The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-12-23
MORE TAN p~ECUL1AR1r1Es.

Additional facts compiled from the
report of the AK commission are again
published. and again some exceeding
ly interesting matter is made public.
1t is generally known that personal
property is not listed for taxation as
the trainers Of our constitution in.
tended it to he. For that matter the
constitution Is not followed at all in
any sort OF assessments. But, regard
less Of the evasion of the requirement
that property shall be assessed at its
actual value. We are violating contin-
ually o only the letter but the spirit
of the law which supposes that what
over the scale followed, all property
shall be assessed alike, that is, at the
same proportion of its value.
The summary just published Of this
portion of the commissions report
shows that whereas the state has
grown wonderfully in of all
kinds, and whereas its wealth has
vastly increased. there has been but
a slight increase in the assessed VAL
uation OF lands Gin O cases an act.
ual d%ecrease) and that all over the
state there has been an actual fall
Ing off in the assessment of personal
property. In other words If the as
sessment rolls are to he believed, the
state, which we know is richer in ev-
erythinG. is actually poorer in the
matter Of personal property than it
ten years ago. This Is absurd.
It is possible that some portion of
this discrepancy lay he accounted for
on the assumption that there has been
going on generally throughout the
state a process Of placing a create
share Of the tax on realty and less
on personally. That there has been
and is such a tendency in spots is
a fact. How general it is We do not
know. It does not appear that the
vast proportionate shrinkage in per-
scnal assessments can be wholly or
even largely accounted for in this
manner. but 1t is more likely to be
due to the practice followed every
where. and encouraged by the char
acter OF u law. to make all sorts Of
assessments as low as that can be ex-
pected to pass muster, to the end that
the community in which the assessor
lives may get OF with as light a tax as
possible. The plan on which our To-
ca! assessments are made is a direct
incentive to this sort Of thing, and II
10 probable that this accounts for by
far the greater number Of pe~culiarities
Which are to be found in the making
up Of assessment lists.
The last legislature did a wise thing
when It created the tax commission,
for through a body Of that kind it Is
possible for the people Of the state
to have information as to the actual
facts presented to them in a concise
and understandable form, and a
knowledge OF the situation is the first
step in the direction Of reform.
The facts and figures quoted by the
show co%nclusively that
our system Of taxation has broken
down, II, indeed. there was ever at any
time anything substantial to break.
We cannot get u property assessed
evenly and equitably under the present
laws. There Is a profound conviction
in the minds of the people that all
their property does not stand on the
same basis in the matter Of assess
ment. So long as there is that con-
viction 1t will be found that people
will act on it. They will return GER
tain kinds Of property more freely
and willingly than other kinds, and
assessors will accept returns so made.
1t is evident that the way out lies
along the direction Of permitting or
requiring the legislature to classify
property for purposes Of assessment,
for in that way only Is there the slight
est possibility Of securing anything
like equity.