El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-03-06
Do You Think Vacant Land Should Be Taxed
Equally With Improved Land Adjoining 1t
Goes Fmhn and EzanH Household ina


. tual cost. the owner Of the land can Of
! ford TO rent them cheaper. In this way
! the working man who rents home,
! finds that he can get cheaper rent 1t
} also encourages the artisan to erect his
( own home since the taxes upon such
a home viii not be eSorbitant
Household Goods Exempt.
: The Houston system goes further Tt
l exemprs all household goods OF every
( description from taNati0n-and there
! fore does not lay burden upon the
/ family that strives To accumulate some
I thing to make themselves comfortable.
I The family with a piano pays no more
/ taxes 10 the city OF Houston than the
I family without one The man with the
piano may live in a home that occupies
only lot The man without the piano
may occupy two lots for mis- home The
/ latter pays more taxes upon his ground,
by reason OF occupying more.
In the case Of manufactures. machin-
: cry is assessed ut the same rate
houses-at % percent Of its actual value
1t is asserted that this has resulted in
the establishment OF many factories in
Houston, and its adoption is urged for
Fl Pas0 in one communication to the
Herald as an incentive for furthering
FL Paso's Made in FL Paso" campaign
Money is not taxed under the Houston
/ system This. IL is asserted. has resulted
in largely Increased bank deposits in
that city. The exemption Of money is
RAA z VI AAAE AltAAl AbI nlaaEtlAE a premium
upon thrift and enterprise
Pastorizn Explains system
Mr.. Pastoriza. explaining the work
ings Of the Houston system, recently
wrote
The Houston plan Of taxation is an
addition 10 the Somers system Under
the Somers system property owners in I
a city assisted by the assessor or tax
commissioner. indicate what they be
lieye is the true value of one foot OF I
land fronting on a street running back !
100 feet In the middle Of the four sides ;
OF each block. In Houston where all I
lots are 50XlQ0 feet nearly everyone ]
knows that lot 5Oxl00 feet in his /
neighborhood is worth It was very Z
easy matter for the assessor TO get the
price Of one foot by simply dividing the
price OF a fiCty-fOot lot by fifty This ]
unit price IS written upon a map OF the I
city. When this is done by the city (
assessor and the property owners them
selves. the map is turned over to the ]
representative OF the SomerS system /
and by that system he calculates the /
value Of all OF the other lots I'm the !
block The value OF the corner lot Is /
the product OF the blended values Of I
two intersecting streets The system :
has been worked out by Mr.. SOmers Of {
the ManufT cturers Appraisal Company :
Of Cleveland. Ohio.
How II Works.
The City or Houston. after applying !
the SOmers system and setting the full I.
value Of every lot in the city and the
full value Of the cost OF reproducing
every building In the city. less denrecia-
ton. cccasiOned by age or utility then
decided 70 adopt what has beer since
known throughout the United States as Z
the Houston Plan Of Taxation-' The
Houston plan in a word. is as follows:
Land To be assessed at its fair value
rs ascertained by the SOmers system.
buildings or any other Improvements.
fHH fa|r u
upon land, 20 be assessed for taxation Z
AZ TWENTY-FIVE per cent Of their present
value Franchises OF all public service
corDcr2tiOus 10 be assessed at a price
which would be represented By the (
value OF that portion OF the streets or
sidewalks which are used by these pub +
lie service corporations. either for the {
laying OF tracks. the planting beneath Z
the esrth'G surface Of condufts sewer
or gas mains. or the installing upon the
edge OF sidewalks Of telephone or tele-
graph poles
Bank Deposits Grow.
The Houston plan provides for the
total exemption from tsxation OF all
cash owned by individuals or corpora
tons deposited in the banks OF Houston.
We have further exempted from taxa :
ton other personal property owned by
the individual taxpayers. such as house
hold furniture and effects Notwith- {
standing all these exemptions and the
assessment OF imDrOv ements upon land
az ol4aN twenty-five per cent or LnelT ,
cost We find that the assessment rolls
% the city show an increase Of s33. O0O.-
600. and that the tax rate was reduced
from $40 10 $3.50 per 500 valuation.
And that is not all. owing to the equal
cation Of values brought about By the
Of the SOmers system we find
that over 5000 taxpayers have had their
taxes reduced, when compared To what
they paid previous To the adoption OF
the Somers system.
After two years trial 7 find that the
plan OF taxation having been approved
BY the previous administration and hav- I
ing been endorsed by this administra-
ton is satisfactory 10 over ninety-eight
per cent OF the taxpayers. The reason I
why il is so satisfactory is-that the
taxpayers realize that no matter how !
powerful or influential a property hol-
der may be- that he can not get his real
estate assessed at a less value than
his neighbOrs. because this office has
explained the Somers system to the tax J
payer and he himself can discover
whether there has been any favoritism I
shown or not
The property owner whose taxes /
lave been increased is satisfied. because |
he does not in the future have TO w-or-
~ as to whether his neighbor or com
DettOr Is getting his property in for !
taxation at q less per cent than he is
The Result.
The effect Of the Houston plan OF !