The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1913-01-02
TAX COMMISSION
WILL SUBMIT ITS
REPORT NEXT Week
TO Emphasize Necessity Of I'm.
proving Assessing Maohin.
cry Of State.
3bUVAT7oNAI. H1iLL T..
TAX rs INADEQUA9>
Say THAT tf Property is to he Asscss.
ed at Anything i,i,t it's Actual valac,
Legislature Will 1favc to Designate
the Ratio to T:e Usrd.

Il III diiite clear fran the report
Whioh the North Dakota tax com.nis-
Sion Will submit to the governor and
the thirteenth legislative assembly
newt week, that ut1!ess the members
RsfW III the state assessed at anything
put its actual value that they Will
Rave to pass q law designating the
ratio 10 be used. While the report
aees not emphasize the contention
thht an attempt ought 70 be made to
state law. vet 1t is made pretty clear
that such an attempt will be made
unless the legislature deems it wise
20 hsEs law fixing a uniform ratio
for ths state. While the commission
eanfesses that they nave little hopes
az obtaining one hundred per cent
mating, 1t. thsy are confident that tho
essessahie property In the state can
pe tripisd or auAdfupied.
Aftar setting forth 1T considerable
length tho fie"""= showing the low
percentage Of the taxable wealth Of
tta,,. tnn, state carried or M the assessment
Of Improving the assssHinE machinery
af tha state with Il view to procuring
2 mars e6HiP:ata iiatiaz OF all pro-
PertE 1T higher valuations. the COM
tnissisf disaiiszas at some length the
gT9eas N at VII arise n
out ef a:aviaisns Of tho constitution
and iis jaws which, rrsscribe tho
rules fes assessing property and which
have made salaries debt limits, maxi
mum levies and laviss Of special taxes
The commission points out the neces-
eity of preserving the present status
insofar as these rattar are concerned
and Feesmnasnds the ''as.nye OF
law that will insure the minimum OF
disturbance of existing scales.
Amusement at Full Value.
"'' is q matter o! universal knowl-
edge in this stata," says the report.
'that the law provides for the assess.
meRt of all pvopsrty at full value. 1t
tg equally we'll known that IN practice
ths la, law ia. been neEisst"d from the the
pave been made upon the percentage
basis" It Ia shown that while pro.
perty has baen assassed at from fif:
teen ia twenty per cent Of !ts actual
value in the aggregate there 10 no
fixed nf vs ss ssr.. ana lo the nsa
pothna to forty per cont. "This. then
is the situation,t Declares the COM
mission, "The law requires the as.
sessment "a. full value; established
practice causes assessments to bc
made al varying percentage of ful
vital Importance from an administra-
tive point of view,-the essential thing
being the nseassity of having the law
and the practice conform"
Section i7a Of the state censt!tutioa
according to it's true value in money.
and IL is commended that the intent
was to establish rule Of taxation
whereby every taxable species of pro :.
psrty shall share the burden Of tax
ation equally with every other taxable
respective money values and that this
rule of uniformity " complied with
10 long as tho tax rate applied to each
is the same and 10 long as the same
ratio OF assessed to actual value 10
maintained; Tho tax sommiss!on
the LEGISLATURE to settle-if they de-
sire to have the state assessed at any
ratio to true value 1t must be fixed
by law and recommend that II any
ratio is established that It ought to
be fifty per cent.
However, points out the commits
sion. there will he q general disturb
ance among the salaries of officials.
debt limits, maximum levies and
leviea Of special taxes, whether or not
the legislature passes the fifty per
cent law. Tho salaries Of county OH:
oials are regulated with the assessed
value OF the county as a base and II
this assessed value is materially raised
the salaries Of the officials will be 80.
respondingly low. For instance, II the
assessment was trebled the salary Of
tho states attorney in a county hav-
Ing approximately an assessed valua-
tion OF S2,600.000 would be advanced
from 81, 200 TO $1,000; that Of the
clerk Of court from 5000 to $1,000:
the county Judge from $1,000 to ST.
500; the county auditor from $1,600
to t2.2oo; the register Of deeds from
urer from $500 to $4,000. It is need
less to point out that these salaries
would be out Of proportion to the
services rendered.
A. q remedy the tax eommission
usin~ the population and assessed
acreage as basis for regulating coun-
ty salaries rather than the assessed
valuation. To quote the report: The
reason for this Ia obvious. Marked in
crease in the assessed valuation oil
istration Of revenue systems in other
states, where the administration hasI
been placed under the direction of the
tax commission and there is every
reaeo- to believe that similar con-
sequence will result in North Dakota."I
The commission will submit to the
legislature a bill fixing the scale Of
salaries for county officers upon the
basis of population and assessed acre
age. which will be drawn in such al
way as not to disturb the present
scale Of salaraieS.
"The miximum tax levies have been
fixed in the various statutes" says tho |
report, upon the supposition that the
low valuations now customary would
continue and Is obvious that any sharp
increase in the assessed value of pro- |
perty in any taxing district. the conn-
ty and the state would make 1t posi-
BILE to raise the amount of revenue
greatly in excess Of that now possible
under the maximum levies Provision
should be made which would continue
the present limits upon tax levies un-
til we arrive at the point in the as
sessment of property throughout the
state where it will be possible to an
ticipate. with IL reasonable degree of
certainty. the assessed valuation and !
the reasonable revenue needs Of the
various units of government. In the
~P Do