The Mankato free press., 1914-02-20
Member of Commission Before
County Assessors
Showed Up the Money and Credits
Assessment In Blue Earth County
For Last Year

today for the purpose of comforting
with the tax commission In regard
to their duties. S. c. Lord of the
commission was present and explain
law, the money and credit" assess
ment lew, and instructed the asses
sors that these laws, and all the
other assessment laws of the state,
should be enforced Just as they are
written. Mr.. Lord said among other
things that there is a very preya-
lent belief that taxes are high be-
cause state expenses are high, but
this belief Is not borne out by the
facts. The state tax constitutes
but a very small part of the total
paid by any taxpayer. In 1912 the
total amount levied in indirect taxes
for all purposes-state and local
was a little in excess of $3T.OO0.OO0
Where Goes the Money.
The natural inquiry of every
taxpayer is, what became of this
large sum Of money. OF each $50
paid in taxes that year the state
received $4.24. the counties $3.50,
the cities and villages $16.O2, the
townships Aif. and the public
schools and university slG.41. OF
each dollar paid in taxes i'm 1912
the state received approximately
Sk cents and the minor subdivisions
of the state 911s cents. II is evil
dent therefore that the state tax
constitutes but a small part of the
total tax.
There is another phase of the
state tax that Is quite generally
overlooked. and that is, that nearly
the entire amount paid into the
state treasury from direct taxes Is
returned to the local districts In
appropriations for school and other
public purposes. In 1912, seventy
four of the eighty-six counties of
the state received more money from
the state than they paid into the
state treasury. In Blue Earth coun-
ty last year the total state levy
was $54,9TS.T3 while the county
received from the state S59,2I1.67.
In other words, for every dollar of
state taxes paid by the people of
Blue Earth county the state turned
over to the county s1.0S.
Il quote these figures not to JUS
tify extravaganza on the part of
the state II extravaganza exists
because feel that taxpayers have
right to expect a dollars worth
OF service for every dollar spent in
taxes-but for the purpose of bring
ing out two very important facts.
First, that practically nothing is
made by Illegally depressing the
assessment for the purpose of es-
Gaping state taxes: and, second, for
the purpose of showing that IL
taxes are ever to be materially re-
duced IL will be necessary to begin
right at home, in the school district,
the township, the village, and the
city.
Don't Blame the Assessor.
"A great many taxpayers honestly
believe that the assessor is respon-
sible for high taxes, but nothing
could be farther from the truth.
The assessor has practically nothing
to do with making taxes high or
low. His duty is simply to value
the property upon which the tax is
levied. The assessment Is a fac
tor TO determine how much each
person shall contribute to the ex-
pense of government: but It does
not determine the amount of the
tax. IL is the amount of money that
is voted for public purposes that de
termines whether taxes shall be high
or low. Large appropriations mean
high taxes. When a community Is
spending large amounts of money II
matters not what for, taxes will in
evitably be high: but the assessor
as an officer has absolutely nothing
to say about how much money shall
be spent. Matters of expenditure
are determined by town meetings,
school meetings, village and city
councils. county boards, the legisla-
ture and by the people themselves
not by the assessor.
What Assessor Can Do.
But while the assessor has prac-
tically nothing to do with making
taxes high or low he has nearly
everything to do with determining
whether they shall be fair and Just.
II Is his function to determine how
much of the public burden each tax
payer shall bear. This he does
when he places value on a taxpay-
er's property. From the standpoint
OF the individual taxpayer he is by
far the most important officer who
has anything to do with taxation.
II he does his work In the way the
law provides approximate justice
will prevail between the taxpayers
of the district. but II on the other