The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-11-12
Taxation in Virginia
The Property Tax--1nequalties That Result
from the Present system.
ny EDGAR sYDENsTRfCKEi

from the Present system
differentiation of tangible personal property,
It was pointed out in the preceding article was
an inevitable result of the attempt to enforce
a state system Of uniform assessment with a
decentralized. purely local assessing machinery.
The effect Of differentiation is high tax rate.
both State and local, since the same assessment
is used as the basis for both the State and the
local levy. A high tax rate in turn tends 10
beget shirking in giving proper assessments, and
thus have sample of the vicious circle.
The absence of any standard any specific
method or any real machinery to enforce the
provision for assessments according to fair
market value" results in another evil. that of
inequality in taxation. Some illustrations of this
may be pertinent here.
Not only is the same system of property tax
alton In effect now that was put in force in
1851. following the period of development pre-
vious that date. but the same methods Of de-
termining the valuation of property for taxation
exist as then. The organic law OF the State
has through three revsions, made the same re-
quirement that all property shall be assessed
at It's fair market value" Real property is
assessed by local boards OF assessors once every
I'VE years except in cases Of improvements made
in interim, which assessed by local commits
sioners OF the revenue. Personal property is
assessed by local commissioners of the revenue
every year There is centralized State au-
thorlty for the establishing of averages or for
reviewing the work of the local officers. The
whole basis Of the valuation of property is the
standard thy local opinion or custom. accord
ing to which the local assessors and commits
sioners naturally tend to closely adhere.
The result of this decentralized method Of
assessment, and at the same time non-segre
gated system of taxation, is that Inequalities of
almost every conceivable kind exist under con-
stituton that perscribes equal rate on
fair market value The reports Of the State
auditors, which embody the returns from tho
local officers, have continued to show every year
that these inequalities are both manifold and
manifest. There inequalities among counties
and cities; among the various classes Of property;
among individuals; within the counties,
which the units OF administration; and
within the same classes of property. AS be-
tween classes Of property, the inequalities are
plainly shown when 1t is pointed out that taxi
ing the State as a whole, real estate is assessed
at fifty-three per cent of it's rea- value, personal
property at about thirty five per cent. and stocks
and bonds and all intangible property given in
for assessment at loo per cent Of their value.
In some counties lands assessed at ten per
cent of what the assessors sworn to assess,
and in other counties and cities lands are
sessed at over seventy per cent of what they
would bring the market. For instance, Hen
rico county pays taxes at the rate of eighty
cents every dollar Of actual value; Richmond
city accessors a seventy-fye cent basis;
Carroll county accesses at eighteen cents the
dollar; Amelia at siXty-four cents; Charlotte at
seventy cents; Floyd Mt twenty-one cents; Gooch-
land indicates a seventY-two cent basis Grayson
an eighteen cent assessment, and Giles thirty
cent assessor ent, and Even within coun-
ties Il has been found that agriculture lands
of equal fertility assessed at from IS the
acre to $50 the acre. and buildings at from
twenty per cent of what they would cost to con-
struct in their present condition to more than
they would bring at auction.
Inequalities in the taxation Of personal prop
erty are even more fragrant. Horses. to cite an
instance. throughout the State assessed at
Gpn
them at $t9.70; Richmond city at 1918. Cat
tie in Grayson are assessed at $5.l4. In Loudoun
at s2s.2l Hogs are valued at an average of
s3.37 in the State; at $1.1G in Grayson county,
at So 70 in Henrico county. That these manifest
discrepancies are due to the methods of admin
istration and, the whole, to the extremely
faulty and inefficient execution of the laws is
plainly seen in the fact the valuation Of
certain classes of personal property In Virginia
in 1904 $361,114240; the commissioners of
the revenue assessed the same property at S122-
673.713. at 339 per cent The total assessed
value of all personal property reported today
is only $40, 900, goo in excess OF the census vau
alton of 1850. To cite another instance. 1t is
pointed out that the assessed bank deposits of
individuals for the entire State on February /,
1870 were $500. 636, while actuarfy they were
$lI7,77S,74S on the preceding day. according
to the banks statements Wagons are worth but
So in Franklin county pianos in Craig county
are worth $40. horses in Grayson, in Mathews
and elsewhere are worth So hotel and two
acres OF land IN assessed at SIT. village OF
about six houses and factories does not exist,
according to the land books; enterprsing
city of several Thousand inhabitants does not
( contain a single individual who owns watch,
If the reports Of the commissioner of revenue
are to be credited although the ancient Virginia
law is very specific about the taxation OF time
pieces.
Again some counties arc paying five times as
much takes property of a given value as are
other counties; in some instances property Of
class Is taxed fifteen times as heavily in one To-
cality as in another. In the per capita valuation
Of personal property this unequal taxation isl
very evident The average valuation In the
counties Is s65.sl for each inhabtant, yet there