The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1922-05-27
INSTRUCTIONS
GIVEN TOCOUNTY
REVIEW BOARDS
State Tax Commissioners
Send Out Letter of Ad-
vice; Duties Under Law
Cited.

INDIANAPOLIS, May 27.-Instruc-
lions and advice for county boards
OF review which begin their annu al
sessions June l are contained in a
letter the state board Of tax COM
missioners has sent to the county
oooles. The boards have a certain
amount OF original tax appraistng
10 DO: have to review appraisements
appealed from township assessors,
and also have TO harmonic tax val
uatlons in various parts of the coun-
ties. Members or representative of
the state board will visit tho county
boards from time to time How tax
payers property should be apprais-
ed by the county boards and other
procedure regarding the fixing Of
appraisements are explained in the
letter as follows:
There is no more important work
to be done by any public officer in
the state than now devoIves upon
you in bringing about a correct val
uation OF property in your county
The law makes it your duty to cor
rect all errors in the names of per
sous, IN the description CT the prop
erty upon said lists, in the assess
ment and valuation of property
thereon, and shall cause to be done
whatever else may be necessary to
make said lists and returns of as
sesSments comply with the provi-
sions OF this act. The board shall
pass upon each valuation and enter
the values as fixed by 1T in a sep
arate column. The board may, on
sufficient cause being shown, or on
its own action, correct the assess
ment OF valuations OF any property
in such manner as will in its
judgment make the valuation there
OF tust and equal
POWER To EQUALIZE yALU-
ATOMS.
The law further says that your
board shall also have the power to
eoualize the valuations made by the
assessor either by adding to or de-
Quoting therefrom such sums Is are
necessary TO fix the assessment at
the true cash value. Such equa1i-
zation can affect any class of prop
erty
from the different townships and
see that there is equality among
the townships in your county. If
any township assessors valuations
appear to be too low, you should
not hesitate to make such adjust
ment that each township will bear
its proper part of the tax burden.
The great bulk Of the taxes are
those levied by the smallest units
Edvnty and state taxes are very
Inrch less than the tax collected in
.hn township, or city, or town for
local purposes.
You should examine the domestic
corporation reports and the supple
isentary information and ascertain
whether all the information requir-
ed by these forms is given and we
urge upon you to see that an as
sessment as is required by law is
made in your county. 1t is your
duty to see that all property in
your county Is assessed at not more
or less than its true cash value.
In the assessment of all real es-
tate you should be governed by Sec
ton LAP of the tax law. which pro-
vides that all real estate shall be
valued az its full true cash value.
which Is the price it would bring
at a fair voluntary private sale.
not a forced or sheriff's sale
SOME HAVE ERRONEOUS IDEAS.
Some taxpayers have the enron
eous idea that valuations in the
eous idea that valuations fix the
amount OF the taxes they pay. The
spend In other words, the question
valuation only fixes the basis on
which the tax rate is estimated, and
the rate depends upon the amount Of
money the officers are going to
of taxation is: How much money
shall we spend? The real time to
limit the amount of the taxes is
when the budget is prepared by the
local officers and submitted to the
public the last week in August. Tax
rates are fixed the first week in
September"