Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1912-09-05
Some of the Reasons Why Property
Thirty-second Article

IHIFty-SeCOnQ ArtICle
AS shown in the two preceding ar
ticles the law requiring that AL pro-
perty shall be assessed at it's true and
full value it is the universal custom
to assess at from Is to so per cent OF
true value. Instead of assessing every
article in given class Of property at
full value, or at a given, uniform per-
centage of full value it is the univers
al custom to assess every article in
certain classes of property at fixed
sum regardless of value; and instead
Of assessing all property not exempt
from taxation it is the custom in
many districts to wilfully and system
atically omit large amount of per-
sonal property from the rolls. All of
these methods are, of course, illegal
and all of them have been adopted in
open and direct violation of perfectly
clear and unequivocal statutes reqlir-
ing that all property not exempt shall
be listed and assessed, and that all
of it shall be assessed at true and full
value
For the wilful failure to assess all
property subject to taxation, and for
| the assessment of every article in a
| given class at the same figure regard
less Of value there is no possible ex-
cuse. Such methods, as we have
shown, are grossly unfair and work
irreparable injury to individual tax
payers: but for the assessment of
property at a certain uniform per cent
of full value, instead of at full value,
a great deal can be said in justifica-
ton During the fiftyfour years
since we became state many laws
have been passed which are based up
on the prevailing custom OF assessing
property at from Is to so per cent of
true ana full value instead of upon
the statute requiring that assessment
be made at true and full value
First: The salaries of county audi
tors and their clerks; of county treas
urers; and, in part, the salaries OF
judges of probate, are fixed and de-
termined by the assessed valuation Of
the county, and if property was as
sessed at true and full value as re-
quired by law the salary of every one
of these officials would be increased
to an amount far in excess of that in
tended by the legislature.
Second: The Indebtedness which
counties, cities, villages and towns
can incur is definitely limited by law.
Cities of the first class being limited
to per cent of their assessed valua-
ton, and the other municipalities to
10 per cent. If all property was as
sessed cat it's true and full value" it
would be possible for all these NUM-
cipalities to increase their indebted
ness at least threefold.
Third The power of counties,
cities, villages, towns and school dis.
tricts to raise money by taxation is
definitely limited by law to certain
maximum rates. For example, the
highest rate that can be imposed in
any county for general revenue pur
poses is one per cent. The same thing
| is true at varying rates for all the
/ other municipalities. It is plain
1 therefore, that the amount OF money
any municipality can raise by taxa
! ton is limited by the amount of its
assessment and it is equally plain
i that if property in any municipality is
assessed at true and full value" il
can raise three times as much as il
could if the assessment was made al
one-third of full value. The rate 81
taxation in many communities has al
READY reached the maximum, and i
4 assessments were made at higher
i per cent Of true value than the pre-
#|vailing custom, taxes would undoubt
edly be much higher than they are a
present.
Fourth: a very considerable par
OF the revenue obtained By direct tax
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