Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1912-05-06

goods of his county knows absolutely
nothing about it's value. If he goes
into the house at ALL his inspection
is merely cursory glance, and he
sees with the same eyes. and the same
ideas of value. the ten dollar rug OF
the poor man and the thousand dollar
rug of the rich man. Our supreme
court has intimated that this class
of property might be exempted upon
the idea that it is quasi-public in its
nature in that it is necessary to keep
it's owner from becoming a charge
upon the public; and when we consid.
er the fact that it is not and can not
be, under our system, properly assess
ed, 1t certainly must appeal to all
reasonable people that it should be
exempted altogether. The same line
of argument would apply to me-
chanics' tools; they are necessary in
the earning of livelihood and con
sequently should be exempt. These
two classes. as has been pointed out,
might be exempted by the legislature
passing law to that effect, but there
are many other classes of property
engaged in the upbuiding and devel-
opment of our state that should be
exempt, but which can not be under
the general property tax system.
Or TcoIc
Very many people agree that manu-
facturers' tools and machinery should
be exempt during the formative per-
iod of the manufacturing enterprise.
In doing this, We would invite into
the state a class OF business of which
we are very much in need, but a
manufacturer hesitates in starting an
enterprise of this kind when he
knows that even before the installa-
ton of the plant he is liable to taxa
ton. These matters have all been
thoroughly discussed and argued at
the meetings of the International Tax
association, where are gathered the
and from Canada, professors of polit-
ical economy from all the great uni
versities, and men generally who have
given a life study to economic ques-
lions. 1t has been at each of these
meetings the unanimous verdict that
the general property tax system is Il
failure and works against the interest
of any state which retains it as a
part of its revenue system. That il
is beautiful theoretical plan cannot
be gainsaid, but that it is also i'm
possible from a practical, twentieth
century standpoint is an incontrovert-
IDLE fact.
The state board of tax commission
ers has made three efforts to change
our system of taxation and each time
it has been met by the overwhelming
force of special interests. The legis-
lature of 1907 passed an act submit
ting to the people an amendment to
the constitution that would have cured
our ills. There had not been, how
ever, sufficient education along the
line of taxation when this amend
ment was submitted to the people. and
consequently it was defeated at the
polls. The church interests imagined
that it was going to place church
property upon the tax rolls. Of
course. this was not true, but the
heads of the various churches had
advice to this effect and the amend.
ment was defeated In 1909 another
amendment, similar to the one of
1907, but going more into detail and
specifically exempting certain classes
of church and other public property,
was submitted to the legislature for
it's approval, but by this time the
law eXempting moneys and credits
had been passed and the bankers
thought probably the passage of such
an amendment would bring about the
taxation of money capital, conse
quently all of their influence was
directed towards the defeat of the
with the result that IL
senators voted for the amendment
and q against it, In 1911 practically
the same amendment was submitted
to the legislature, but the chairman
of the committee to whom the bill
was submitted placed it in his inside