The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-08-11
How Tax Business
 Could Be improved
Continued from Page S.)

to Work In connection with local aS- seSSorS l would suggest that assessors be more careful to get the valuation in each locality on an equal basis. By observation, I find several hundred dof- lars difference in two properties, side by side, when the value is about equal if placed on the market.
 The assessors in the average coun- try towns sometimes take advantage friends and punish their enemies. Abolish the board of relief.
 A revalution once in five years should be made mandatory, and asses sors should view property together.
 We receive complaints every year that assessments are not made equal. Most of these complaints are made by taxpayers that their assessments are too high compared with some other taxpayers; asking that their assess mentS be lowered to a similar figure as the property of some person whose assessment is very low. They do not realize that the low valuation should be brought up to the true value.
 I think that the continuance of as- sessors for a term of years is working toward equalization in our town.
 In cases where a large amount Of property is involved and the assessors do not agree upon satisfactory as- sessment, I think if they were author ized to confer with the board of re- lief before making the assessment in many cases it would prove more sat- isfactory than the present system.
 l would ask for a state survey, the same as the western states have adopt ed.
 Assessors.
 Assessors tell a tale of woe in relat- ing the difficulties in filling their of fees and carrying out the literal pro- visions of the statutes. Here are some of the troubles:
 The greatest trouble is to get the confidence of the taxpayers. A cer- tain number think that the only way is to deceive the assessors in some way.
 Failure of property owners to fully describe property.
 The city people who buy land for summer residences create a fictitious value on such tracts of land as may please their fancy. They often pay large prices for rocky pasture or wood- land, that as farming land would be rated very low. This makes the equal ization of taxable values very difficult and gives rise to a great deal Of crit icism whatever the assessors do.
 Lists not perfected. No provision made for viewing property by the board of assessors.
 Selfishness and sarcasm of the tax payers.
 The ability to do the work of an as- sessor and do it right should com mand three times our compensation. AS it is, we cannot do the work as we would like to do it without giving it more time, and the more time, the smaller per diem compensation we re- ceive.
 Our principal difficulty is, lack of time.
 Longer time to do the work proper Iy, personally examine the property and revalue it. Inadequate salary.
 Arriving at the right number of acres of land and its value. It should be divided into classes of meadow. pas ture, woodland and swamp land, and value each by the. acre.
 People think we require too much of them-that the old lists ought to serve the purpose.
 Small compensation and lack of time The unwillingness of the townspeo- pie for a revaluatiOn on the basis of true value.
 How can the assessors compel the when they don't know how to write English?
 Difficulties of Board of Relief.
 
 who have their troubles, there being ample testimony from boards of relief that they have difficulties in carrying out the literal requirements of the stat utes. Some of the suggestions fol- low:
 The chief difficulty was because of the very lax methods of former boards of assessors. A little more time and better compen- Sation would help out.
 It is difficult to understand in some cases what is lawful and right to do. The laws are not plain enough, and it is hard to find two persons who agree and selectmen were more particular in their performance of duties, it. would be e. sier for the board of relief.
 No board in three days time can do any more than attend to the com plaints and the sum of $6 for the work is small compensation for the abuse they often get. woodland, buildings, machinery and animals should be ex- amined more thoroughly.
 Collectors Havc Their Troubles.
 And there are yet others, collectors telling of their difficulties in holding down their jobs. They also make sug- gestions for changes in the laws rela- tive to the collection of taxes and the duties of the collector. A num- Der of their contributions to the sum total of human intelligence on the sub- ject follow:
 The greatest difficulty seems to arise from the fact that former collectors have been too lenient. I do not know of an instance where a lien has been foreclosed, but do know of taxes out standing since 1896 that are still un- paid.
 Collectors work made difficult on account of very poor work by the as- sessorS.
 The salary is too small to give it the time required.
 A collector should be elected for a term of not less than four years, and be paid sufficient salary to guarantee collection of taxes.
 Tax collectors should be appointed Or elected, for a term of years.
 I think 1t would be advisable for the best interest of the city to have the collector elected for four years in- stead of two.
 Three year term at least for the col- lector. Constant changing of collec- tors is bad for the collector, and the taxpayers do not like it.
 In my opinion, if the term of office of tax collector was for two years, or better still, four years. tax collectors in all the towns would adhere more strictly to the law regarding liens and interest, and far better results would