Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1919-07-24
4 Letter From the 6uvsrnor 10 Mr.. Aver.
age Citizen.
NV dear Mr.. Average Citizen:

AN intimate acquaintance with
you, extending over a number OF
years, leads. me to write you this
intensely personal letter. l know
tbat YOU love the truth, that you
despise injustice, that you are
a robust champion of the square
deal. The possession by you of
the cardinal virtues makes North
Carolina a truly great State.
The most vital power of the
State is the power to tax, and you
believe that this vital power
should be exercised with a full
knowledge of the truth. You be-
lieve that from this full know.
ledge of the truth there will flow
perfect equality in taxation.
For the first time in the his
tory of the State you Mr.. Aver
age Citizen, have it in your pow
er to write the full truthand per.
feet equality in the tax books of
the State. Yeu have never been
called upon to DO this before; in.
deed, you have never been per-
mitted to do this before. But
now the General Assembly has
enacted q law that places the
matter entirely in your hands.
The new tax law is written on
correct principles. The machin-
ery for it's enforcement is ade.
quate and appropriate. The law
is SO written that it will be easy
for the citizen to do right and
hard for him to do wrong. But
on YOU, Mr.. Average Citizen, rests
the responsibility Of determining
whether or not the wise and just
purpose of the law shall be car
ried out.
Now, Mr.. Average Citizen, you
will receive a questionable and
will be called upon to swear be-
fore God and to all your fellow
citizens what is the fair market
value of your propeaty. When
YOU come to take this solemn
oath it will be helpful to you tc
put to your own conscience this
question: IF l did not own this
property, but wanted to buy it
what would l be justified in pay
ing for it," and, again: IF
wanted to sell this property, no
at a forced sale, but in the wa!
and on the terms that propert!
of this class.is generally sold il
this community, what do l reall,
believe l could get for it!" Tn
answer to these questions vii
point with reasonable accurac,
to the fair market value Of you
property. This fair market va
ne you must write down in you
QUESTIONABLE, else you will ceas
to he Mr.. Average Citizen an
become Mr.. Undesirable Citizel
When you, Mr.. Average Cit
zen, tell the truth about you
pHperty, it will do no good fc
your neighbor, Mr.. Undesirabl
Citizen, to tell a lie about n
property, because when tn
books show truly what the pro
erty of Mr.. Average Citizen
worth, this evidence will clear
and conclusively show what tt
property Of Mr.. Undesirable q
izen is worth. The local and di
trict assessors, when they con
t, fix the value Of property, W
be governed by the sworn tes
mony of Mr.. Average Citizen.
And when you, Mr.. Avera
Citizen, tell the unvarnish'
Truth about your property, tn
truth will wipe out every d
elimination and every inequall
in taxation in North Carolil
True values are always equal v
ues,- but the greatest expert CT
not equalizeaseries Of falsehoo'
When all the property in
State shall be placed on the box
at it's fair market valne, ma
benefits will accrue to you, \