company acquiring
it. The Vernon listers also brought up
the question whether they ought to tax
the power company for rights of way that
the company holds by lease. No action
was taken, but considerable discussion fol-
lowed.
The matter of taxing lumber in logs
and manufactured timber was discussed
briefly and it was stated that in Jamaica
the rule had prevailed to put such logs into
the grand list at valuation of $40 a thou.
sand feet In Westminster valuation OF
$l2 thousand has prevailed for some
years. Colonel Haskins was of the opinion
that conditions must govern the matter.
He spoke of an attempt that had been
made in one county at least to decide on a
flat rate for appraising livestock and OBJ
jected strongly to such a method being
tried or adopted He believed, as did sew
eral others, that the listers should use
their judgment in every case and not at
tempt anything in the line of averaging
things up.
Whether gasoline engines should be put
into the grand list as farmers tools or
under the classification Of engines and
boilers was discussed Whether a portable
saw mill should be listed as real estate or
personal property brought forth consider