The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-01-27
State Tax Board Commits
sioner Talks to County Of
ficials and He Does Not
Mince His Words.
ADVISES TREASURER
TO EMPLOY A WAGON
Should Gather in Household
Goods of Those Who Re
fuse to Pay-Would Prove
Certain Cure.

Declaring that many of the citizens
of Wayne county were nothing but
thieves and that others were dishonest
in their principles. John w. McCardle
of the Indiana state board of tax com
missioners, addressed township and
deputy assessors at the court house on
Friday morning in which he also
dwelt on the importance of many con-
ditions surrounding the assessing
problem. There were about fifty
township and deputy assessors pre-
sent. William Mathews. county asses
sor presided at the meeting.
Those property owners who attempt
to be unfair with the assessing official
by putting him off from day to day,
then failing to give in all of their
property, and that which they do. list
ed at a very low cash value. then prob
ably failing to pay even the tax on
this, Mr.. McCardle said, were cheating
the state and were in reality common
thieves. He believed there should be
"a penal law which would make 1t
possible to Jail such offenders. Those
who fail to pay their taxes on personal
property and their poll tax are dis
honest. he said.
Talks to Treasurer.
County Treasurer, Albert AibertsOn
with whom he had a long conversation
before the assessors meeting, said
McCardle had advised him to take
stringent measures in collection OF de.
linquent tax on personal property. II
necessary, McCard:e believes the
treasurer should take a wagon, back
it up to the residences of those who
are delinquent, take out the house
hold goods and hold them until the
,, tax liens against the goods are met
by the owner. II they fail to pay the
goods should be sold for no less than
the tax liens. He believes If a few
examples of this kind were made the
non payment of personal tax would be
solved problem. The treasurer OBJ
jected to following out this advice. He
did not absolutely refuse. 1t is under
stood. but to friends he said he did
not have the heart to go that far in
the collection of delinquent taxes on
personal property.
! Money on deposit in banks, notes
and mortgages which are worth their
J fppl1 70 yo1r 1,,,f fch
ing anything and which are usually Sc
questered from taxation by the owner
for this reason. SO the tax commission.
er believes, should be assessed from
rs to S5 per cent OF their face value
The law says full face value. He told
the assessors, however, that ii as
sessed at less than the face value there
would be hundreds of thousands ol
/ dollars Of such personal property ad
ded to the tax duplicates. Since real
estate is not assessed at its full sales
value. he believes that assessing Off
cials should regard personal property
in the same attitude. The principle
tOf the tax laws, he said, was that all
assessments should be equitable and
uniform as nearly as possible.
On Property Values.
His advice on determining the value
Eof property is, when possible, to get q
gross earning capacity of it, and Il
fix the rating on this basis. In max
ing assessments on real estate he said
the official would have a graduating
scale of from sixty to eighty per cent
on the true sales value.
Richmond property which lies II
the outskirts and is nothing more thar
a pasture, Mr.. McCardle said. shonli
be assessed cheaply and little more
than that property which lies on the
Ioutside of the corporate limits but
close to the city. He said there were
Imany things which must be taken in
consideration in the assessment Dl
property of this sort. The present
tax rate of the city, which is $2-S7 pei
hundred dollars assessed valuation
would be lowered by careful and com
plete assessments. because such ar
assessment would greatly increase the
value of taxables in the city he de
lclared.
For good farm lands. the present
assessed valuation should be increas
led this spring at the regular quad
rennial real estate assessment As
sessments on poor and bad land.
/ should be reduced he said. The aver
age assessment on farm lands in this
county during the past four years wal
i $36.29 he said. Some officials claim
THAT as the farmer is netting excel
lIent returns from his farm property
and farm values have increased won
iderfuliy, that the assessment oE
farms should be increased greatly bu1
he said he felt that an increase Of II
to Is per cent. was sufficient