The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1918-03-01

burden. We should also bear in mine
that much of the taxation of these
local units is the result of bond IS
sues and special levies, which were
made at the instance of petitions
signed by majority of the quallfiee
electorate, or which were approved
by the voters at the polls. But We
find that this burden is pilHng up
Fer if a county's paper is worth only
two-thirds of its face value, Of course
the county pays that much more fol
what it obtains. Outstanding war
rants result in discount, and a dis
count, by reducing the purchasing
power of the warrant, in turn results
in the increase of outstanding war.
rants, and so the cycle is run.
'Inefficiency results from oul
method of selecting officials to man.
age the fiscal affairs of local taxing
units, without requirement of specl.
fed business qualifications. 1t comes
also from the failure of many con-
servative and substantial citizens tc
take the same active interest in public
affairs as is usually manifested by the
petty-grafting parasites who are
more or less in evidence in nearly al
town and county politics"
Discuss Tax Assessor.
Discussing the Importance of the
tax assessor and his work, the fiscal
committee says:
cit is our opinion, and it is shared
by practically all who have investl-
gated American taxing machinery,
that the assessor is prominently the
most, important fiscal officer of the
county and state. Yet the office is
today so low in common estimation
that it is frequently ranked with that
of coroner and ranger. 1t is IN too
many cases merely the dumping
ground of politics; berth to be CIV
en- to the hanger-on of factions and
bosses, whose services are not consld-
cred sufficiently valuable to merit a
more honorable or remuneratlve re-
ward. Else it is thought so little OF
that a man who would be considered
an incompetent misfit anywhere else
is often rated as well qualified to dis
charge it's duties. And in those in
stances, and they are fairly numerous,
when competent man does fill the
place, immemorial usage, traditional
local custom and the exigencies of
personal considerations, too often
combine to render impossible of sue
cess honest endeavor to secure the
assessment which his oath of office
requires him to make.
''After careful investigation both
of our own situation and Of the as
sessing problem in other states, we
have been forced to the conclusion
that unless the assessor can be grant
ed reasonable degree of political
and official immunity in the discharge
of his duties, it is hopeless to pursue
the subject further. In some states
this has been accomplished by remov-
ing the Office entirely from local con-
troll, and vesting in the tax commits
sion, or other centralized body, the
duty of selecting and the power Of re-
moving the county assessor. Nowhere
has the problem reached even an APP
proximately satisfactory solution
without some measure of supervision
or control on the part of state author
itv. While we are not willing to go as
far as many states have gone IN
this direction, we have become con-
WINGED that some decided departure
from our existing method of select
ing assessors is imperatively demand
ed by every consideration of business
Judgment of fiscal necessity and of
common sense.
Would Examine Candidates.
owe accordingly recommend the
adoption Of plan whereby the fit
ness Of all candidates for the office
may be first passed upon by the
State Tax Commission, by means of a
practical, non-technical examination.
In other words, we would require
some evidence of qualification for
the Office, just as is now required for
the Office Of county superintendent of
education. No man can be voted on
for the latter Office without first pass
ing an examination.
"After the above expression Of our
estimate of the Importance OF the as
SCISSORS office and duties, we need
hardly add that we consider the pres
emit compensation wholly inadequate
to secure the type of man needed for
the place. We have accordingly pro-
vided in the bill that county assessors
shall receive the same salary as may
De IXGu ny law lOl CIS oiASAiAio VI efAS
respective counties of the state"
Referring to the State Tax Com
mission and its work the committee
has this to say:
"We hold no brief for the Tax
Commission 1t is in fact our opin--
ion that in the long run more good
would have been accomplished and
less friction and ill-feeling engender-
ed, had two or three years been given
to what was undertaken in one. But
we would be both stupid, and unfair,
if we did not also recognize the fact
that much of the hostile criticism of
the commission is in reality properly
chargeable to the action Of certain
boards of supervisors. 1t has been
brought to out attention, for exam
pie, that certain boards made abso-
lutely no real effort toward equaliz-
ing assessments among the taxpayers
of their own counties. They simply
avoided the onerous labor which the