The Vashon Island record. [volume] (Vashon, Wash.) 1916-1919, 1916-11-02
TAXES!
Oct. 80. 1915.

Editor Record:
DO You think we are ever going to
have any relief from present high
taxes while you and ilye7 Or are
they to be Systematically raised each
and every year until ownership of
property ceases to be at all practical
by ordinary peopleg
Under our present system taxes
have advanced every year for the past
ten or more years at least. and aside
from the single item of better roads,
it's impossible to see where we get
any benefits now, more than we had
fifteen years ago. So the question
arises, Who gets the benefit? Not the
people who pay. It's not so hard to
answer this question, however.
It's on account of added costs OF
government as exemplifed by higher
salaries. more deputies, stenographers,
clerks. newly created commissions,
bureaus, more elaborate and compll-
Gated methods OF doing a very simple
Office business. We have It Illustrated
on Vashon Island. for the Federal gov
ernment, in its maintaining nine post
Offices. where one central office would
give far better service at less cost.
The State shows its hand in the gen
eral scheme by useless commissions.
such as the Tax Commission, Indus
trial Commission. Bureau of Inspection
and others. This Bureau of lnspec-
tion," for instance, has all over the
State what II calls accountants" who
inspect the books of various officers
Of all the cities, towns, and counties,
looking for mistakes, discrepancies
shortages, etc. So far | have never
seen printed a single instance of their
finding any serious offense except In
one town the proper officer failed TO
account Tor So dog license Issued
Eight dollars a day for their valuable
services to the taxpayers. and pa
thetic feature of the matter is, some
of these inspectors" actually left Jobs
paying $40 or $50 per month TO serve
the state.
The city of Seattle has nine council
men al salary of $4,000 each. who
when any real vital questions come
up submit them to the people to de
eide. And some of those fellows
earned SO or more per day In private
life.
Also. the county Well, it's moi
worth while to say much about that
It's too familiar matter. We have
only to think of $4,000 roads that cost
$4,000. and other instances too neal
the hearts of some to open up just
now.
But one think for the county we can
refer to- and that's the fact that its
official think it's fair 10 charge oui
land two to five times the taxes that
similar lands elsewhere in the county
pay. The County Board of Confrma
ton (some call 1t the Board OF Equali
zation, but it's no such thing; simply
a board OF confirmation for the As
sessorl thinks the assessor was right
in levying the taxes he did, or more
properly speaking. hold our valuations
at above actual market value of the
land in some instances, and above an
equable basis in all cases of land on
Maury and Vashon Islands.
Yet most everybody will on Nov. 4
vote to continue the SAME man as as
SCISSOR OF course. He's Republican
and we're about nine out of ten Re.
lpublicans.
II has seemed to us often in recent
years that the single taxer must be
laughing in his sleeve nowadays You
know one of his hobbies was TO put
all taxes on land, to discourage private
ownership except where actually occu-
pied. Well, this has been just about
accomplished by the advance in taxes,
as there are very few holders OF un-