Lower coast gazette., 1913-11-15

do and become again the chief rice parish in
the state. This however can only be done on
moderate, conservative lines, not by forcing
the crop on unwilling or reluctant buyers.
Some Advanced Views Concerning
Assessments.
THE good people of Baton Rouge who have
always been averse to any excessive or avoid
able taxation, have found themselves in sore
need Of more money than has been available to
them. The parish of East Baton Rouge carries
on the business of the entire parish and does its
share of the work and we believe without any
serious complaint. In the city, however, the
need of more progressive work has been felt.
but the costs Of street paving, the improve
ment of public buildings, additional school
houses, ETC., have been a somewhat paralyzing
future for the Baton Rougians to consider. This
led to a careful consideration Of the matter of
the assessments and a self constituted commit
tee of ten or fifteen gentlemen undertook the
reyaluation of the city property free Of any
charge. They were engaged in this work for a
couple of months and found that it was a very
serious undertaking, in which all parties would
have to be given careful consideration and they
now claim that the final result has been quite
satisfactory. The plan of action was to deterrn-.
inc by comparison etc.. the front foot value Of
the property on the various streets, allowing
higher values for the corner lots than for the
intervening ones. All possible data as to recent
sales and the judgment Of the most skilful real
estate men in the city of Baton Rouge were
called into requisition and the whole job when
finished has been generally considered a pro-
nounced success.
The chief obstacle in the way was unim-
proved property Of the well to do people. Such
property, although we'll located would be as.
sessed at prices that seemed ridiculously low as
compared with adjacent improved property and
yet the improvements on the latter were not
sufficient to account for the difference in values
that existed. Much complaint came from these
comparatively well to do people, but the desire
to do exact justice in the end even convinced
them Of the propriety of the line Of proceedings.
The assessed value of the property was doubled
i'll many instances and the final result was that
such an increase in valuation has yielded the
city an increase of $4,000 in taxation and based
upon this it is proposed to issue $500, 900 Of
bonds, to be retired in due course, the money
however now to be used at once in paving the
streets of the city and in other such improve
ments.
The method of procedure involves to some
extent the Henry George single tax idea. Hem
ry George however carried his views so far that
he held that visible property was the only thing
that should be taxed because evasion Of taxation
was sure to result insofar as invisible property
was concerned. Of course land owners and
others would resist the Henry George idea and
endeavor to collect the taxation on such invis-
lble property as bonds, money, merchandise,
ETC., and in our own state we go so far that we
have license taxes, taxing people for doing
business, a method of securing revenue I'M
known in most of the states Of the union, but
under which we are collecting some Sd Of a
million Of dollars in this state.
The separation Of the values of the land and
the improvements it would readily be seen
would have the effect of compelling proprietors
of highly taxed lands to put adequate improve
ments thereon at once in order to get sufficient
revenues from the property to pay the taxes
and interest on the investment. Il is reported
that more houses are going up in Baton Rouge
than ever before in the history of that city and
that this is being done becauseof the improved
method OF assessment adopted. Some Of the
finest pieces of real estate in the city were
found to have old shacks thereon, rented at ex-
tremely low rents and all this because the final
result was tolerably satisfactory considering the
low taxes and the rent secured. With the tax
es raised at once above the rental, the owners
of such property were compelled to think SER
iouslN as to whether or not they should sell the
property or erect adequate improvements and
get better returns therefrom. We understand
that the Baton Rouge people are 50 proud Of
M &A~AE ONN0 EL MAMA M