New Ulm review., 1912-09-18

Il
ticles the law requiring that "all pro
perty shall be assessed at It's. true
and full value in money" has never
been obeyed. Instead Of assessing at
true and full value 1t is the univer-
sal custom to assess at from Is to 80
per cent of true value. Instead of
assessing every article in given class
of property at full value, or at given,
uniform percentage of full value 1t
is the universal custom to assess
every article in certain classes of pro-
perty at q fixed sum regardless OF
value; and instead of assessing all
property not exempt from taxation 1t
Is the custom In many districts to
willfully and Systematically omit a
large amount of personal property
from the rolls. All of these methods
are, of course, illegal and all of them
have been adopted in open and direct
violation Of perfectly clear and une-
quivocal statutes requiring that all
property not exempt shall be listed
and assessed, and that all of 1t shall
be assessed at true and full value.
For the willful failure to assess all
property subject to taxation, and for
the assessment of every article in a
given class at the same figure regard
less of value there is no possible ex-
cuse. Such methods, as we have
shown, are grossly unfair and work
irreparable injury to individual tax
payers: but for the assessment of pro-
perty at a certain uniform per cent
of full value, instead of at full value,
a great deal can be said in justifica-
tion. During the fifty-four years since
We became a state many laws have
been passed which are based upon !
the prevailing custom of assessing |
property at from 25 to SO per cent OF
true and full value instead of upon
the statute requiring that assessment
be made at true and full value"
First: The salaries of county audi
tors and their clerks; of county trea-
surers; and, in part, the salaries OF
judges of probate, are fixed and de-
termined by the assessed valuation
of the county, and if property was
assessed at true and full value as re-
quired by law the salary of every one
of these officials would be increased
to an amount far in excess OF that
intended by the legislature.
Second: The indebtedness which
counties, cities, villages and towns
can incur is definitely limited by law.
Cities of the first class being limited
to 5 per cent of their assessed valua-
ton, and the other municipalities to
10 per cent. If all property was as
sessed "at its true and full value" it ,
would be possible for all these NUM- |
cipalities to increase their indebted ,
ness at least threefold. |,
1uAEu. AuS PO"0A oA ~3' |
cities, villages, towns and school dis
tricts to raise money by taxation Is
definitely limited by law to certain
maximum rates. For example, the
highest rate that can be imposed In
any county for general revenue pur- ,
poses is one per cent. The same
thing is true at varying rates for all
the other municipalities. 1t Is plain,
therefore, that the amount OF money
any municipality can raise by taxa
lion is limited by the amount OF Its
and it is equally plain
that if property in any municipality .
Is assessed at true and full value"
It can raise three times as much as
It could if the assessment was made
at one-third of full value. The rate
Of taxation in many communities has
already reached the maximum, and
If assessments were made at high
er per cent of true value than the
prevailing custom, taxes would un-
doubtedly be much higher than they
are at present.
Fourth: A very considerable part of
The revenue obtained by direct taxa
ton is derived from taxes levied for
certain specific purposes at rates
which are definitely fixed by law, such
as the "one mill school tax" and the ,
one-tenth of mill tax for the "Soldiers'
relief fund" and the like. The rate ,
If these taxes remains the same year {
after year regardless of the taxable t
valuation of the state or of the needs
If the institutions for which the tax +
Is levied, and it can only be changed
BY amending the law. The aggregate 8
rate of all these so-called Especial
taxes" at present amounts to 2.5S
Mills on each dollar of assessed valua-