Arizona republican., 1916-08-11
Where the People
 May Have Hearing
Statement by Assessor j. T. Bone

A great deal of misunderstanding has come about recently, in connec- tion with the tax assessment and valuations Of Maricopa county, by reason or the palpaDly false state ments circulated concerning my ac- tions as assessor of this county, both before the county board of equaliza- tion. which sessions were held here. and the state tax conference, which was held in the latter part of July In Prescott. In justice to myself and my friends, and the people Of this county feel some statement is due from me about this matter. correctly giving the facts and to clear away the mass of misrepresentation and error that has been injected into d controversy that is absolutely not of my seeking.
 In the first place, 1t is not true that the proposed cut in values in this county would result in a saving to the tax payers Of s50.00O. Any one at least conversant with tax matters knows this, if the question is given h minutes thought. The revenue nec- essary for state and county purposes must be raised, and If the reduction is made on one class Of property, there must of necessity, be a raise on some other class. In the case al issue. wherein a definite cut was made on only two classes, other classes are caused to suffer. and the owner of improved property and personal prop erty will have to pay more and un- equally with the cut as proposed by the board of supervisors. than he would have under the assessment made by me. Such an action contains no measure of relief to all the tax payers. The statement made by Chair man Luke of the board of supervisors. that this proposed cut will save S50, 900 to the tax payers of Maricopa county is an error. Again, when MT. Luke made the statement he knew that the total reduction would approximate 100000 He knew also that the state tax rate would not be more than 40c on the $l00, and a school boy can figure the amount at S2S,OO0. instead of $50. 900, which is $22,000 short of Mir Luke's guess.
 It is further erroneous that the assessor at any time agreed to a 20 per cent cut 1 do not believe, and have never practiced haphazard method of assessments or cutting of valuation In my office, and l would not and could not, agree to any looping off of values with the members oI | the board of supervisors or anyone else. especially, not without thoroughly going into all sides of such a question and carefully considering the discre- | tion accorded the county assessor and the obligations laid upon him by both his oath of office and the statutes.
 The board of supervisors, sitting as board of equalization, made a cut in ! the values on irrigated lands ana city lots. two classes of property only and not including the improvements thereon. of approximately $1,0O0. Al | that time I refused to accede to the change, and told the supervisors they would have to back up the cut. They attempted to do this at Prescott. They there read twelve letters, some ol which were unfortunate for them, pro- l testing against the valuation set upor l the property by the county assessor These twelve letters were all the evi- denoe they had or could produce IT support of their own statement thai hundreds of letters of protest hao
 been received. Each of these letters
 were read and the items referred tt checked up by the conference. and IT
 each case, the conference very evl'
 dently found the statements made 1T
 the letters were not susceptible o
 proof The result of this was tha
 after hearing all the evidence in thu
 case, the conference passed a resoiu
 tion, recommending to the tax com
 mission that the valuation. as placed
 by me upon irrigated lands and citA
 lots stand. One singre vote was cas-
 with Maricopa's delegation on irri \ gated lands. and not a single vote wa
 cast with them on city lots.
 A proposition was made to the su
 pervisors by the assessor before th'
 assessments on lands and city lot
 were made. that the equalization b'
 made from maps and plats-such rec
 ords as are always a part of the as sessoral equipment. This was agreed
 to by the three members of the board
 When we were ready to make up tn
 assessment and equalizations on thes'
 classes. MT. Peterson could not b
 present. Mir. Luke. MT. Bowen ant