Rocky Ford enterprise., 1911-12-01

tHS LAWS anu tiie SS stSiii VI taNd'ioh
in Otero County, and believing thai
it would. be interesting to some tax
payers to learn OF the results of such
investigation, takes this opportunity
and to briefly state his findings
| Taxagle property, as defined gy
| law, includes real property, personal
property. property that savors OF
both real and personal property. in
cluding rights and credits, and all in
tangible property.
Tie exemptions are the property OF
the state, counties, cities, towns, mu-
| nicipalities, public libraries, mort
cages. trust deeds. buildings used ex-
clusively for religious worship. for
| schools or for strictly charitable pur-
poses with the grounds whereon the
same are situate. cemeteries not held
or conducted for private or corporate
profit, the household goods of every
head OF the family to the value OF
$500. 90. and bitches used for the pur-
pose OF irrigation. and that only
where the water is not sold for the
purpose OF deriving revenue there
from.
1t is the duty of the taxpayer to
make out his individual schedule and
list all property not exempt, as afore-
said, at its full value. and swear to
the same before some authorized OF
fcer. and in the event OF non-resi-
dent taxpayer the schedule should be
made out by his agent. and in the
absence OF such agent or someone
authorized to make his schedule it
should be done by the assessor. Al
ter all property is thus assessed 1t Is
the duty of the Board of County
Commissioners to sit as Board of
{. III, /.
izing taxes. it being the meaning and
intent fthe law that all property not
exempt. as above mentioned, should
be fairly and honestly assessed ac-
cording to its actual value.
1t appears, however, that by some
means. unknown to the writer. it has
become custom. or by agreement OF
otherwise. that all asscssablc prop
erty should be assessed at one-third
OF its actual value. This last men
toned condition is where large por
ton OF the trouble seems to arise. as
it gives the greater opportunity for
lowering or aising the value OF the
property.
The writer found that the owners
of ordinary homes in our towns and
cities are the heaviest taxpayers. In
other words they come nearer pay
ing tax of one-third the actual value
than others. 1t appears that rs a
rule the greater the mans wealth the
lower percentage of tax he pays. To
illustrate Instances appear where a
man owned SO acres of land.-it was
subdivided into 10 or 20 acre tracts
after the subdivision and sale &c
acre tract was then assessed at abom
the figure OF the entire tract before
the subdivision and sale, and then il
was not assessed at one-third of it
purchase and selling price.
While the writer did not have suf-
ficient time to make most thorough
investigation of all of the low assess
ments in the county, yet he believes
that many large owners. includino
corporations. are not paying taxes on
valuation to exceed IS per cent of
the real value of their proDerty. and
some actually as low and less than
10 per cent of the actual value. In
deed the system is appalling. 1t is
in my opinion one of the most inn
portant questions before the people
today The injustice OF it reaches so
far and is so depressing. that in many
instances homes are lost. or rather
taken away without any right or jus
ticc. The class of home-owners who
are paying the larger percentage OF
taxes are usually mechanics or labor
ers. such as require practically all of
their time in making living for their
families and paying their general eX-
penscs, including taxes, and do not
have even time to investigate the in
Justice done them. through this sys-
TEN of taxation. In many instances.
by conversation with them. | found
them to be ignorant OF any wrong
done them. but the general remark
made by each was: II thouoht my
taxes were very high but if every
other man is paying as much as am.
in proprtion to what he is worth.
thought ! would not make objec-
tions." In conversation with what
NAV be termed the low taxpayer he
would say that he believed he was
had as large and valuable property
as he;-not. however, attempting to
justify his low assessment as COM
pared with other classes of property.
This system is not only of recent
date and is not chargeable wholly to
our present officials. The system has
been growing for many years. Up
to some fifteen years ago most OF our
lands were occupied by stock men,
ENGAGED in breeding and feeding live
stock for the Eastern markets. Thou-
sands of acres were owned by an in
dividual or corporation. The popula-
ton was small. school houses few
and far between. About one main
road and several bridges is all that
was REQUIRED and necessary to carry
on the business. and taxes were nat
urally very light. Emigration began
to pour in causing demand for farm
lands; large cattle ranches were sub
divided in I6o acre farms and later in
to 10 and 20 acre tracts. Intense
farming causing greater demand for
water. the result being that lands
with water rights increased in value
many fold. and to the extent that