Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1913-06-13
TAXATION ARTICLE NO. 3
ASSESSMENTS.

ASSESSMENTS.
The Tax Commission is trying to
have the assessment laws obeyed this
year and it is the hope Of the Commits
sion that this article will make it
clear why 1t is to the best interest OF
those who have paid the taxes in the
past to have the laws enforced from
now OH.
The Bill of Rights of the Constitu-
ton Cart vi Sec l9) declares all
taxes shall be equal aud uniform.
while Art. XI, Sec, 2 of the Constitu-
tion reads in part:
"Ali taxes to be raised in this state,
shall be uniform on all real and per-
sonal property according to it's value
In money, &C be aScertained by such
rules Of appraisement and assessment
a may be prescribed by the legisla-
ture by general law, so that every
person and corporation shall pay a tax
In proportion to the value of his, her
or It's property" In compliance with
the Constitution laws have been In
effect for years, which hold that all
property Except certain exemptions)
shall be assessed at the usual cash
selling price at the place where the
property shall be at the time of the
assessment. In other words, it is the
duty of the assessor to list all taxa
BILE property and appraise it at what
it is actually worth right then and
there. II the owner is required by
law to list property, the anne stan
dard of actual value applies. The
assessor is the most important officer
OF our tax system and justice or in
justice, as the case may be, is done to
the individual Taxpayer according to,
whether or not, assessors obey the
law.
Taxes are supposed to be borne in
proportion to ones ability to pay and
under our law property is considered
the best evidence of such ability, and
10 assessments are made to find out
how much of the total tax each pro-
perty owner shall pay. Suppose one
man had visible property, such as
farm land and machinery worth
$40, 600 and assessed as the law requir-
es, while another had invisible pro-
perty, worth just as much. Under
the practice OF the past and In spite
OF the law that ''taxes shall be equal
and uniform the first man paid more
taxes than he should. Why? Because
the assessor found the land and tools
but usually has failed to find the in
visible property Of the second party
and the owner does not list it, as a
rule. Again, If the assessor does his
%appraisihg according to some sche-
dule of fixed values for each class of
property, without regard to actual
worth. here is the result: one man
owns twenty head of grade cattle and
his neighbor has twenty head of full
cattle. While each mans ass
sessment is supposed to be the actual
value Of the property, their assess
ments for cattle have generally shown
the some total value. The reason for
this injustice being that the law has
not been complied with.
The only exemptions allowed in
this state are: Real and Personal Pro-
perty of The United States, State,
County And Municipal Corporations,
Property Used Exclusively For Agri-
cultural And horticultural Societies,
For School, Religious, Cemetery And
Chaitable Purposes, and not to ex-
Deed S25 Worth of Household Furni-
ture And Provisions for each individ-
ual.
Article No. 4 will deal with Boards
of Review and Equalization.