The Mena weekly star., 1912-02-22
REDUCE TAXES BY
RAISING VALUES
Editor of Farmers Paper Tells
What Gov. Harmon Has Ac-
complished for Small Prop
erty Owner in Ohio State.

Columbus, O., Feb. f6.-T. B. Ter
ry, one of the associate editors OF
the Practical Farmer, published in
Philadelphia, owns a farm in
Northern Ohio, and he is one of the
many thousands of farmers who
have been benefited by a reduction
in taxes, which came about through
fair distribution of them during
the administration Of Gov. Har-
mon. Mr.. Terry was so pleased at
the successful termination Of Gov.
Harmon's efforts to lessen the taxes
of the farmers and home owners.
many of whom had been assessed
too heavily, by forcing interests
that had not been paying their just
share to contribute toward the ex-
penses of the government, that he
wrote an article entitled Fair Tax
alton at Last" for the Practical
Farmer. Mr.. Terry's taxes have
been reduced from Si7 per thousand
to $3.50 per thousand.
Mr.. Terry, pointing out the de-
fects Of the old system of assessing
property, said that real estate was
valued very low, large part Of
personal property was never found
and that corporations slipped
through without paying what they
should. The result, he said, was a
very high rate and a great injustice
was done to those who honestly
listed their. property. The law re-
CURED all property to be assessed
at it's true value in money, but that
was a dead letter, and no one ever
thought that it could be enforced
until Gov. Harmon declared that it
should be obeyed.
First, Mr.. Terry says, real estate
assessors were sent out with orders
to list property at its true value; a
tax commission was appointed for
the purpose of getting utilities as
sessed on the same basis. The as
sessed valuation Of public utilities
was increased si.000,00C000. while
enormous increases were made to.
other property. To prevent pub
lie officers using the large dupii-
Gates to get large sums Of money
for extravagant purposes. law
was finally put through limiting the
tax rates TO | per cent plus what
was needed for sinking fund and in
terest on the same. Concluding his
article, Mr.. Terry said:
''And real estate was assessed two
or three times as high as formerly.
There was some anxiety to find out
whcthnr this would result in
heavier burden on the farm
ers, or enough personal prop
erty be added to duplicate the mai
ter all right. The result has been
better than we even hoped for. We
have just paid our taxes. The rate
was $3.50 on $1,000. Last year il
was SIT. The value Of our farm
was raised about $1,000. But we
pay less taxes on it this year than
last, owing to the great decrease in
the rate. But it is on personal
property that the heaviest gains
were made. There was no raise in
the valuation. of that for us. We
put in all that was subject to tax
alton last year, as well as this, Of
course. And we paid only $3.50 in
stead of SIT per thousand, So our
taxes altogether are not much more
than half what they were last year.
This. because law and justice has
been enforced largely. All honor TO
the man who insisted on its being
done, who made pledges before The
election and kept them. 1t is a
great gain for righteousness. When
we people drop parties and vote for
upright men. who have a record for
doing things for The good Of the
masses, we can get our wrongs
righted. Although strong Repub-
lican in the past, | am proud to say
I voted for Gov. Harmon, the man,
not the party
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