The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1916-10-26
C. P. LINK
TALKS BEFORE
THE UNIVERSITY
CLUB ON TAXES
GAVE INTERESTING ELucIDA-
TIoN OF THE IMPORTANT
FUNCTIONS OF THE STATE TAX
COMMISSIONS; OPENING SEES
SION 1867.


The University Club held its open.
ing session of the 1851 season on
Monday night at the Strathmore hotel
and Mr.. c. p. Link of the State Tax
Commission was the principal speak
er. The dinner was an unusually
good one and because of II and Mr..
Links excellent talk the members
felt that the club year had been start
ed on most auspiciously.
Ten new members were voted into
the club and this brings the member.
ship up TO the limit. which is 30. The
club never has been more popular
among the menfolks OF the town than
II is at present which is indicated by so
many applications for membership
at the start of the new year. IL Is
planned TO have many interesting
meetings during the year and good
beginning was made when Mr. Link
was secured.
Mr.. Link has been interested in the
tax question for twenty years. He
has made a thorough study of IL and
has held positions which enabled him
TO learn most of the fine points OF
this Intricate problem. He is a vet
cran of the State Tax Commission
and has been in the midst of the
hght and contention which was
aroused when the full value assess
ment was inagurated along about
1912.
Mr.. Link has the faculty of making
the most obtuse features of taxation
clear and distinct .<aEt night he
dwelt at some length on the various
important questions in reference TO
taxation problems In this state and
as a result his talk was both inter
estlng and decidedly informative.
Mr.. Link said that the full valuR.
tion assessment was not a new thing
developed with the state tax commits
sion but that il had been on the
statute books of the state Tor many
years. IL was never adhered to
strictly. in fact few. IL any. OF the
county assessors assessed property at
the full value. Some took one-third
AS the basis. others less an d
some more Because Of this practice
which had gradually grown up thru
the years inequalities developed that
caused injustice In many eases.
The Tax commission. when IL came
into power. naturally took full cogui-
zance OF the law with the result that
all property was assessed at its full
value Mr. Link said that this really
OF taxes because the mill levy was
proportionately lower under the full
value assessment than under the frac.
tional value assessment. However,
according TO MIR. Link. some classes
of property were raised a little and
others were lowered. that Is. the in.
equalities to large extent were eli.
minated and all classes OF taxable
property thus bore Some7hing like
their proportionate share of the bur
den. For instance. town and city
residence property. in many cases
found the amount of their taxes lower
than under the old method. Corpor-
ations and few other classes found
their taxes slightly higher.
Mr.. Link stated that tie bone of
contention with the corporations and
others who have been assailing the
tax commission came about thru the
fact that under the old method the
county assessor placed only a nomi-
nal valuation on the properties OF the
various big concerns. When the tax
commission came to properly adjust
these valuations, and after thoro in.
vestigation. raised the total amount TO
something like IL ought 10 be a terif.
fic ho~i went up from those affected
and thus. because of these walls OF
distress. many people got the impress.
sion that the commission was raising
valuations without warrant whereas.
all IL was doing was TO raise an often
times admittedly low assessed valua.
tion up to It's proper amount.
However. according TO Mr.. Link.
practically all of the corporations In
the state have agreed upon the valua
tion placed upon their property and
there now remains but ten or twelve
who are protesting, the others agree
ing that the tax commissions method
was rslir and just to all.
MFR. Link remarked that of course
In making the changes many errors
were made by the commission but
that they were being corrected as
fast as possible. In connection with
the raised valuation of corporations
the speaker cited the instance OF the
Arkansas Valley Railway Light n
Power Company which previously had
a valuation of about 100000. The
Tax Commission raised IL to over
100000 According to the company
this seemed too high with the result
that an investigation was made and
the valuation then lowered to about
$4.000,000 which was agreed to by the
company.
The speaker stated that the Limit
OF Levy law and the Rebate law We're
a big help to the commission. The
Limit of Levy law placed the amount
OF taxation within certain bounds.
The Rebate law did away with pro.
miscous rebating OF taxes for little
or no JustiHable reason an requires all