The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1912-09-28
THE TAX AMENDMENT
A Brief Outline Of the General Plan and
Purpose Of the Plan.

nles, and others mentioned ah0Net
values amoUntinE to oEg H,..aan, tpIf
hundred and ninety ninr thpo~aa q J.
five hundred and SIXTY uue ao..4r-
IS i9l, ,1t,9 leaving ior local tavtHan
i the sum of six million thftu hQG tIed
! and nineteen thousand, Et" fanaEe8
and forty eight dollar - sI' T.
! Now on this last suni the Sta.e hy east
/ tore collected thirty seven thousand,
/ nine hundred and >egenieCU aut3at~
and twenty nine cents Ntt
which It would no longer collect H7
der the plan # adopted, aud thr .ar-
/ ish would los. the ten mills pu E9G
amot'nt withdrawn tpl the bcaeur 1t
/ the State, that is, on one million, 'aur
/ hundred and ninety niue thot,>aed,
/ five hundred and sixty nine dol3ats
| 81 ,499 $50 thc sum OF tourtCGo thau-
sand, nine hundred and ninety ttc
dollars and sixty nine cents t,.e.
b9), but by imposing the same tax tr
| the Parish AS was heretofore imposed
| for the Parish and State, II the local
taxing power thought it necessary to
exercise that right TO the fullest, THIS
parish would have added to its Golfers
a net gain OF twenty two thousand,
nine hundred and twenty dollars
and sixty cents 81 92l hoj In the
| same manner there would be Il tata.
gain in the Parish OF Lafayette oi four
thousand, one hundred and thfty one
dollars and forty nine cents s4ltl ~
and in that of St Martin II twelve
thousand, eight hundred and one do,
| lars and twenty cents III, ,Npl.-h
These figures deal with parishes as the
subdivision.
| Ofcourse, a question arises as to the
distribution of these gains between
parishes and municipalities therein
| There is a certainty of no loss 70 any
Parish with the exception Of three,
and the provision is made that If a
town loses the Parish must pay the
Town and the State must pay the Par
ish; and if the parish loses the state
must reimburse the Parish, so that no
Municipality or Parish can possibly
| lose because of the fact that the State
| must reimburse out OF It's own re
sources. AS a matter OF fac, there are
only three Parishes in which 1t Will he
necessary to make any adjustment.
Fourth: TheParishes and Municipali
ties would have the option, under
home rule in taxation. TO provide
! their own basis of assessment and pro
vide for the collection OF the taxes.
| The parish authorities would order the
| Assessor to adopt such basis OF assess
ment as might be desired and would
fix the rate of taxation, but 1t could
never exceed the rate now paid to the
state and Parish combined Neither
the State nor any outside influence
could take any part in management Of
our local taxing affairs.
In order to create no Injustice as
against officers elected Tor hxed
term, it is provided that the Assessors
now in office should continue nnt'l the
expiration of their terms. and the
same to hold good with reference to
the Tax Collector For the reason
that their income would be decreased
during their term of office, Il IS pro
vided that the State shall pay them
the comm iss1ons they received. say FOR
/ 1911, during the balance OF Their term,
The salary Of the Assessor thereafter
must be fixed by the Police Jury ten
months before hts election and 1t can
not be changed during his term Of Of
fee.
Fifth: Important provisions AS to
the assessment of properties a"e these:
improvements are to be assessed
separately {. ON the l9rd lf A owns
a lot valued at one thousand dollars
and has a house of the value OF three
thousand dollars, the lot and the house
will each bear separate assessments,
on such basis as the taxing power
1T 10 A h On RAJ
has a lot OF equal value and very poor
improvements, the lot will be assessed
on the same basis as that OF A, and
the improvements on the basis OF then
fair vaiuation. That would be equita'
BILE. But under the present plan the
fact generally is that because a has
improved bis properly he is punished
by high assessment, and because Il
as done nothing to better his he en-
Joys a low assessment,
| Again, the properties will be assess
ed geographically. If owns town
lot assessed under the fist letter oi
the alphabet he will never know the
assessment of bis nclgh hbor's lot assess
ed under H. A might be assessed on
the basis Of Sky per cent and Il on
the basis of thirty per cent, and the
lipiustice not detected. With geo.
graphical assessment each person will
know the assest ment Of his neighbor
property. and we NAV be assured that
this vii, call for equalization IN assess
ments. As a matter of fact. there II
no need of raising the basis of assess
Iments in most instances, bu. simply
the necessity OF equalizing assessments
80 that Ell may be upon fair basis.
Sixth: No property shall be assessed
Iexcept on the basis OF percentage o1
Its fair market value, and this per
centage shall be fixed by the local tax
ing power. A lower percentage may
also be established for personal thar
for real property. or for the value o
improvements than for that OF lane
values Thus tenant having only
mules and implements may justly pa,
on a smaller percentage OF valuation
! than the percentage of valuation 0
the land he leases. OF course. as th'
rule would be general, the owner 0
the land 10 turn would gain the bene
fits by the equivalent reductions OF
his own personal properties Thu
mules might be assessed on the basi
Of forty per cent Of their fair marke
value" and land at sixty per cent o
, its "fair market value" Or again
both might be assessed on the sam
basis as heretofore. This would al
be in the sound discretion of eacl
r community under home rule.