The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1916-03-24

Company property were in st. Louis
instead of Herculaneum, the State
tax on it would be in the neighbor-
hood of $1,000 instead of $149.
Let us take up the Doe Run Lead
Company. 1t owns, according to its
estimated official figures, $11 ,771,8 ,802,-
81 in lands in st. Francois county,
and $2,737, ,4S0.42 in equipment or inn
provement---a total of $14,509, ,283.33.
1t is assessed for taxing purposes at
81 ,004, 1926, or less than 8 per cent Of
the value which the company places
upon it, while you, Mr.. Farmer, are
assessed at 40 per cent on your farm
land and improvements. Do you see
any reason why you should be paying
four times as much tax on your
wealth as the Doe Run Lead Com
pany does?
You will notice that while the Doe
Run Lead Company owns $14,509,-
283.33 in lands and equipment, and
the st. Joseph Company owns con-
siderably less in lands and equipment
than the Doe Run, in exact figures in
this county, $9,0S3, ,67965, the st. Jo-
seph is assessed at $448, ,O05 more than
the Doe Run. This may be because
the st. Joseph owns other assets
which, with its lands and equipment,
amounted at the close of the calendar
year December 81, 1914, to $22,
776,728,53, while the Doe Runs asests
over and above its lands and equip
ment were only $775,517.16. But if
these extra assets were included in the
assessed valuation of the st. Joseph,
then that company was assessed nt
only about 9 per cent oI the value
which it places upon its capital wealth,
about the same as that of the Doe
Run, and only one-fourtn as muen as
you are assessed, Mr. Farmer.
Whether there is any disparity in
the assessment of the Federal and the
National Lead Companies, we cannot
say as we haven't any balance sheets
or statements Of theirs to their stock
holders showing the value of their
holdings, and can therefore make no
comparisons, much as we would like
to do so. We want to deal with ac-
tual values now and not guess work.
But the question of, taxation does
not end here. Bonne Terre and Flat
River are both prosperous towns, with
large populations, doing a driving,
thriving business. The lands on
which these two most populous towns.
of the county are built belong to the
lead companies. The surface lots of
these towns are leased to the people
for residences and business houses,
and not few handsome residences
and commodious business blocks have
been erected on them. If man in
Pennington owns a lot and erects a
$4,000 residence or a $4,000 business
block on it, he is assessed and pays
taxes on 40 per cent of its value.
Does the man who builds on the COM
panies' leased lots in Flat River and
Bonne Terre have to pay taxes on it?
He does not 1t is on the company's
leased land, and that land is included
in the company's assessed valuation.
The Assessor can't assess any Of the
buildings separate from the lots on
which they stand, SO man may own
a $4,000 business block on one Of
these leased lots and not pay cent
tax on it. Thus, while the company
| is assessed at 8 to 20 per cent on It's
wealth, you, Mr.. Farmer, are assessed
at DO per cent, and the company stands
as a shield between the people who
build on its leased lots and the AS
SCISSOR. Otherwise they would be pay
ing taxes on their residences and
store houses, the same as farmers and
people living in other towns pay on
their houses, and thus help the latter
to bear the cost of our State and
county governments.