The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1911-07-13
Board Of Tax Commissioners
Shows Kenosha Taxes
Moneys and Credits
SECOND ONLY TO MILWAUKEE
Commission Declares that Assessors in
this County Have Set an Example
for the Entire State - Makes
Recommendations.

Kenosha county is given high praise
in the fifth biennial report of the Wis
consin State Tax Commission which
has just been issued at Madison and
in the report the assessors of KenOsha
county and the supervisor of assess
ment are praised for the work that has
been done here along the line of the
taxing of moneys and credits and this
county is given a standing second only
to The county of Milwaukee. In the re.
port the commission says:
"Kenosha county presents local as
sessments of moneys and credits
amounting to $2,271, O5S, over one, third
that of Milwaukee, and more than the
value fixed by the commission in Ke-
nosha county in the state assessment.
It stands alone in that respect. With
the exception of Milwaukee it exceeds
any other county, the next being La
Crosse with a local assessment of
81 S7 ,366. Kenosha presents fair IL
lustration of what good assessors are
capable of doing when this question is
approached in the proper law abiding
spirit
The assessors of the county expect
that the amount of moneys and credits
assessed this year will be even greater
than that returned year ago and
Kenosha will be even closer to the as
sessment of Milwaukee county. Many
of the counties in the state have many
times the valuation of Kenosha county
and the report of the commission in
this regard is certainly one which
should be priced by those connected
with the local assessment.
The assessment of moneys and Gre
dts is the hardest problem met by the
state board of tax commissioners. In
the report it is admitted that in sew
eral of the counties the taxing of
moneys and credits was entirely over
looked while in many of the other larg-
er counties of the state the amounts
returned were SO small as to make
them unworthy of consideration. The
average local assessment throughout
the state was but 1926 per cent OF
the value fixed on this class of prop.
erty by the state tax commission. II
will be noted that in Kenosha county
the assessment was in excess of 100 pei
cent of the amount named by the com
mission.
In commenting on these conditions
the report of the commission says:
"The greatest evil in our present
methods of taxation grows out of the
unequal assessments in this respect,
The property in sight pays not only
the tax due on it, but also that which
ought to rest on intangible property
such as moneys and credits. This il
true in the local tax which in tn,
state approXimates three-fourths of ali
taxes. When in addition to this al
ready unfair tax, the tax commission
under the present law is obliged to
multiply many times over the local as
SCISSORS valuations Of this class of
property, this additional burden is
added, not to the, tax of the party the
laws aim to hit, but to that of the in.
nocent bystander whose few articles of
visible property never escape the as
SCISSOR and who is already paying more
than his share. The situation has been
aggravated since the practical exemp-
ton of mortgages in 1903.
With the almost universal disregard
Of the law relating to the assessment
Of moneys and credits, and the conse
quent unjust shifting Of the tax bur
den to innocent shoulders, and believ.
ing that the sentiment of communities
themselves is largely accountable for
the failure to carry the law into effect
the commission repeats it's recommen-
dation that money and all classes of
credits, including stocks and bonds. be
exempted from taxation, whatever
may be the disposition of other classe.
of personal property"