The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1920-08-09
STATUS Of
CURATIVE
TAX ACT
Lake and VigO Only Counties
That Have Not Legalized
Boards increases

INDIANAPOLIS IND. Aug. 9-Oas-
pite the efforts Of alarmistS 10 make
= appear that the Tuthill- kiper cura-
tive tax act would prove a failure. its
actual operation 50 far proves that
they were wrong and that the meas
IRE is working out satisfactorily
Up 70 the present time all the large
counties with the exception Of Lake
and Vigo have taken action 10 legalize
the 1919 horizontal increases made by
the state board of tax commissioners
tor the purposes of equalizing assess
ments and 10 lessen the burden Of tax
alton Twenty counties have acted un-
der the terms OF the Tuthiil- X per
set This is about one-ffth Of the
counties Of the state The action Of
the majority Of these counties is con
elusive proof that the tax mess caus-
a6 by the decision Of the Supreme court
IN holding the Increases invalid. has
been reduced 20 a minimum by the
special act Of the legislature
Sixteen Of the twenty counties have
ratified the 1919 state board increa Ses
~.ithout making any changes whatever.
These counties are St. Joseph. Allen.
Nandcrhurch. Wayne Randolph. Dear
born Hendricks. Steuben. Decatur.
Owens. Pulaski. Starke. Wells. Pike.
Spencer and Henry. Four counties
have failed 10 ratify or leEaljza the
increases but only two-Johuson and
Shelby-have deliberately wiped out
the increases The other two. Marion
and Boone. have merely revised the
Increases to some extent. hut have
not eliminated them entirely
AS the act Is working out IL seems
that the men who drew the law were
Ger sighted and read Alright the sent
ment OF the peoIse Of Indiana The
ect made it optional for counties 70
.ccept or reject the increases. II was
because Of this optional feature that
some were doubtful OF the results
Thee doubters failed 10 take INTO con
sideration that the men Of the county
boards of review would take the wise
ard sensible view of the situation and
Cor the most part leEalize the increas-
es They saw that in cases where the
boards would fail 70 do this either
from political or other reasons the
local Officials would have TO take on
their own shoulders the responsibility /
for the action.
OF course no matter whether the !
increases Of 1919 are legalized or not I
the result as far as the taxpayers arc
concerned will be the same as a de
finite amount Of taxes must he raised /
sooner or later 20 meet the cost If
government-apd the taxpayers must /
pay IT.
u now appears that less than fifteen
counties will fail 70 legaIize the fn- 4
creeses. In these counties the state
hoard will In all probability apply (
countrywide horizontal increase to
raise the county duplicate up 70 the I
place il was before the increases were
eliminated Thus the county will have
the same duplicate. but the assessment
VIII not be distributed justly as part
OF the increase viii fall on property
on which the state board did not or
der increases last year
The action Of these few counties Will
az course be pointed out by the men
who were friendly to the idea Of hav-
Ing the legislature order straig ht out
egalization as q vindication OF their
stand. Yet these Equalization advoca
res are not taking into consideration
that their course would probably not
have stood q court test. whereas the
Tuthill- K;per method is regarded less
linble 10 fall down under litigation
than any other method
The farmers organization Of Marion
county has made public that 1t will
bring a suit 20 contest the right Of the
boards Of review TO IeGalize the in
creases- IT was this group Of men who
brought the suit which went to the
Supreme court and resulted in the taxi
mess But il is now believed that theyl
have cooled down and it is doubtful
whether they will carry out their
threat Even - they should il is not