Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-08-24
n. I. SANDERS
APPEARS BEFORE
STATE BOARD
Tax Commissioner for Northern
Pacific Gives Views on
Taxation.
SAYS STATE LANDS
ARE UNDER ASSESSED.
Says Railroads in State are AS
sessed Higher Than Other
Property.

M. T. Sanders, tax commissioner
OF the Northern Pacific railway com.
pany, appeared before the state board
OF equalization at it's meeting Monday
morning, regarding the assessment OF
that road. Mr.. Sanders said tlat he
was prepared to concede that the val.
uation placed upon the railroads III
North Dakota were low as compared
with sC.lhe other states, but that it
must be borne in mind that all other
property In the state Is placed upon
the tax rolls at low valuation. For
many years the railroads have con
tended that the lands of :he STATE
were not assessed ut more than SIX
teen and two-thirds rcr cent of thcir
actual value; and that the general
property Of the state Is not asses! & d
higher than fifteen rer cent of its
real value That tl.is contention is
now coli rotorated from several
sources. He read at lens:h from the
report CT the state tax commission
wherein that commission compares
the assessed valuations with the valU.
ations as found by the federal cen.
sus enumerators, and quoted from
that report:
Farm Lands Low.
"The value of all farm lands in the
state as returned by the eNumerators
was $73O,3SO,131; ana by tie asses
sors but $146,654,672. The average
census value per acre was $25.69;
the assessment value was $4.26, max.
ing the ratio of the assessed to the
census value 16.6 per cent. Tae cen.
sus enlmerators valued farm build
ings at $92,274,613, while the asses
sors found but II per cent of that
amount Farm implements were re
turned by the ennmerators at $40.
9O7, 595, while the assessors return
ed but 81 per cent of that sum"
Mr.. Sanders read further from the
tax commission report that in the
applications for farm loans the av
erage value claimed by the owners is
$29O4 an aero, while the assessed
value OF these same lands is $4.26 pei
acre, or 14.7 per. cent of the owners
valuations.
Tho farm lands OF the state com
prise the great bulk of the total value
Of the state, and if they are not as
sessed at one-,sixth of their actua
value, ifen the railroads ought no
be assessed higher than one-siXth O
actual value.
Personal property is not assessed
as high as real property, probabl!
not higher than 10 per cent OF th'
real value. In the recent publication
of tho census bureau, cntitled, EST
mated Valuation OF National Wealth.
it is shown that the wealth of Mort
Dakota for the year 1912 was $2,141,
626,961. For that year the total as
sessment was $294,77t,325, or 13.
cent OF actual value. Mr.. Sander
then called attention to the fact tina
il 1890 the first state board Of equal
ization assessed the farm lands at al
acreage valuation of $3.SS an acre
in 1914 the farm lands were assess
ed at $3.50 an acre, an increase o
AZ cents, or Of only II per cent in 2
years; while during the same perio'
the Northern Pacific had been in
creased 162 per cent. ....
Says Durand Erred.
Mr.. Sanders then discussed the re
port Of DR.. Durand, claiming that hi
theory of capitalizing the net earn
ms of railroad at per cent, in ol
der to arrive at its value, was cor
trary to the decisions Of the court
and Of economists; and that Z pc
cent basis should be used. That Dl
Durand had taken the very highes
figure of valuation he could work OF,
from some eight different methods Q
valuation, but that even admitting tn
Durand figures as the value Of tn
Northern Pacific, the fact still az
peared that that company was assess
ed shade higher than the farm
lands, greatly higher than the pei
sonal property, and much higher tha
the total of all the other property.