The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1920-08-27
WHAT Will YOUR
TAXES BE- NOW?
No Honest Man Need Worry
About The Results of The
Revaluation Act Y

| Utterly false and misleading are the
statements made by certain Federal
Office holder in this city that the valu-
alton of property in Pasquotank under
the Revaluation Act has increased over
333 per cent. The facts are to be
found in the report of the State Tax
Commission and are toe generally avail
| able to need substantiation.
The taxable property in Pasquotank
county in 1919 amounted to $7,621, ,234.
| Under Revaluation in 1920 the tax
able value of all property in Pasquo-
tank county>is $21, ,O31 ,145.
Any school boy can figure it out for
himself that the increase is but little
over 200 per cent, and not over 333
| per cent as averred by E. F. Aydlett.
Now the average increase for the
state is around 200 per cent. That is
the average for the entire state. And
| Pasquotank is not an average county
Pasquotank is above the average coun-
| ty and land values in this county are
greater than in any county in this dis
trict.
An investigation of the results of Re
:
Pasquotank is fairly assessed upon the
tax books in 1920. The kickers are
mostly those rich tax dodgers who find
their property now listed at about four
times what it was previously listed at.
Revaluation hits hard those tax dod-
gers whose property never before went
on the tax books at an honest valua-
ton.
What the average tax payer wants to
know is what his taxes will be this
year, compared to what they were last
year? The total revenue from the en-
tire county last year was $133, ,371 go.
With a ten per cent. increase this year
it will be S146. 7OS.76.
Chairman n Burfoot of the Board of
County Commissioners and District Su-
peryisor p. II. Williams have been do
ing little figuring and they figure that
the tax rate this year will figure out
from S1.10 to S1.25 on the 500 as
against S343 2-3 last year.
There will be no state levy on real
and personal property this year, except
for schools. 1t must also be remem
bered that every tax payer is given an
exemption of $500 on personal proper
ty. This means that thousands of poor
people will pay nothing except their
poll taxes.
How taxes are going to hit you I'M
der the Revaluation Act depends up
on how your property was preiously
listed. Some who have been giving in
honestly in the past will find their tax
es lower. Others will find them higher.
Of course, taxes generally will con-
tinue to be higher. Good roads and
good schools call for bond issues that
must be met by taxation. The tax pay
er must pay for these things, RevaIua-
ton or no Revaluation.
More than a million acres of land il
North Carolina that never paid taxes
before are now on the tax books for
the first time, relieving by so much the
burden that has been carried by those
whose property was always listed. E.
F. Aydlett who is raising such a row
about the 'tinjustices' of Revaluation
may recall that he himself held certain
property for years without paying any
taxes on it. The uncovering of such
hidden property has aroused the wrath
of every tax dodger who ever benefit
ed by the tax methods of former tax
listers.