The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1913-11-01
SCIENTIFIC TAX
ASSESSMENT
OF PROPERTIES,

The ELECT OF lhe use OF tue oouers
v.tesu Ia lhe sexual assessment Oh
luurr mao Il loLe of A1ncriAau CITIES
ha. yarled In snine the use 81 the
,..trnl mas made possible changes In
the economic problems OF TAXATION,
aud III Others only the administrative
~iAe OF tac TAX question: mas been al
l.mpted. In All OF the cities, ho"eV-
er. there has developed general con
,dence III the integyits and fairness OF
he asses ments that does not obtain
n any other American city.
II is seen that in the very operation
of making an assessment under Som
pr. system methods there must neres-
sall, be "A square deal. something
III # no citizen has ever before heliev-
ed existed SO far as assessments were
concerned No matter how honest An
assessor nigh, he III his desire 10
make a proper assessment. under old
methods the public always felt that
som elhins WAS wrong, II II we'e nov
dishonesty It was thought to be "o1u'
lack OF ability aud know ledge on The
~ TT of the assessor. All OF this Is
done away wish when the Somers s,s-
lem is used, even though the same as
<. sor, AS has often happened. Is coz
til ued III Office.
PUBLICITY CAUSES APPROVAL.
The chief Cause OF this feeling on
! the part OF he public when the som
ers systems has been used, Is the pun
| licity that attends every stepin It's op
Grafton. The public discusses street
values and contributes directly TO the
proper formation OF opinion OK value
ON the part OF the assessor. The Opin
ion that he finally arrives at and uses
for the assessment Is set down OF
maps IN public, and all may have &C
cess to these maps. They are usually
printed in the newspapers. which MAJ
the effect OF fixing them to such al
extent that they can not he secretly
changed for special reasons.
The method Of figuring lot values a
once appeals to the pubic. The c't'
zens know that mathematics IL very
i,mpersonal; that wnen computation u
substituted tor guessing At mathema
teal relations OF va.ue, all are hKe'!
TO he treated alike. They know
enough about the method OF computa
ton 10 see that no lot value can b.
wrong ali bv itself-if one Is Wroni
several are wrong-apd 1t severa! ar
wrong, that fact is more easily ascer
tanned than # only one is wrong an
the owner of that one II burdeoe
with the task Of proving 1t.
The COZ tidence Of the public ia tn
fairness and hon, sty of the assessinen
,1ay hi -
methods that appeal to the pubic q
calculated to treat all persons alikt
rega, dess of wealth. standing or ~
huence. The SOmers System method
are the only ones known that prOduc
/, this result In a community.
LOWER TAXES ON HOMES
. In the cities Of Cleveland and Co
, lumbus the result OF the use OF tn
Soners System was to lower the take
paid upon homes. 1t was estimate
that this saving to home owner
; amounted to -, 800, 600 per year !
Cleveland, and was IN nearly III
same in proportion in Columbui
The assessments of the two cities wer
accepted AS made by the State Ia
Commission without change, Whtc
was not true of the other large cite
of the state.
In Springfield, H., and East 5
] Louis. Ill the same result as TO HON
, owners was brought about. l
Springfield there WAS a complete rea<
jus,ment in the total assessment I
land and buildings. SO that the Ian
: was assessed at 20 per cent OF its pr
| value aud the improvement at ~ pt
cent. Whether it is wise to make tn
difference is no part Of the effect
Somers system methods, the onl
+ point being that wherever it is the i
D cal policy to discriminate in this mai
y ner the Somers :, stem provides II
ONLY way Of doing it eqnitably. Son
of the same difference was broug
about in East St. Louis The assess'
j, of East st. Louis was atterwar'
r elected to the legislature Of Illinois.
In Denver, Colo. the Somers Sy
tenn was used in l9i only in the bui
ness part of the city, for the reast
, that the assessment work was pref
, we'll along before the assessor hea
D of the Somers System. The asses
D ment was practically finished in q
, home owning sections Of the cit
D But the use of the SOmers system
D the business sections SO increased q
D total valuations that a horizontal I
, duction in the assessment OF 4
. homes was possible. and was made
. the assessor before the work "
. finally completed. 1t is also to be q
. served that the assessor was aft
> wards elected mayor OF Denver
= something like 20 900 majority.