Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-01-26

The Register and Leader has not
gone over the township ievies of all the
counties, but in those cases where In
vestigation has been made, the town
ship levies VIII average about I mills
on the dollar The total state tax for
all purposes is but 40 mills on the dol
lar.
The reason why the township levies
do not attract attention is because no.
body thinks OF them for the state as
whole But a mill levy Is mill levy.
A mill levy means substantially mil
lion dollars for Iowa taxpayers. and a
mill towship levy means 100000
expended in the townships Of the stats
for such things as township trustees
have in hand. while a 40 mills levy sor
the state means S%.S00000 expended for
all the various activities Of the state.
The very first duty OF the legislator
is TO get true sense Of proportion. 1t
WIFI be impossible for him to render any
service worth while X he does not ear
ly come TO. see the re'ative Importance
of what the township does. what the
county. what the town. and what the
state And he will not vote Intelligent
ly on the expenditure OF public money
for township business may be extrav-
agant and wasteful, and 40 mill levy
for tine state may actually prevent the
people from doing the things that ev-
erybody can see ought to be done.
1t is well to have constantly III mind
that the average country township
levy for all purposes IL somewhere
about 40 mills. That means 10000, 900
II. ,v,l
city levy is anywhere from 80 to 10
mills. Just what that means for the
state would require careful calculation.
But IL enormously swells the total OF
taxes. What the state receives and
uses for state purposes is incidental to
the total for the township. What 1t re-
ceives and uses Is almost lost in the
total for township. county. city and
school district.
Why should the townships this
year levy very generally mills. and in
many instances even more than Z
mills? A large part of the responsible
ity for roads has been taken from the
township and put over on the county.
Why should the township levy run
practically as high now as II did before
this work was taken away. and before
the new state assessment had been
made. practically adding one-third to
one-half to taxable values?
And II this high levy for the town
ship. for the county. for the town. and
for tho school, has made the annual
call OF the county treasurer seem like q
burden to the property owner. why
| should hue and cry for retrenchment
and reform come upon the state, when
| every Intelligent taxpayer must know
that any possible saving off the state
levy must be incidental that the loose
ends that need tying are much nearer
home?
| At some time and in some way we
have got to face the real situation.
and somebody has got to have the
nerve to go to the local taxing bodies
and say to them that because "the
state" Is good way on, everything
cannot be laid at the door, Of a 40 mill
levy for state purposes. Somebody has
| got to arise In his seat In the legisla-
ture and say that because the local
taxing bodies have taken advantage OF a
raise in the assessed valpe OF, the state
to nearly double docM taxation. without
a showing Of need. the larger enter
prises on which to" state IL engaged
cannot be halted nor the opening ol
new enterprises be postponsd.
/, In any event, let every legislator -,
It firmly fixed in mind that the state
relation to the average country Gown.
ship as . petitioner for support Il
about one to eight ana 70 the averags
town or city ~ about one TO sixteen
Out of q total levy In the countr,
township OF mills the state asks for T..
mills. ana out Sa4lf3 Ivy for tn Z
state asks for ~ mild =
When tho debate over retrench
4 ment and reform opens let 1t open Will