The Sentinel=record., 1911-06-25
USE OLD LAW
 IN ASSESSMENTS
ASSESSING THIS YEAR, HOW EVER, WILL BE ON A BASIS OF
 HALF VALUATION.
Commissioner Gates Makes Announce ment After Consulting With Many
 of the County Assessors.


 Property assessment for the cnr- rent year Will be made under the old assessment law ,and not under the Turner-Jaeobson law, is the announce. ment made by State Tax Commission CT D. A. Gates, thus putting at rest the question of which assessent plan will prevail for 1911. There had been much confusion over the question of whether the assessors saould work under the olG<or the proposed new law, and some of them had announced that they would assess in accordance with the Turner-Jacobson bill, believing that it had already become effective.
 We are undoubtedly governed by the old assessment law, so far as the making of the assessment itself is concerned" stated Commissioner Gates, and the instruction from the commission to the various county as- sessors Is to this effect. l have visited numerous counties within the past three weeks, and this is the under standing among the assessors with whom l have conferred The same is true with regard to the assessors vis- tied by the other commissioners. think there is no question as to which law governs in making the assess ment, and no confusion should have arisen on this point.
 However he continuei, we are assessing this y ear on full 50 per cent basis An effort all over the state will be made to place property on the tax books at 50 percent of it's value, and l believe we will have little trou- ble this year in getting suca ap as .sessment.
 "It was the intention last year to get such a valuation, but we did not succeed. The process Is gradual, and while there was a great increase, H would be far from correct to presume that all the property of the state was placed on the tax records at half it's actual value, or that the total assess ment represented half the actual value of Arkansas property. It did not. We
 id the best we could, and the asses sors did splendid work. but the net result was far below half valuation.
 Working on full 50 percent yalua- tion as basis added Mir Gates, we ought to add $150.O00,0O0 to the as sessed valuation of property in Ar kansas I believe an unqualified 50 percent assessment would give the state a total property assessment of $550,000,000 or perhaps $600000,OoO, instead of the present assessment of less than s400,000, ,000.
 One of the most difficult problems is the adjustment and equalization of property values, especially as to land, said MT. Gates. Livestock, personal property of certain classes, etc, is fairly we'll assessed and not so badly at variance as to equalization. But with real property it is different.
 In some instances a little farm may be assessed at virtually it's full value. in one part of a county, while few miles over is found another that is not assessed at more than one fifth it's value. And these facts are shown by the county records. Getting this strengthened out and the assessment more equitable is one of the biggest problems facing the com mission and the assessors.
 The greatest work must, of course, be done through the assessors, and where We have opportunity to confer with them we fini that they are will ing to cooperate with the commis- sion and are anxious. in most cases, to remove as nearly as possible these inequalities