Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1912-08-08
State Equalization Of Personal Pro-
perry Assessments

Ferty Assessments
The percentage of the personal pro-
perry assessment tc the total assess
ment Of the state has varied bit
[slightly in twenty years. In 1890 it
was 18.1 per cent, in 1900, 1913 per
cent, and in 1910, 17.2 per cent of the
total assessment.
The difference in the actual value
of the two classes of property, real
and personal, is probably very much
less than the difference in the assess
ed value. L is difficult, if not impos-
sible under existing laws, to reach all
forms of personal property for pur-
poses OF taxation. This is especially
true Of so-called Intangible personal
property. No state has yet succeed
ed in doing it, so that Minnesota is
not alone in its failure in this respect.
The assessed value Of the taxable
property of the state more than dou-
bled in the ten years between 1900
and 1910, the exact increase being
103 per cent. The average annual
increase was 81 per cent. The as
sessed value of land, however, in
creased more rapidly than personal
property, the former showing rs per
cent, and the latter 5.4 per cent of an
average annual increase during this
period.
State equalization of personal pro-
perry is much more complex than that
of real estate. The sales method af-
fords reasonably accurate measure
of realty values, but the valuation Of
personal property is largely matter
of good Judgment, and an intelligent
discrimination of changing business
conditions supplemented by the use
of comparative tables, the grouping Of
districts of the same general charac-
ter and wealth, and the use of the da-
ia furnished from time to time by the
census department of the bureau Of
commerce and labor.
To illustrate the use of the data
furnished by the census department
of the bureau of commerce and labor
To illustrate the use of the data
furnished by the census department,
the number and value of the domestic
animals in each county of the state
in 1910 was given in a bulletin issued
early in 1911. The total value of
such animals in the state was fixed at
s156,771,S55. The assessed. value of
domestic animals in the state in that
year was $40,592,S51. Based on the
census valuation the average assessed
value in 1910 of domestic animals was
25.9 per cent of true value Applying
the census valuation to the different
classes of domestic animals, we find
that horses were assessed on an av-
erage basis of 24.6 per cent: cattle
s2.6 per cent: sheep 21.1 per cent, and
swine at 1915 per cent of census value.
Industrial and commercial statistics
are also compiled from. government
reports, and are compared with the
assessors returns of these classes of
property. Financial reports and in.
surance carried are also factors in
equalization.
The valuations fixed, by the census
department are not accepted by the
tax commission as absolutely reliable
but are used in conjunction with 9th.
er data to determine approximate
values in different counties.
In equalizing personal property as
sessments comparative tables are pre-
pared showing the assessed value OF
classes of personal property in each
county for a period of years, and the
per cent of increase or decrease fol-
| the current year Counties and dis
tricts of the same general character
and wealth are grouped and, compared
by classes and totals. 4.
When a county shows any con
siderable decrease in the assessed