St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1916-10-21

It will abolish the State Board O
Equalization, one member from
each Congressional District, whose
duty is to equalize the properts
throughout the State. and who fur
nish the Assessors with a schedule
which the Assessors adopt and &C
by, whereby equalization may ex-
ist.
1t will virtually do awaW with
the tax assessor, elected by the peo-
pie. in SO far as property is to be
assessed for State purposes.
The Assessor will assess ALL
property. Send up his work, wheI
three Commissioners, appointed by
the Governor and responsible to
him only, shall declare whether
this assessment is sufficient or not
If they say it is insufficient, the
assessor has to adopt its findings.
The taxpayer may contest the rate,
but unless he can establish his
property is assessed beyond It's
actual cash value, he obtains no re-
lief.
And that this Commission is 60
ing to increase assessments for
State purposes goes without saying.
That is why they are appointed.
The State says the revenues for
State purposes are insufficient. IF
yes. then you must Increase these.
How? by increased assessments.
This is the purpose of the Act, none
of its defenders will have the te-
merity to deny this.
Nnr7 the fovnoryon oo4,,na1l- -
pounds himself this quest
Why should / surrender officials
elected by the people: why surren-
der my tax Assessor, elected by me,
to assess my property,and turn over
the assessment of my property for
State purposes to a Board, whose
sympathies. pulsatiOns. and heart
beats are going to be with the Exc
cutive who appointed them, and
can remove them at his pleasure.
This is asking too much of me.
| am not going to surrender my
most precious right to three Off
clals whose sole limitation in the
matter OF assessing my property, is
that they dc not go beyond its ae-
tual cash value. Property need
not be assessed at anything like its
actual cash value to supply the
States expenses. An assessment at
fifty per cent would be more than
sufficient.
And you can't fool me by saying
for local purposes we will leave it
TO your Assessor to assess your
property. To use the language of
MI. Gamble, taxation for local pur-
poses has reached the point of ir-
rltatlon: And it has reached this
point under present assessments,
II under present assessments for
State purposes, parishes and NUM-
clpalltles have not enough money.
how is it going to help them to say
for local purposes the Board will
not interfere.
This is a pitfaH for the unwary.
1t IS a SOD to the uninteIligent. It
IS not going to fool any voter. He
knows, that the Commissioners are
going to increase his assessment
Tor State purposes, against which
no remedy lies, other than to show
his property is assessed beyond its
actual cash value. He knows, his
parish and municipality cannot do
With less than at present. hence he
observes increased taxation without
necessity existing therefor.
| am opposing this measure for
the reason that if the Board of
Appraisers. the Board of Euualiza-
ton and our tax Assessors are
failures, the people are not going to
be relieved by an appointlve Board.
whose business is to provide addi-
tlonal revenue for the State. +
know that it is appointed to ele-
yate assessments, and in this Way
obtain additional money.
know. we don't need this mon
ely It the States affairs are eco
nomlcally administered.
know that the parishes and
municipalities cannot do with less
than they are at present receiving.
and knowing these things, urge
all taxpayers to vote against the
Amendment. 1t means additional
taxation, and this at a time when
the price of food stuff and wearing
apparel is soaring upwards.
The purpose Of this measure is
increased taxation and no one can
honestly deny this fact. Admit it.
and the measure becomes indefensi-
Dle,-for the reason u people are
taxed sufficiently as it is.
Yours truly.
GILBERT L. DUpRE.
opebusas. La, Oct. IL. 1916.