New Ulm review., 1912-10-09
TAXATION IN MINNESOTA
TH1RTY.sIxTH ARTICLE
The Remedy For Unfair Assess
ments.

The most important element in thu
assessment of property for taxation Il
not that the valuations be either higf
or low, but that they be fair and uni
form; that all kinds of property o.
like character and of equal value
should be assessed at the same value
regardless of the social, political, o.
personal standing and influence of itE
owners. "a. ..
It is self-evident that so long a!
the present system of local assessors
is retained there cannot be any such
thing as a fair and uniform valua
ton of property as between the own
ers thereof in the same taxing dis
trict. The local conditions and in
fluences which inevitably surround
and embarrass the local assessor are
such that no matter how conscientious
he may be he cannot fairly and i'm
partially fix the valuation of the prop.
erty of his neighbors, friends, and enc
mics. Do the best he can, either
favoritism or prejudice, charity or
overmastering influence warp his
judgment and initiate against the in
tegrity of his assessment.
It is most important that this local
or initial assessment should be as
fair and perfect as it is possible to
make it. 1t is the foundation upon
which all of the taxes levied upon
the valuation of property is predi-
Gated. 1t directly concerns the indi-
vidual taxpayer, and is intended to
place him upon an equality with his
neighbors. If it fails to do this he
pays either a higher or a lower tax
than he should. The present system
not only fails to give, but is a posi-
tive impediment to fair and uniform
taxation
How can this unwholesome state of
affairs be remedied? While an abso-
lutely perfect system cannot be de-
vised, great improvement can be
made by the enactment of laws based
upon the following principles, viz:
1st. The assessor should not be
subject to the embarrassing influences
already mentioned. AS far as pos
sible he should be free from any re-
lationship, connection, or association
with the persons whose property it is
his duty to assess.
End. The assessor should be per-
son who by experience and familiarity
with the various kinds of taxable prop
erty has become, to some extent, an
expert in valuations. The better
"posted" he is as to the values of
property, the more competent he is
to assess it.
3rd. In order to become such an
expert, and he can become so only
by experience, his term of office
should be long enough to enable him
to familiarize himself with the char
acter and values of assessable prop.
erty as it is bought and sold in the
local markets.
4th. His compensation should be
suffic cient to enable him to devote all
of his time, not for a few weeks mere
ly but for his entire official term, to
gathering information and data which
will enable him to include all taxable
property in his assessment and to
value it on uniform basis.
5th. With proper limitations he
should be amenable for the fairness
and thoroughness of his work to some
controlling supervisory power in the
state which could correct any errors
he might make.
After long and careful consideration
of the matter the state tax commission
has become convinced that the most
feasible way in which to secure fair
and equitable assessment of taxable
property is to abolish the Office of To-
cal assessor and to substitute in its
place that of a county assessor AS
required by law the commission for
mulated and submitted to the last two
legislatures bills to that effect. In
each case the bills failed of passage.
Mrs. Peter Holan, 1851 Buckeye
Rd. Cleveland, o., says: eyes, indeed
can recommend FOley's Honey and