Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1912-03-18
WY FORTY PEP CENT

When me fathers Of me STATE u
Washington net - cols.de. id.
,olnGa,.on for tAeir nav form III gov
ernment ~ 4 state. they were inter
ested IL taxation. and they placed -
4 bar - future Injustice. inequality
and extravagance limitations upon
the powers III the officials entrusted
with the collection and expenditure
Of the public funds In article VII
Section one, they asserted that, All
/ property in the state not exempt IN
I der the laws Of the United States, Or
under this constitution. shall be tax
ed in proportion Of It's value, 10 be
ascertained as provided b. law p"
Then in order that there should be
no Misunderstanding they provided
in Section 2 that The legislature
shall provide by Law an equal rate o:
Z assessment and taxation in the state
according to its value in MONEY"
The legislature then proceeded 20
tx basis for calculating the value
Of property. real and personal in the
following language: All property shall
be assessed at its true and fair yalnc
l. money. In determining the true
and fair value Of real or persona
property, the assessor shall not adoP.
lower or different standard Of value
because the same is to serve as ba-
sis Of taxation; nor shall he adopt
as q criterion OF value the price for
which said property would sell at auc.
lions or at a forced sale, or in the
aggregate with all the property in
the town or district; but he shal!
value each article or description Of
property by itself, and at such sum
or price as he believes the same to
De fairly worth in money at the time
such assessment is made. The true
cash value Of property shall be that
value at which the property would
be taken in payment Of just debt
from solvent debtor"
Where does the notion originate
then, that 40ls or any other percent
age should be used in fixing tax
levy? Merely because it happens 10
be the average figure Of the coun-
ties Of the state. Chehalis county
happens to be the second lowest
2s.17 and Ferry county highest 47.34
and the average for all counties Of
the state is 1898.
This county was accused Of under
estimating it's value by the State Tax
Commission. What did the county
hope to gain? BY making it's value
low the state could collect but a small
could raise it's levy as high az vas
necessary for the purpose Of raising
it's county revenue. The Commission
adopted method OF ascertaining the
true value by examination Of hun
1red different pieces Of property, TAX
ing sworn testimony as to the &C
tual price paid on transfer and as a
result they doubled our valuation as
returned by the county for 1910 and
raised the total az returned by our
county agsessor from $18.867.784 to
$50, 325.72l for 1911. BY undervalua-
ton we lost from railroads and public
service company property. taxes in &C
tual cash for 1911 the sum OF $50.
232, as the State Tax Commission as
sesses this class OF property and are
obliged to equaliZe the average rate
for the state and the county rate.
This Is one thing low valuation does
for US. High valuation means a low
levy, very nearly equal and fair tax
alton, for the reason that when all
are placed on an equality there will
be no fear that "the other fellow Is
going to put his in low" and a differ
ence of 800 in valuation will not
mean difference OF s. in cash paid
for taxes. There Is no more reason
for 4O% valuation than there Is
for one of 1871, and the easiest fair
est and most practical way is to use
1904 100 parts of one hundreds and
not part of a part of 100, also the law
says this should be done.
London In King James limo.