The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1911-12-14
TAXATION
CONTROVERSY
WAKES HOT
Canadian County Excise Board
BepHes 10 Governors Adn0ni-
tory Letter
Special to the Daily Leader.

Ioptolal " tHt Ddlty LedueF.
El Reno. Okla, Dec. f4-The fol-
lowing correspond enee on the all alb.
i sorbing tax question was given ont
here today by the county excise
board:
Dear Governor. The excise board
iof Canadian county is in receipt Of
Your advisory letter, copy of which
was published simultaneously in all
the leading newspapers of tae state,
ana since a copy OF the same was di-
rected TO this board we must neces-
sarlly treat It as an official commu-
nlcation so far as this board is con-
cerned, and, in replying to same. we
assume that the system of raising
revenue as provided by the laws OF
the state of Oklahoma were under.
stood by you at the time the commu-
nlcatlon was written, to-wit: Decem-
Der lst, 1911, and we are at a loss to
understand why your advice to this
board was delayed until this time. as
you must have known that under the
law the levies We're required to be
made by the excise board, the tax
rolls made up by the county clerk and
delivered TO the treasurer. before the
first day of October. sixty days prior
to the date of your letter, and at
(which time i'll all human probability
you knew a large per cent of the first
half of the taxes would be paid.
In paragraph five OF your communi-
cation you say, The prevalent idea
that The governor is responsible for
high leyies. and has the power to re-
| duce them is entirely erroneous
| We admit this in so far as ii applies
to county and municipal subdivisions
thereof, but not so far as levies for
state purposes are concerned and in
this connection, we desire to call
your attention to the fact that last
! year this county paid into the state
reasury as state taxes the sum of
$260OO.00 upon an equalized yalua-
tion of $21,272,290.00, while this year
TINS county will pay to the state the
sum OF $4S 100000 on an equalized
valuation of $24142,S1300, an in.
crease of $22000.00, or 81 per cent
more taxes than it paid last year, and,
considering the fact that Canadian
county Is but one of seyenty-five
counties, don't you believe that an
amendment to the excise law, provid-
Ding for state excise board with au-
thorlty to investigate and pass upon
state estimates would be beneficial
to the taxpayer?
! The board recognizes that there is
merit in your statement in paragraph
seven, that in many instances debts
! have been contracted which might
have been avoided. and that they
must be paid but we 10 not approve
nf q ,,fn x1rnA--oh.r ba
leyies for one year are much less
than they should be to pay such in
/ debtedness should be distributed
on the taxpayer we belive this in
| debtedness should bed istributed
equally each year and thereby in a
measure preventing the condition you
say the taxpayers are complaining Of
TO Illustrate Last year the state
llevy was / IA mills and this year it
lis 2 mills, and. according to your
statement published some time ago
in the newspapers, and. after the
state board had raised the valuation
s400,0 ,000,0 600 90, the two mills levy
would not raise enough money by 4
or millions to pay the current in
ldebtedness OF the state.
Again. in paragraphs nine and ten
~ DU GGttiI ~ ut vi Ilit OBijfiPb Atlt'
the raise rs made by the state board
should have been distributed to that
class of property which nas not been
assessed at its actual cash value, in
stead OF distributing it to all property
alike upon a percentage basis, and We
should be very much pleased to have
you point out the method by which
your idea should have been carried
e.,t . MA ,aif hDts
the county equalization board nor the
county excise board, exercise or nave
any of the duties or powers imposed
upon the assessors who make their
return under oath as TO the fair cash
value Of the property assessed by
them The county equalization board
equaliZes as between the townships
and how could il he possible fer the
county equalization board. or the
county excise board to ~ that one
gray horse in a herd OF twenty he
longing TO John Doe was not assess
ed at its fair cash value? That duty
lis by law imposed upon the assessor
I'm this county the excise board made
no leyies until after the equalzzed
yalua ions had been certified to tn
county clerk by the state board, and
the levy was then made upon the val
uaton on a percentage basis. assum-
ing of course that the various asses
sors when they swore that such prop
erty was assessed at its fair cash
value were not perjuring themselves.
Moreover, the district judge OF thus
district 13th) has recently held the
raise as made by the state board was I
Illegal and void. for the very reason
that the state board was without jur-
isdiction to ssegregate specific species
Of a genefsitqlass and apply 81 rals- !
Again. fbk Awo,lia Vt be fsssSf1le |
witaout an endless amount of con-
fusion. for the county excise board |
TO reform its leyies as per your let