Norwich bulletin., 1913-09-10
ASSESSORS ASK OPINION
 FROM ATTORNEY GENERAL
Norwich Board Wants to Know if It Must RevaIue All Property Here to Use Uniform Tax Blank


 Use Uniform Tax Blank
 If the assessors for the town of Norwich have got to use the new uni
 form tax blank this October, instead of the form now in use for Norwich the matter of getting out the tax list 1 this year looks to them like practi cally a re-valuation of a big propor tion of the taxable property in Nor wich and they have written to Attor- ney General Light to ask for an Opln ion on this point.
 The boards of assessors in all the big towns of the state believe they are up against a proposition over this new tax blank, and just how they are go ing to meet it has not been deter | mined. The proposition, which arises under the uniform tax blank, adopted by the board of equalization under an act of the last legislature, is how the l assessors in the big towns are going to comply with all of the provisions that the new law puts on them within the definite time fixed by the law, which is during the month of October. The law requires that every person, during October, except in few towns where the lists are handed in at other times. shall file with the assessors 1 list of the property owned by him on
 
 ation in the town where the owner lives or where the property may be l located. Under the old law each town had the right to prepare it's own form of blank to meet the local conditions, | but the new form which will be used | for the first time next month, is to be used in all of the towns of the state, for the purpose of having uniformity l of the tax blank.
 The new blanks are much more l specific than the old forms which the different towns had used and for that l reason promises no end of trouble and complications. The great majority of l the owners of taxable property go to l the office of the assessors during the month of October and say they want | to hand in their tax lists. In the past, 1 if there had been no change in the property from the preceding year, they l say so. The assessors make out the 1 lists from the record of the preceding year and swear the owner and that 1 ends the matter, but there is so much called for on the new blanks that was not called for on the old, that every | taxpayer who goes to the assessors 1 office next month to swear out tax | list will have to read the blank form l over. How this is ever going to be l done in the short space of a month
 is a question which the Norwich as
 sessors have not solved yet.
 1 Separate Dwellings and Adiacent Buildings.
 l There are 33 items of taxable prop l erty on the new blank and the amount 1 of detail to be given in connection with | the various items gives some idea of | the complex job that is before the as 1 sessors in getting out the lists. Dwell l ing houses and tenement blocks are in 1 the first item, but the valuation of 1 land occupied therefor is not to be in ! Cln6ad n 9
 barn, shed or private garage on it's 1 lot these structures must be listed 1 separately and at their own valuation l instead of being included in the lump
 sum of the property, as has been the
 custom in this town.
 Land Separate from Buildings. l Buildings used for stores, theatres l banks, halls, hotels, offices, public gar ages and livery stables and all other 1 mercantile purposes except mills and | manufactures go into another item 1 but the land occupied by any sort of l buildings is not to be included in the valuation of the buildings but goes l into the list separately under another 1 item.
 Owners Valuation Not Required. 1 One interesting detail in connection with the first 16 items on the new tax l blank is that the owners valuation on 1 these is not required. This includes l dwellings, barns, land, lots. buildings l used for mercantile and manufaCtur- l ing purposes, cattle, sheep, swine l poultry, carriages, automobiles and l vessels and bOats
 Automobile Information All this information is to be fur | nished about automobiles and motor 1 cycles: Make, horse power, manufac- | turers' number, date made, manufac- 1 turers' list price, Connecticut register
 number valuation.
 Will Need New Filing Cabinets. 1 The size of the new blank form also 1 promises to make trouble for the Nor | wich assessors. It is q little larger 1 than the form now in use here and that l means a new set of filing cabinets, as | the filing cabinets now in use just take l in the tax books at the present size. 1 While the new blank is much larger 1 than the blanks that have been SC | generally in use. it is not large enough 1 to hold the detailed information asked l for in the case of many property own- 1 CTS, unless they in some way add to i the form, and whether they may dc l this is one of the questions that is | both&ring the assessors. If for in- l stance, man has over a dozen or 1 more houses there is not room enough l on the blank for him to give the street and street number of each of them | as the new blank provides for. The 1 old form was much simpler, for the | assessors and for the owner of tax l able property. as it required the own 1 CT to set down the number of houses 1 he had, their locations and his Valua l tiOn of them and also provided a place
 where he could show the dimensions l Of