The Columbus dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 19??-1922, 1919-06-08

ny WHICH tne lax uouger can De re-
quired to list his property as the law
requires. The law of 1915 creating
the state tax commission did not
purport to be an omnibus bill to cure
all the evils incident to our present
form of government or even our
| fiscal system. That can hardly be
done in one act, not even in an act
repeating the law creating the state
tax commission as Mr.. Johnston
seems to suggest. The whole purpose
of the act of 1916 was to create a
system under which an honest effort
would be made to equalize property
valuations for the purposes of taxa
ton throughout the state. The prop
erty valuations to be equalized were
the valuations placed on property
listed for taxes on the various assess
ment rolls provided for by law. That
there are numerous property owners
who actually conceal their property
from the taxing authorities is not de-
MED. But the law creating the state
tax commission is no more response
BILE for that condition than the act
Of Congress authorizing the issuance
and sale of Liberty Bonds. That such
condition existed before the crea-
tion of and Independent of the state
tax commission is well known
So far as the report of his speech
shows, Mr. Johnston nowhere charged
that the tax commission as consti-
tuted at present is made up of men
officially incompetent or personally
dishonest, nor does he charge that
any act of theirs has ever worked an
injustice upon specific individuals or
specific sections of the state. But
the fact that Mr.. Johnston in his eff
forts to discredit the law and the
workings Of the commission has
made no charge of incompetency or
unfitness in any member of the COM
mission and that he has not alleged
any injustice resulting from any rul-
ing on matters coming before them,
we must assume that they are fairly
competent to discharge the duties of
their office and that they have been
reasonably faithful in the perform
ance of those duties. The only OBJ
lection that Mr.. Johnston can make
to them is that they are appointive
and not elective by the people. That
argument used to carry more weight
than it does now The office of state
tax commissioner is not a political
office; it is an administrative office
What the people are interested in is
not primarily how he gets his office,
but what he does when in office. The
main thing needed in matters of this
kind is an official capable and honest.
Stockholders in bank care little
whether the president and cashier are
elected by the stockholders or APP
pointed by the board of directors.
What they do want is a president and
cashier who can run the bank sue
cessfully and produce dividends.
Mr.. Johnston is quoted as having
said that "The Revolutionary war was
brought on because of taxation with
out representation and that was what
the present tax equalization law
amounted to" The vice in that rea-
soning appears on its face. The tax
equalization law does not prrpor+ to
levy a tax. The state tax is levied
by the legislature; which is elected
by the people: the county tax is le-
We'd bv the boards of supervisors
which are also elected by the people.
The people of Mississippi have in
their constitution and laws ordained
that property shall be assessed uni
formly and accordingly to its true
value. The state tax commission did
not establish those requirements. 1t
was created simply as an additional
arm of the law to see that those re
auirements were complied with so far
as it is possible. Exact justice can
not be realized in the matter of tax