Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1912-08-15
MORE TAX FRAUD
IS UNCOVERED
State Tax Com missioner
Rockwell Finds Valua-
ton of Reservations
TO PLACE ON ROLLS
Timber Valuations Reduced
to "a Cents per M in
Township 16-6

AS a direct result OF the timber
cruise more interest is being taken
in the subject of assessments and tan
alton this year than at any other
time in the history of Chehalis coun.
ty. and, as was to be expected, the
exposure of the frauds committed by
the holders of large tracts of timber
in the past has caused the tax dodgers
TO throw few fits. But, there is no
cause for alarm, in all their bluster,
and talk of fighting the assessments
in the courts. Chehalis is about the
last timber county in the state to
make this cruise, and the others have
gone through this game of bluff with
the Weyerhaueser Timber company
and the others.
In the last issue OF the Herald at
tention was directed TO the fact that
Pacific county assessed the Weyer-
haeuser company and the Northern
Pacific Railway Co. 30 cents an acre
II all lands sold by those concerns.
n which the mineral rights OF way
nd other valuables We're reserved
Ne now find State Tax Commission
r T. d. Rockwell advising the assess
+ to place all such reservations III
Chehalis county on the tax rolls.
Commissioner Rockwell, who took
testimony in Aberdeen this week on
valuations used by the assessor in
this county, said the tax commission
had long endeavored to find valua
ton upon which to base the taxation
of the reservations made in the deeds
given by those concerns without sue
cess, those companies always declar-
ing the reserves We're but formalities,
and without value.
At the hearing IN Aberdeen yester-
day morning, Gus Carlson, of the
Carlson a. Callow Logging Co., testi-
fed that he had paid the Weyerhaeus-
er Timber Company $3.50 for the re-
lease of these reserved rights on 10
acres of land, which caused Mr. Rock
we'll to say, Il regard this testimony
OF Mr.. Carlson as. among the most i'm
portant the state tax commission has
ever received. Mr.. Rockwell en-
planned the remark by saying that
the commission had directed the coun
ty asst ssCls 20 .too~ SIS these reserved
rislts, out that tne Chehalis county
assessor had not d ne So
Speaking on this subject, Mr.. Rock
we'll said:
This is the first concrete testi
mony that / have secured regarding
the policy CT the Weyerhaeusers in
charging for a mineral right or right
of-way, which they hold on property
sold. If this risht is worth $3.50 for
10 acres it should be taxed and
propose to take TINS matter up with
the assessor of your county this af-
ternoon and inform him of what
hay. learned to-day.
Il have been aware of the fact that
the Weyerhaeuser company has been
doing this act for some time, but have
never been fortunate enough to gath
er information of nature given me by
Mr. Carlson this morning.
1T the Weyerhaeuser syndicate
holds the value of its reserved rights
at $l.5U per acre, the assessed .alu-
alton of this property figured on a
basis OF 19S,00O acres of land. would
be approximately $11S,sOo for Che
halls county alone"
1t has been given out that timber
was to be assessed at $1.00 per NJ.
on the assumed valuation of S2.o0
and the 40 per cent basis upon which
other classes of property are assess
ed, but an investigation of the rolls
discovers that this is not followed
always, especially where the Weyer-
aheuser company is large holder.
For instance. Township 1916 is one
of the most heavily timbered town
ship in the county Sections /, ., 3,
1, IA, -, u, %. q and 2S are owned
almost entirely by the Weyerhaeuser
Timber company. The cruise shows
those ten sections to contain 49S, 162,-
$50 feet, and the assessed valuation
of those sections is placed at $685.
1900 or at a rate of 13.S cents per
NJ. This difference of more than -
per cent in the assessed valuation re-
leases from taxation just Sl30,5S5.Uo
worth of property of this company.
Driving Loggers From County
The Herald is informed by men ia
mliar with the prices asked loggers
by this company, that the timber on
those sections cannot be bought for
less than Sl.0O per NJ and il is com
mon talk in Aberdeen that the high
price OF stumpage demanded by this
concern prevented the Larkin Log
eiug company from securing timber
on Grays Harbor to log at a price that
would justify, and forced them to re-
move a plant and cash estimated al
quarter of million dollars from
Chehalis county to the Columbia riy-
er. Yet the tax agents of this con-
Germ We're pleading and threateninc
the board OF equalization yesterday
for further remission of its taxes
1t is impossible to remember the
tax lodging methods of this concern
in the past in thwarting the demand
of the public for a cruise of the TIM
ber and to observe the concessions
made to it now the cruise is made,
without arriving at the conclusion
that complete change is the person
mel of the taxing authorities is the
crying need of the average taxpayer
in Chehalis county.