Arizona republican., 1910-12-04
The Wrong Sort of Reform.

Maricopa county received a jolt from the constitutional convention yesterday.
 The machinery of taxation was so devised that this county is bound to get worsted if Arizona ever becomes a state under this constitution.
 The provision that the state board of equalization shall consist of the fourteen chairmen of the several boards of county supervisors, with the state auditor as ex officio chair man of the board. will inevitably cause a higher assessment and a higher rate of taxation in Maricopa county.
 Under the existing law the terri torial board of equalization is an ap- pointive body. Its members are ap- pointed by the governor, and each ju- dicial district has a representative on the board. The territorial auditor is the sixth member
 Experience in all the states, as well as in this territory, has demonstrated that the fairest, and therefore the best, results in the equalization of taxes are obtained through an an ap- pointed board-a board appointed by the governor, who in turn is respon- sible. to all the people for the acts of his appointees.
 For years and years some of the great railway and mining companies in Arizona have worked industriously to secure an act of the legislature making the territorial board of equal ization an elected board-preferably the chairmen of the county boards of supervisors. It became clearly ap part in the course of the great tax reforms inaugurated by Governor Kib- bey that it was an extremely easy matter for special interests to con trol a majority of the boards of coun- ty supervisors.
 The supervisors appoint the county assessors, and the supervisors, sitting as a county board of equalization, re- view the work of the assessor. It is now proposed that these same su- pervisors, through their chairmen, shall control the state board of equalization. and thus review their own work in the several counties.
 During the controversy that was raised by the Kibbey reforms it was. charged in the various parts of the territory that his assessments of the railroads and mines were "confisca- tory" and that while these big prop critics were assessed too high. the city lots in Phoenix and the ranches in the Salt River valley were as- sessed too low. It was urged that the board of equalization ought to consist of the county chairmen, so that the unfair advantage" enjoyed by Maricopa county might be ended and property in this county assessed at a proper valuation"
 Of course, there was no truth in these assertions, for it is a fact that property in Maricopa county has al- ways borne. and now bears, more than its fair share of the burden of territorial taxation. But the talk to- which we have referred is still heard in various sections of the territory whenever the subject is under dis cussion, because, we suppose. of pro- vincial jealousy.
 But notwithstanding all the news paper and other discussion of the alleged advantages gained by Mari copa county under the system of an appointed board of equalization, no headway was made toward changing the law, because the people of the territory and their legislators knew that under the Kibbey reforms a fair CT standard of taxation had been reached than ever before.
 The deed was done in the conven- tion yesterday, however. Once more success attended the efforts to throw the hooks into Maricopa."
 Unquestionably some of the best men in the convention voted for the new system of equalization, but, we be- lieve. through their failure to under | stand that the most equable assess ment is invariably done by an ap- pointed board-a board free from To- cal influences. and not indebted to any special interest for election. Many | of the delegates that voted for the | provision had no thought of giving undue advantage to any taxpayer, large or small. nor any thought of hostility to Maricopa county.
 But there can be no question of