Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1912-08-30
ILLEGAL METHODS.
The Assessor the Most Important
Tax Official.
xxxI,-BAsIs OF VALUATION
FOR TAXATION PURPOSES
NO. 2.

,
Coupled with the statute requiring
that property shall be assessed sat
it's true and full value in money"
is another, equally explicit, providing
that all property not exempt from
taxation shall be listed and assessed.
While this provision of law is not
violated by assessors in the same
open and systematic way as the one
recurring "full valuation it is,
nevertheless, wilfully violated in a
great many assessment districts every
year. In many districts it has long
been the custom to assess five horses
as four; three cows as two. and so on
down through all the classes on the
list, the purpose in most cases being
to keep down the assessment OF the
district by keeping up the average
assessment of each article in a given
class, while in few cases it may be
resorted to for the purpose of favor
ing the assessors friends.
If all property was assessed at a
uniform given per cent of "true and
full value'' the result would be a
square deal for everybody. If the
law permitted, three would be no in
herent vice in "undervaluation" so
long as everybody was treated alike.
But when property that should be
taxed is omitted from the rolls; and
when every article in given class
is assessed at fixed sum regardless
of value, a square deal is impossible.
Such methods invariably result in the
grossest injustice not only to districts
taken as a whole. but to Individual
taxpayers as we'll, and are unques-
tionably the most vicious and indie
fensible OF all the illegal practices that
have fastened themselves upon our
taxing system during fifty years of
law-breaking. They work almost in
variabIy in favor of taxpayers owning
high grade and costly property. and
against the owners of inferior and
inexpensive property. In short. they
favor the rich as against the poor,
and, worst of all, they leave the
small taxpayer without any adequate
means of redress. 1t is just about as
expensive, and takes just as much
time. to obtain relief from an over
assessment against the small holdings
of poor man as it does to correct ar
assessment involving thousands Of
dollars; and the result is that the
small taxpayer submits to the wrong
because he cannot afford to do any
thing else, while the large taxpayer
because of the large amount involved
can afford to and does usually fgh
for his rights and pet his unfair as
sessment corrected.
Equality and justice in taxation
under our laws depend almost entirel.
upon the assessor. He is by far tn
most important officer who has any
thing to do with taxation. If h.
makes his assessment in the way tina
the law provides, or even if he make
it at uniform definite per cent O
''true and full value" approximate
justice will prevail between the in
dividual taxpayers of his district; bu
. If on the other hand he makes it il
accordance with the agreements usual
~ adopted at assessors meetings. 0
if he omits any considerable amour
of taxable property from his list
the assessment inevitably abounds il
the grossest inequalities - and the
are inequalities that cannot be cor
rected by equalization. If they could
the situation would not be so bad
but as a rule every attempt to equal
ize simply tends to make bad matte
worse. Nothing short of doing tn
work over again will correct sue
assessments. The inequalities exist
ing between assessment districts an
counties can be smoothed out an
equalized fairly we'll by boards c
equalization, but not so the Unequal
tiles eenindividuals that resu
~ from following the illegal method
above described. Never until W
are able to get away from these cor
ditions and have everything assesse
in strict accordance with the la
will be have anything even approx
mating equality and justice betw se
individual taxpayers.
The next article will set fort
r.. some of the obstacles in the way {
assessing property cat its true an
full value"