The Caldwell tribune., 1920-07-13
TAXES LOWEST
|NPR0SPEROUS
COMMUNITIES
B Burden Increases in
Hard Times and Is
Lightest in Conrnuni.
ties Boosting Live,
Thriving. Towns.
Copyright, 1917, Western Newspaper
Union.)

Taxes are always heavy-to the man
who has to pay them-but taxes in
some communities are much higher
than in other If you have ever
stopped to investigate the matter you
have discovered that the lowest taxes
are found in the most prosperous COM
munities. And there's reason.
The prosperous community has the
lowest taxes because there is a large
amount of wealth in the community
against which the taxes may be as
sessed. There are prosperous mer-
chants with large stocks of goods up
on which taxes are levied. Property
values are high and there are thriving
industries which pay large proper
ton of the taxes.
The higher the property values and
the greater the wealth of the commu-
nifty the lower the tax levies, for a
lower tax on each hundred dollars of
valuation is required to produce the
necessary revenue for the administra-
ton of the city and county, govern
ment.
Other Taxes Are Raised
On the other hand, take dead town
Property values are low. Merchants
stocks are small and they have little
money in the bank. Industries which
ordinarily pay large part of the taxes
of community have closed down.
There are vacant store buildings which
were formerly filled with stocks OF
merchandise upon which the owners
paid heavy taxes. Who pays the taxes
that were once paid by the merchants,
the manufacturers, the bankers and
the men who had large holdings OF
high-priced property! The taxes to
conduct the city and county govern
ments, to maintain schools, to build
and repair the roads must be collect
ed from someone. Who pays them?
The man who owns his little home or
the vacant lot or two upon which he
has been planning to build his home
must pay double or triple the amount
which he paid in the times when the
town was prosperous, to make up Tor
the taxes which are not paid now by
the merchants, the bankers, the manu-
facturers and the big property owners
who bore the heaviest burdens of tax
alton when times were good.
The farmers in the country sur
rounding the town are also among tho
heaviest sufferers from the ebbing of
the towns prosperity. A certain
amount of money must be raised by
taxation to provide for the expenses
of the county. Roads must be built
and kept in repair. Bridges must be
built and maintained. Salaries of
county officers must be paid. County
institutions for the care of the sick
and the poor must be maintained In
counties which contain oneor more
thriving towns large proportion OF
the taxes for the county are paid by
the towns. The greater the wealth
of the towns and the higher the prop
erty valuation, the lower the tax levy
for the entire county. When the tax
levy is low the burden placed upon the
farmer is light.
Burden Falls on Farmer
When the county contains no pros
porous and wealthy towns, the greater
part of the burden of taxation for the
county falls upon the farmer. The
value of the farmers property doesn't
fall in proportion to the value OF the
property in the town and the higher
tax levy that results from the lower
property values in the towns .makes
his taxes higher.
The farmer forgets at times that he
is vitally interested in the prosperity
of "his town." He thinks that it is up
to the town to take care of itself and