Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-03-11
Ignorance of the Law.

raise lower or to order complete
reassessmcnt.
Ignorance of the Law.
"And again 1 quote. The board
(that is Equalization of Taxes) there
fore hears Appeals not only from the
decisions of the county boards Of
taxes, but also appeals of citizens
who have not submitted their COM
plants to such county boards Con-
sidering the personnel of the E. e.
Commission Is 1t not of some moment
to note such ignorance of the law
and the duties of the State board
since that law was repassed at a ses-
sion when both Senator Edge and AS
semblyman McDermott were mem
| bers, and in addition thereto a court
decision handed down, all denying
! the right of q citizen te appeal to
the State board until it haa first been
acted upon by the county board?
"Once again ! quote finally from
| that wondrous e. & e. report: We
| have made some study of our tax
laws. We are not prepared at the
| present time to express any opinion
upon their wisdom, or nDon the eff
| cheney OF arv of the Yqrious State
and local instrumentalitles for their
administration
Questions Commissioners Qualifications.
I'm the face of such discreditable
confession by commission made up
! largely of legislators who aided in the
passage of our tax laws. the r. and
! E. Commission, or at least certain in
! diVidual members of it, resent most
| vigorously the fact that some people
hesitate to take seriously the con-
illusions they have drawn and the adj
vice they have offered as to economy
and efficiency under the iconoclastic
laws they recommend. If this com
mission finds itself compelled to ad-
| NIT that 1t is not even able to eX-
press an opinion upon the wisdom
of the tax laws and the efficiency of
any of the various State and local
instrumentalities," upon what prin-
ciple of economy and efficiency does
it advise the total obiteration of
| these instrumentalities on the plea of
{ economy and efficiency?
! Not only is the tax department
portion of the report incorrect, crude,
disjointed and full of errors of both
I law and fact, but its ordinary mathe-
MATES seem to have gone very much
, aWry. For instance, its summary
chart A of the proposed consoida-
lions and recommendations shows
an economy by said consol dalton of
! the two tax boards of $405, while
! chart 3, dealing especially with the
department of taxation, has an al
I legged saving of s40,500. This is DOUBT
less q clerical error and would be Of
no consequence were the erroneous
figures not nearer true than the orig
inal figures by the e. and e. Com
mission. In giving the salaries of the
assistants $1,000 is tabulated in one
place, and in another the true situa-
ton of $4,000 is related in the sum-
D., mary of disbursements.
Points Out UnreIiability.
THE foregoing points might be
! termed inconsequential, wholly imna-
terial and entirely aside from the is
sue, except that they show the care
lessness of the work and the unrelia-
bility of the alleged facts set out as
well as the conclusions drawn.
q, However, that feature which con-
/ Germs the public and the Legislature
is the alleged economy, since the ne
cessity of real economy is responsible
for the existence of the commits sion.
/ am quite sure the public has not
taken the trouble to analyze the re-
port, and I doubt if many members
of the Legislature have done so to
such an extent as will enable them to
correctly and unerr!ngly compare it's
| conclusions and alleged economi g
with our tax. laws and the bills Sena-
tor Edge has introduced. and which,
ing to have enacted into law under
the claim that they are based upon
the Economy and Efficiency report"