Little Falls herald., 1912-10-18
TAXATION IN MINNESOTA
OBJECTIONS TO THE COUNTY. Az.
SESS0R BILL-THIRTY-EIGHTH
= il =. * ARTICLE !,

dSdlusC CHo, county assessor OIL W12c&
deserve careful consideration. One, ri
that the town assessor being resi-
dent Of the town is presumably familia1
with the taxable property therein and
therefore could assess it better than .
nonresident. This objection, however.
is overcome by the fact that the pre-
posed county assessor is required by
law to devote all Of his time the year
around to the duties Of his office, and
to acquiring the same information not
only in that town but in all the towns
Of the county. This will enable him.
by comparing one town with the other.
TO- make the county assessment mor9
even and uniform so that in q short
time he would become more familiar
with the property in each town than
the local assessor could possibly be.
Giving to this objection all the foFc6
claimed for it, the fact remains that
the county assessor will be much bet
ter equipped for the valuation Of the
property in each town than the locaa
assessor can be, while the influences
and conditions which inevitably en-
barrass the local assessor, warp h4S
Judgment, and lead to favoritism ana
unfairness cannot to any appreciable
extent affect the county assessor.
Moreover, the county assessor will be
under the supervision Of the state tax
commission, body having the power
to correct his errors, and in case OF
willful misfeasance to remove him
from >office with the consent Of tho
governor Of the state and after fair
hearing. Such supervision will strength
en- him in the performance Of his
duties, and he will be more indepen-
dent of local influences and in better
position to make fair and uniform as
sessment.
Another objection to the proposed
bill is that it interferes with the prin-
ciple Of home rule in the town. What
ever merit there may be in this OBJ
lection loses it's force by the fact that
Under the proposed bill the town board
of review will remain substantially un-
changed in it's powers and duties:
While in many cases these boards OF
review have been Of little efficiency in
the past they will still remain with fun
authority to review and correct the as
sessment for the town as returned by
the county assessor and protect the
taxpavers of the town from any unfair
assessment, thus preserving intact the
home rule principle. It is also believed
that the existence Of a county assessor
! will act as a stimu1ant to these boards
to do their work with greater care and
thoroughness.
Another objection to the bill is that
il creates a new office and will result
in increased expense to the county 1t
is true that it creates some 86 new o.
fees, and also that it abo1ishes some
1900 of existing offices. Whether it
will result increased expense to the
counties is problematical. In some
counties it may do so. and in others it
NAV not. In any event the increase, II
It results at all, will not be very large.
IF the town assessors were being paid
fair compensation at the present time
it is believed that the county assessor
would not cost any more than the local
,, assessor would cost.
At all events the benefits which
would result from fairer and more
uniform assessment would far out.
weigh the increased cost thereof, II
such should be.
In order that taxation may be fair
! as between the individual taxpayers OF
the state it is essential that the assess
ments of their property should DO
relatively equal. If the assessments are
unfair, the taxes based upon such as"
sessments are inevitably unequal You
cannot erect substantial and perman.
ent superstructure upon "wobbly'
foundation.
While it is not claimed that the coun-
ty assessorship system would in all
cases produce an absolutely perfect as.
sessment, it is believed that it would
greatly tend to that desirable result. 1t
certainly is an attempt to better pres
ent conditions, and while in this state
it may be something Of an experiment,
we must remember that all progress
must in the beginning be experimental
that no one can move forward If he
doggedly insists upon remaining i'm
movable.
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