Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-09-19
|FAVORS COUNTY
/ ASSESSOR PLAN
Converse Satisfied That Bet.
ter Results Would Come
e.tr De- r. ,A"1i

~ VI S"O
North Dakota legislature will have to,
consider, II Tax Commissioner &C.
Converse has his way about it, is the
establishment Of a system Of county
assessors, Mr.. Converse favors a
change from the present system as a
basis of getting a good assessment for
all parts Of a given county, and Of
possibly a greater coordination of the
assessments Of all the counties of the
state.
The assessment must he good before
any board or set of boards can make
a good equalization, declares Mr.. Con-
verse.
If the assessor performs his work
we'll, then the work of the other off,
Gals having to do with taxation is
easy" declares the tax commissioner.
If his work is badly done, it be-
comes practically impossible for any
other official or board to correct his
mistakes. He,l more than any othcr
official, may put the ak into tax or take
the ak out of tax. True, boards of re-
view pass upon his work, but they
have very little opportunity. compare
lively. to make the assessment just
and fair. l do not believe it is pos
sible for any board of review to trans
form a very bad assessment into a very
good one. AS for county boards Of
equalization and the state board Of
equalization, it is not even in the
realm of possibility for them TO &C.
complish such a ira nsformation. The
reason for this lies in the Limitation
upon their power and the nature Of
the problem which confronts them.
The county board is obliged to raise
or lower valuations by taxing districts.
In raising a given township, their ac-
ton increases some valuations which
are already too high in the effort to
raise others which are too low. 1t is
the conscientious citizen who is thus
penalized for his honesty and fairness.
Generally the same inequalities exist
In the valuations after the board of
equalization has performed its work as
existed when the assessor turned over
his books to the board of review. 1t
Is to the assessor We must look for; a
fair assessment; and, without "a fair
assessment, 1t is impossible. fairly to
apportion the burden of assessment
Hard to Get Able Men.
MIR. Converse then went on to show
how large a number of assessors were
employed in the course Of the year, of
and the small wage for the work show
ing how impossible it was to get men
of expert qualifications for the short
period of employment.
"In the nature Of the problem
questions Mr.. Converse. "how can the
voters expect satisfactory results In
assessment when. on n county. there
nay be fifty different men engaged in
the task of assessing the property,
each working Independently Of the
others? Suppose each assessor does
his level best. Suppose that each as
SCISSOR were free from all considera-
tions Of favoritism of ingratiatina
himself with this or that faction
which may be powerful in the political
affairs Of the city Of the community
tons. you would still have fifty differ
ent standards OF valuation, for valua-
ton is at best, a matter Of opinion
Mr.. Converse has many arguments
for the single assessor for a county.
"One argument for the single assessor
is that he would bring to the sork
one standard Of values but the meas.
ure of value would be uniform. and
uniformity is the attribute which is OF
supreme Importance. With valuations
for the entire county measured by the
same ! individuals opinion, there
should be little occasion for changes
gby the local boards of review. and
probably no occasion for changes by
state board Of equalization might still
have occasion to make changes. but
such changes as they have power tC
make, can affect only the distribution
Of the burden of the state tax, which
is only a small portion of the total
tax"
Suggestion that in the single asses