The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1919-07-25
TAXATION and REVENUE
BY A. g. COODY.
The Work of the Tax Commission.

need that DrOugnt IOrtn the Stat(
Tax Commission. Every Stat.
In the Union. except six. ha'
adopted the idea of a Centralized
State Board for the equalization
of taxation. The opponents o1
the Tax Commission in Missis
sippi will nearly always admi
that there is grave need of cen
fral board. But none of them
have anything better in view
They want to destroy the presen
board. and then prevent the crea
ton of another. The great ma
iority of these fellows are PRO
FESSIONAL TAX DODGERS
OF else they are in the employ OF
some one who is a tax dOdger
and the Tax Commission has
caused them to pay their JUST
SHARE of taxes.
There is not one objection
made against the work of the
Tax Commission that cannot be
fully and completely answered
to the satisfaction of any fair
minded man. Almost every
charge brought is simply untrue,
and is now being EXPLOITED
FOR PURELY POLITICAL
PURPOSES.
One thing that points out the
weakness of the opposition is the
fact that the entire cry A YEAR
AGO was that the Tax Com
mission was AUTOCRATIC. |
recall seeing a partisan newspa-
per attack in which the Tax
Commission was charged with
being "autocratic," and to en-
phasize the word every synonym
for "autocratic" was used. such
as ARBITRARY" "ARRO-
CANT" "DESPOTIC." "DIC-
TATORIAL." "IMPERIOUS,"
"TYRANNICAL." etc.
But that did not take" with
the voters. and the methods were
changed. and most of the oppo-
sition. NOW SAYS it's "IMPO-
TENT"
heard a little fellow using this
word the other day. and l asked
him what it meant. and he could
not answer. Like the rich young
ruler. he went away sorr0wful. :"
Ii the Tax Commission law
was "AUTOCRATIC" last year,
and is "IMPOTENT" this year.
it shows that the opposition is
wrong one time or the other.
When the Tax Commission
was created in 1916. it was a new
thing for Mississippi. 1t was
created by the Legislature for
that YEAR. AND consequently
did not start with the year. but
was not ready for operation un-
I'll late in the spring. The assess
ment of property was practically
completed, and little advice
could be given to the Assessors
or the Board of Supervisors. But
a start was made, and material
and information was gathered for
the work ahead.
No Land Changes the First Year.
Land is assessed in Mississippi
in every odd year. so that in 1916.
the first year of the existence of
the Commission, the land assess
ment was not touched. and no
changes in the assessment of real
property were made. Only the
equalization of personal property
was begun.
As was apparent by the most
superficial study. the assessment
of personal property by the
eighty-one different Boards Of
Supervisors. was GROSSLY
UNJUST. And | mean no re-
Election upon the Boards. They
were eighty-one different bodies
meeting in widely separated
places. with nobody to assist
them in working in harmony.
Each county made its assessment,
to meet the needs of that county,
without regard to the other
counties, fixing the assessment as
low as possible.
To remedy the existing situa-
tion. the Commission could
adopt two plans. First, it could
reduce all the property in the
State 10 an equality with the
l,uroat Or eor,o0A n rnasA rasao