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

ger the new LAW, lHere are, OI
course, numbers of individual corpo-
rations who are not paying their just
portion of taxes, just as there are
numbers of individual citizens who
evade the tax laws in one way or an
other. Individual cases are, however,
left wholly within the jurisdiction of
the local tax assessors and boards of
supervisors and with those cases the
state tax commission cannot and does
not undertake to deal. Such cases
must be dealt with by the local au-
thorities, and their failure, whether
careless or wilful, to properly and eff
fectively do their duty in this respect,
can be made no sufficient reason for
placing back in their hands other pow
ers and duties now vested in the state
tax commission. AS an illustration of
the manner in which the corporations
are dealt with for several years prior
to 1916 some of the banks of the state
had made it a policy to give in their
assessments upon a reduced valua-
ton instead of the actual value of
their capital stock and surplus as the
law required, and some of the boards
of supervisors allowed such reduc-
tions to stand. Other banks gave in
their assessments as the law required
When the state tax commission got
control of the assessments, it ordered
the assessments made according to
the requirements of the law.
Rfilroed assessments were raised
in 1917 just as other assessments;
and tn amend rent of the law made
by the legislature in 1918 pl; ced the
assessments of the public service cor
porations in the hands of the tax COM
mission. In as much as the reports
of the director general of the rail
roads show that the roads are no
longer going concerns without the
United States treasury as bulwark
of support, it seems that testing the
value of property by the amount of
income which it produces, railroad
stock is not as good an investment as
delta farming lands.
Now, as to the objection that the
law does not provide for the assess
ment in an effective way of property
which has escaped taxation in form
err years. 1t is very generally con-
coded that no effective means have
yet been devised to get at property
that is not given in for taxation at
all The creation of the office of
state revenue agent helped in some
respects to remedy this evil; but ex-
perience has shown that we have
long way to go yet to assure a COM
plete assessment of all the property
of the tax dodger, especially that of
an intangible nature. But this prob
lem is entirely separated from that of
assessments made on the
various kinds of property actually
placed upon the assessment rolls and
upon which ad valorem taxes are paid
from year to year. To say that /
shall pay only half as much tax on
my Ford car, as my neighbor pays
on his, simply because third owner
of Ford fails to give his car in for
taxation at all, does not help solve
the problem Yet this is the sub
stance of the argument advanced that
the equalization law should be re-
pealed, because there are stil some
tax dodgers at large who do not make
any returns of their property to the
taxing authorities, and the Law in its
present form affords no sure means
IF getting at them. The proper
thing TO do is to set to work and try
o devise some means of legislation