American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1911-07-06
TAXATION FARCE 0MTMUEs.

The rost has advocated the :
sesemsnt Of property within Tho stat
Of Idaho ~ IT. full cash value. for
several years. We believe that al
property should ~ assessed ~ near-
~ It ~ actuAl value ~ - possible.
We admit the difficulty Of sstab-
iishing an aHwlute value ON any
property. Ct an5 time. IN any place.
and yet beliey6s that II would De
quite - easy 10 assoss property
equitably. ~ sOmethig like its real
value. . to assess II oquitabfy at q
small fractional part of its intrinsic
worth. Before our plan can be
brought To . practical and success
sful application, however. there
must be . foundation laid for 1t. We
~consired the policy Of Governor Haw
ley, In attempting to enforce such
an assessment ut the present time.
as most unwise and i1l-timed. II
may be said, that We are advocat-
ing = disregard for the laws OF the
state, and We have something to
say elsewhere In this issue about
the fast growing practice OF law
breaking In Idaho. We do believe
that . technical violation OF the law
10 much better Ia this case than .
strict enforcement of II: just AZ we
would consider Il advisable and with
out warrant for an officer Of the
law 10 kill m innocent by-stander
In the discharge Of his official dut-
tea. The whole trouble lies In the
fact that Governor Wawley IL try
Ing to do something that he connot
do 1t q time when the effort IL
proving disastrous to the best inter
ests Of the state. Governor Hawley
declares that the plan Ii working
out successfully" He states that he
Waited all but . few of the county
assessors. and finds they are con-
scienciousiy e~ndeavoring TO enforce
the order Of the Equalization
Board. We are sorry that Governor
Hawley did not 20 further and dis
cover whether or not 1t In merely an
"~endeavOr" on the part OF the as
Ss completely and inextricably tan
gled, as itsis possible for twenty or
binary assessors to tangle 1t. We
have q concrete illustration In the
instance OF q Moscow nan whose
property In Latah county IL assessed
at about three times the figure
establised last year.. while the same
mans property In Kootenai county IL
assessed Mt ten per cent less than
last year. We have statements to
the effect that Ada county Is assess
ing at five time the valuation estab-
lished last year. while some other
southern counties are not changing
their valuations at all. The ques-
ton is not one whit nearer to a solu'
tion today than II was when the
governor began to declare that the
actual cash value assessment plan
would be enforced. II Governor
Hawley sincerely believes that all
the assessors of Idaho are making
an effort to follow out his plan, he
Is wonderfully mistaken. as the
facts cited above will prove to any
fair minded pefson. and the fact
that some have attempted to carry
out the plan while others have not.
makes the situation one that must
yet be dealt with L avoid the pay
ment by certain localities. OF exorbi-
tant taxes. while others are allowed
to escape by paying less than their
equitable share. We give Governor
Hawley credit for one great act
that OF producing the greatest tan
gle In state affairs that has been
brought about by any man during tn
short history Of the state. We ad-
init our Inability to forsee the out
come. --MoscoW Post.