New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1916-03-22
STATE COMMISSIONER DEFENDS
/
! MUCH ABUSED PUBLIC
OFFICER.
GROWING TAX RATES DUE TO
INCREASED DEMAND FOR
BETTER THINGS.

door with which they, have absolutely
nothing to do, according to J. G. Armson,
member of the state tax commission, who
attended the assessors meeting at the
court house last Thursday. The asses
sor is blamed for the high rate of taxation
when in reality he himself must suffer
the same as any other taxpayer without
! opportunity to protest except at the
2 meetings of the township, school district,
village and city council, or county boards
and state legislatures. 1t is not the
business of the assessor to fix the rate
of taxation but to make the assessments
honestly and equitably. When he does
that he does his full duty.
Mr.. Armson said that it is not the
assessment that determines whether
tax will be high or low but the amount
of money spent for public purpo e..
Large appropriations mean high taxes.
When community is spending a large
amount of money, taxes will inevitably
be high, but the assessor as an officer
has absolutely nothing to say about how
much money shall be spent for any public
purpose.
The people themselves have absolute
control over the very thing that de-
termines tax-rates and expenditures. This
control is exercised either directly through
school and town meetings, or indirectly
fho oil of L.
various other units of government
Swillage, city, county and state. If,
therefore, tax rates are unreasonably high
the fault is with the people rather than
with assessors.
But while the assessor has nothing to
do with making taxes high or low, he has
nearly everything to do with determining
whether they shall be fair and just. It is
his function to determine how much of
the public burden each taxpayer shall
bear. This he does when he places a
value on taxpayers property. If he
does his work in accordance with law
approximate justice will prevail between
the taxpayers of his district but, on the
other hand, if he departs from the legal
standard of valuation, or omits any con-
siderable amount of property from the
tax list, injustice in taxation will inc
vitality follow. It is therefore of the
highest Importance that all taxable
property be listed and assessed in strict
compliance with law.
+ He said that in a general way growing
i tax rates are largely due to the expand
ing functions of government-state and
local|and to an increasing demand on
the part of the people for more things
and better things from each of the units
OF government. We now demand and
insist that numerous things be done by
government that we did for ourselves
years ago or left undone entirely. To
do these numerous things revenues are
necessary, and the necessary revenue
must be raised by some form of taxation,
so that every expansion of the functions
of government entailing the expenditure
of money must inevitably be followed
by higher taxes.
High tax rates do not necessarily mean
extravagant expenditures. If the money
derived from tax levies is wisely and
economically expended the benefits de-
rived by the taxpayer may fully COM
pensate for high tax rate. This is a
question, however, that each district
must decide for itself.
" MIR. Armson briefly analysed the
amount and purpose of the tax levies Of
= Brown county. The total tax levy in
the county last year and payable this
year amounted to $343,881.T. Each
500 of this amount, when collected, will
be apportioned as follows: To the state
for support of state government and
state institutions, $685.; to the county
$18.620; to the towns, $2.52; to the
cities and villages, $14.72; to education
$34.95; and to roads and bridges, $22.37
The total state levy in Brown county
last year, including the state levy TO,
schools and roads and bridges, amounted
to $56,000.14 while the county received
$53,890.57 from the state in aid o.
y schools, roads and other local purposes
Expressed in another way, for each dol
lar you levied for state purposes last
year, including schools and roads anc
bridges, you received from the state If
aid of schools, roads and other public
purposes, SO cents in return. These
figures show that direct taxes in thei,
final ANALYSIS are levied almost entirely
for local purposes.
More or less discussion has taker
place of late as to relative tax rates ii
Z the rural districts and in cities and vii
lagos. In comparing rates it should b.
borne in mind that farm or unplattet
lands are taxed on a basis of one-thirt
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