Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1913-08-15
The Ancient and Honorable Order Of Tax
@@ Dodgers, in and for ChehaIls County,
'T y Gives Up Reluctantly
LEGAL QUIlBlBlLEs, NOT EQUITY SOUGHT
PRIVILEGED Larceny IS inclined to Declare Itself
'sr' dveStcd Rlpht - Do You Want 'D""
= to Stand for 'lt'? ''t
bn, ia ,.fed ! 90 7

It does seem that some reasonable
means between the two extremes
could be found whereby a just and
equitable valuation could be placed,
upon such property. II
We have on the assessment rolls
in this state, S.540,165 acres Of un-
improved land in the seventeen tinl-
Der counties Of the state (This does
not include the counties Of Stevens,
Spokane. Klickitat. Yakima. Kittitas.
Ferry and Okanogan. where there is
a small amount of timner). The as-
sessed value Of this unimproved laad.
which, we must assume, IL nearly all
cut-over or logged-off land, is $24.-
115,621.00, or an average of 80 81 per
acre. In its present condition that
seems to be a fair price, but the av-
erage for. Chehalis County Is only
$3.50 per acre. 1t is argued, Of course.
that this property is not productive
and returns no income to Is owner
Much Of 1t, however, If plsced in,the
hands of the bona fide hor,c bdi!der.
would ripen into the finest farms In
Under our present system cf taxa
tion, 1t seems impossible to treat this
property other than as unproductive,
idle land, and to tax it accordingly,
but there is no reason why the log
ged-off lands in Chehalis County,
where they are susceptible of agricul-
ture or horticulture, should not be
assessed at as high a value as in the
counties of Thurston, Skamanis.. Ska
git, Jefferson, Island or Cia'lam-,
The Remedy.
It has long been the desire Of this;
Board that the system Of taxation in
this state be changed. a careful
study of the question convinces us
that just as long as we pursue the
present methods We can Gever have
q fair and just taxation OF the Prop
erty of this state. We do not en-
thuse about people who eni FAINT. hut
offer no remedy. so while investIgat-
ing the trouble, we have also worked
out the remedy.
The first and most important thing
to be done is to separate the sources
of state and local revenue. This
means that. certain classes Of inter-
county property, such as railroads.
telegraphs. telephones, express. sleep
ing car and private car companies.
should be, taxed for state purposes
only. giving to the several counties
absolute home rule on the question
Of the taxation Of local property. Un-
der this plan. the state would not tax
the property Of Chehalis County: Che
halls County would levy such taxes
as it saw fit and as might be neces-
sary to properly conduct its coan.y
government. 1t could exempt such
property as pleased 1t. II It desired
to exempt from taxation the mills and
factories, which have done 90 much
to build up the county, it would be
it's. privilege to do so. Under this
system, the state would in the be-
ginning have to levy, probably. only
q very small tax to raise the state
school fund-the common school FUND
Of the state, but In time. as the
sources Of indirect revenue increased.
we believe this could also be taken
care of, and possibly we might reach
the condition Of Wisconsin. where
they raised enough money for their
state government under this system
and had something left which was
distributed fairly among the differ
ent counties.
\ We expect to put this matter
up to the next legislature
for their approval or disapprovai, and
in the meantime we hope to In some
way inform the people Of the state
Of the intent and workings of this
law, that they may take that interest
in 1t which the subject demands.
A. to chehalis County
Chehalis County, in its wisdom, has
to exempt large part Of
its property without the aid Of the
fContiuuad ON mage ~