The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1915-05-12
ANALYz,NG THE TAX BURDEN.

i lie ApTI uldW 10 III ~ iS'''iNS
, proportion to the amounts paid in, di
vided according to the millage i'll eacl
of the various townships. For IN
stance the total levy for all state pur
poses is 40 mills. The county levy is
l4.1 mills. The total township leyies
vary somewhat, although not Tar from
an average of SO mills. With refer
ence to the county levy item it is hard
| ly fair to call it AL for the reason
that this item has in it the | mill coun
ty road, and the 2 mill county road
building, which, eventually, goes back
to each township in culverts and road
| work. OF the county levy also the
bridge levy OF 4 mills likewise appor-
tions back to local benefit in proper
ton to the needs of the locality, the
river and creek townships, of course
getting larger proportion than town
ships where no streams OF consequence
appear. On the whole, however. the
people of each township get the use
of such bridges when passing that
way. To various eXtents the town
ships benefit also in the levies for
county school l MILD, insane co,
poor 1.2) and soldiers relief (.2), the
total of all these funds being l0.l
mills. This sum deducted from the
county levy leaves only 4 mills which
goes exclusively for county purposes.
Thus, to be more concrete we would
say that the general county levy OF 4
mills and the state levy of 40 mills
is what each township pays for which
| it does not see ''direct benefits" Thus,
| in Greenbrier township where the levy
is 33 mills of the $9,54G.2S paid in by
the farmers OF that township during
| the first three months OF the year,
only about $4,000 went to the county
and state, while the balance $6,946 is,
proportionately what is paid for the
use and benefit OF the township itself.
In other words the township pays
$4,000 of the sum for the privilege OF
being an integral part OF the best
county in the best state in the union.
What proportion of this $1,000 event,
ually goes to the direct use of the cit
liens OF Greenbrier is hard to figure
out.
For instance the county 4 mills go
for official salaries, district court eN-
penses, bOunties on wild animals, jail
expenses, assessors salaries, justice
fees, jurors and the like. AS an inte'
grail part of the county Greenbriel
township contributes it's share toward
these very necessary county expenses
which, after all, are made possible by
an association Of townships forming
county Eaeif township, therefore
receives its relative value in return
as its portion of maintaining the coun
ty organization, and the same may be
said. in a more indirect way, of the
state levy
For instance, it costs the state a
certain amount to maintain the offices
and books and clerks Of the auto Ii
cense fund. This fund is apportioned
back to counties according to the
number Of townships in each county.
This comes back as a benefit to each
township. as the fund is to be spent
upon county highways running through
each township. The levies for state
schools and colleges has a relative
benefit to each township or at least to
such of the population as go away to
these schools.
A good many people say they re-
ceive no benefit from the state schools
but when they come to dissecting that
question, as applied to taxation, state
schools are probably worth the very
small amount relatively that they cost
each country taxpayer, as are the town
ship and district schools. We would
cava much toy moOov NV aholie n n O.
all schools, the expense of which is
always more than half mans tax,
and yet who would favor abolishing
all schools on the theory that we did
not absolutely need them? The state
fund goes to maintain the state and
supreme courts, state offices and other
commonwealth expense that, to more
or less degree, benefits each town
ship.
SO the man who thinks he is
"mulcted" for taxes from which he
derives no benefits. will find that his
IDEAS are true to only Il very iniini-
testimal degree. The only item we
could suggest as coming anywhere
near this claim is that OF capitol eX-
tension which costs each owner OF
tee acres of land total OF So. And
ii would he hard to find any citizen in
the county who is not "victimiZed" to
this amount every month in the year
III some line of expense. or personal
eXtrs vasance that he. himself, could
avoid by his own act and option. JEFF
fcrscn Bee.
~, ~. 4