The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1916-10-26
TAX EQUALIZATION
BOARD ENDS WORK
OUTLINE OF MISSISSIPPI TAP
COMMISSIONS WORK Is OF
GENERAL INTEREST.
ASSESSMENTS NOW UNIFORM
Completes the Work of EquaIizins As
sessments Of Personal Property.
Work Delayed Through Fail
ure To Receive Rolls.

In order to acquaint the people OF
the state with its scope Of operations
and the wide range Of study and in
yestigation which 1t has been neces-
sary to pursue. the newly created state
tax commission, composed of D. l..
and T. A. Rawls. has prepared an out,
line, which will be of general as wei.
as educational interest.
The state tax commission has com
pleted its work Of the equalization OF
the assessments Of personal property
for the year 1916. This Is the first
time in the history OF the state that
such has been attempted. The equali-
Sation of the taxes has heretofore
been made by the 80 boards of super
visors of the state. and as each of
them did not know what percentage
Of values other boards were adopting.
and as each did not fix the assess
ments at the actual value Of the prop
erty, there has, heretofore, existed a
great lack of uniformity and equality
in the assessment of property of one
county compared with another.
In fact. there have been 80 different
methods of assessments and 80 differ
ent sets of valuations.
So great has the inequality been
that in some counties the taxpayers
have been paying on assessments at 20
per cent of actual value and in others
almost at 100 per cent. The tax COM
mission was created by the legislature
not for the purpose of raising taxes,
but for the purpose of equalizing as
sessments. The commission has done
this very thing. 1t has lowered the
taxes in some counties and raised
them in others, making assessments
more nearly euqual and uniform
throughout the state.
The taxpayers of Tishomingo
county have been paying an excessive
amount of taxes on personal property,
as compared with other counties. The
tax commission reduced its assess
ments on live stock 90 per cent It's
mules were assessed at an average
value Of S103 per head. A reduction
was likewise made In the assessment
of automobiles In Adams county.
These had an average value of $421
each, which was considerably higher
than in the other counties
The assessment Of few counties in
the delta were found to be very low
compared with those of properties in
other parts of the state and the tax
commission has made an honest effort
to fix the assessments of these coun-
ties equal to those in others, and has
fixed them at no higher percentage
than in other counties.
AS whole, the assessments of the
personal property of the entire state
are increased only a small amount, but
the burden has been shifted to those
counties and to those classes of prop
erty which the commission has found
were not paying an equal share of the
tax burden.
AS the state tax commission will eff
feet uniformity and equality of as
sessments, the legislature may further
increase the appropriation for schools
and other expenses Of the state gov
eminent without imposing a hardship
The work of the commission in
eQualizing assessments has been de-
layed through the failure to receive
the rolls from the several counties
promptly. The law requires that the
rolls shall be placed in the hands of
the auditor by the first Monday OF
September, but, as a matter of fact.
only 20 rolls were received by him
by that date,
Gov. Bilbo has issued the following
address to the public, showing the
progress of the movement to gather
in public funds for the purpose of
building additional dormitories at the
Confederate Soldiers Home at Beau
voir:
On the 4th of this month sent out
an appeal to the people of Mississippi
who are friends to the Confederate
veterans to make contributions for
the purpose of erecting two dormi-
tories at Beauvoir so as to furnish adj
ditional room for the 80 Confederate
veterans, their wives and widows,
whose applications have been ap-
proved and are waiting to be admit
ted at Beauvoir, and it is with pleas
ure and profound gratitude that / ac-
knowledge the hearty response al.
ready to this call for these suffering
old veterans. Contributions have been
coming in every day since the appeal
Atlanta. Ga.-Two distinct earth
quakes that in some instances shook
frame buildings and knocked Chin
neys down were felt throughout Geor-
gia and Eastern Alabama and Ten.
nessee Oct. Is.
From all points damage was report
ed as negligible except around Bir-
mingham and Montgomery, where 1t
appeared to consist of damage to
chimneys. Many persons. however,
ran from their homes in Atlanta and
II other southern cities.
Few American institutions are 50
firmly established as the custom Of
taking exhaustive testimony after the
harm has hnnn done