Arizona republican., 1913-03-15

Three important divisions of the work of carving on the business of public finance were brought out by Tax Expert William Young and mem bers of the Maricopa County Non Partisan Tax League in the session uf that body last night and If start ling revelations of the newer methods Of caring for the public funds were shown they were matched by the SO- called drastic laws which were almost unanimously approved by those who attended the meeting. The most of the time was taken up by Mir. Young in d businesS-like address on the Soiners system of tax assessing. The matter having been well covered by Mir. Young. Secretary Gaines of the Cochis. county tax league, who fol- lowed him. took another side of the problem for discussion, that of the sane dsbursing of public funds and the assuring to the taxpayer that a dollars worth of good would be de- rived from every dollar expended. Equitable and just assessing at one hundred per cent valuation, ccOnOm- ical expenditure of the peoples mon ey and a strong centralized power to look after the business from both sides were the three main points that received attention.
 ConfininE himself to the valuation of real property, being land and houses or buildings of any sort Young brought out point after point so strongly and clearly that after he was through everyone who heard him had well defined idea of the subject of expert valuing and assess ing. and if a multitude of questions were fired at him at the close of his address. it was not because he had not made himself understood.
 The main idea we have (the Som CTS company tax eXperts) is to get an idea of the value of real prop erty We, do not attempt to value personal property. In discovering the basis for assessing city property for instance we employ what is called community opinion, which consists in nothing more than allowing the peo- pie to value the property within a certain prescribed district. We divide town into limits of say five blocks by ten and ask the property owners inside it to come in and tell us
 
 per front foot Tn this Valuing q unit basis is used. the unit being q foot by a hundred feet. In the same manner we find what streets in the opinion of the townspeople are the most valuable and in this there is seldom any great variation
 Mir. Young then proceeded to tell how the tax experts. such as mem bers of the firm of Somers company represent assist but do not control the actions of the assessors in the cities where they have been called in. He spoke largely of his recent work in number of Texas towns especially mentioning Beaumont, Gal weston. Houston and others. In each case where tax experts had been called in the amount of taxable prop erty had been greatly increased. the rate had been lowered. but the fund raised, and a spirit of If everybody is going to pay more. I don't object disseminated among the taxpayers This was especially notable in regard to the way railroads and public ser vice corporations had taken the intro duction of the system. In every case when 1t was found that tn, property dSStSSiltHt 'lt 'l Sltdtci pct centage of the real valuation was go ing to be put into effect. the large companies came in and in some case: even raised voluntarily their assess mcnts
 There should be no special law: on taxation," said Young in anSWe to a lot cf questions on how to ta! mines and get the real value of th and cattle ranch property. Tt is il my opinion better to place grea power in the hands of a commission
 LCaIafirIIed Pa e EiI.nl