Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-01-10
Law Imposes Duty on Asssssers Of
!. TREATING All Property Aiiks-Mueh
Confusion In Assessment Work and
Effort 10 Made TO EnIishtsn Officials
Extra Work Must es Avoided.

eSS~~~S ~s.-~000s
a partial guide to the work Of making
the assessments by the $500 or more
assessors and the work of review BY
the several hundred review boards OF
the state.
|, In regard to the treatment to be &C.
corded the equalization work OF the
state in tho past Mr.. Dawson advises:
MANY have asked questions with
reference to listing and valuation o.
livestock and wanted to know particu-
larly as to whether the equalized value
Of livestock made by the executive
council should prevail or become the
basis Of the assessment for this year.
It can not form tho basis OF the as
sessment at all. The executive council
does not make ASSESSMENTS except as
to railway companies, telegraph and
telephone companies and sleeping car
and express companies and such like
utilities. With assessment Of other
property it has nothing to do except
as an equaNzing board. 1t, as such.
merely adjusts the valuation Of proper
ty Of the several counties, adding to or
deducting from the values Of each kind
or class Of property such percentage in
each case as win bring the same to its
taxable value as fixed by the law. The
taxable value means. and Is based up
on. the actual fair and reasonable mar
ket value Of the property.
Section 1905 Of the code provides
that all property subject to taxation
shall be valued at it's actual value. It
is the duty Of the assessor to assess the
property at what It 10 fairly and rea-
sonably worth. That duty 10 clearly
imposed upon him by the law. Sec
ton 1912 provides that the owner OF
property shall list for the assessor all
property. moneys and credits included,
owned by him or Of which he has con-
troll or management, and Section 1852
provides the assessor shall, with this
assistance and the assistance of each
person assessed. list the property Of the
ia Mpayer. and imposes upon the asses
sor the duty to personally affix values
to all property assessed by him.
1T will be seen, therefore, that the
duty of fixing the value Of property Is
laid upon the assessor and that the
value to be given to the property is its
fair market value. This duty; Is 30
clearly imposed by the law that GER
tainly there could be no mistake about
its meaning.
Law 10 lnsistsnt.
"The law 10 insistent that this course
shall be pursued, because in Section
1854 it provides that any person who
shall refuse to make oath with refer
ence to it shall be guilty Of q mis-
and Section 1883 imposes a
still further penalty with reference to
any failure of duty required by the
law. 1t, therefore. clearly appears from
the law that It Is the duty Of the owner
Of property and the Assessor to list
it all and the clear duty Of the as
SCISSOR to fix the valuation. He would
be derelict in his duty II he adopted
as his guide previously agreed upon
schedule Of values or II he adopted the
equalized value made by the executive
council. The question with the as
SCISSOR is simply, what Is the particular
property clearly and reasonably
worth?"
Mr.. Dawson makes further explana-
ton as to livestock valuation and the
troubles In eQuaHzing where values are
stated 30 differently, For instance. at
the last equalization 1t was found that
horses in Louisa county were listed at
value go times greater than horses
In Lyon county. But with the data at
hand the council could not equalize.
As to the extra work which was
given the county auditors by the equal
ization this could all be avoided by
the assessors would do exactly what
the law requires. The council has tried
to do its exact and whole duty a. re-
CURED under the law and the people Of
the state do not want officials who
will violate their oaths Of Office and
fail to do their duty. Attention was
called to the fact that assessment Of
railroad property was increased by
fifty million OF dollars by tho council
and for the first time In accordance
with law the distribution was made.
Attention 10 also called to tho fact
that il by reason on. failure to properly
adjust tax levies, to the assessment
moro money 10 raised than IL needed It
should not be spent but viii remain In
the TREASURES to be Offset against levies
next year. al
The letterswin go-far toward indicat-
Ing to assessors and others their duty
under the code.
fama County German Mutual Prospsrs