Mexico weekly ledger., 1922-02-02
THE TAX QUESTION

according to their own figures an
worth an average of over 500 pei
acre. They, therefore, paid taxes OF
i 229e Of their real values.
On the other hand, Davies County
paid taxes in 1920 on $2413 per acre
Worth on $2436; ANDREW on 1864
Caldwell on $26.53; Dekalb on $15.53i
Jasper on $3245; Jackson on $S4.s0i
j St. Louis County on $134.00. All Of
these counties paid on larger valua.
tons per acre than Saline and La
fsyette, and yet it will be admitted
that the latter has relatively the best
land.
Again while Saline and Lafayette
was paying on $22 per acre or on
about 229c of their real values, Shan
non County paid on $5.54 per acre or
S0@e of its value; Taney County paid
on S7.57 per acre or 85@S of its value;
Dade County paid on $12.45 or 500
of its value; Lawrence County paid
on $14.00 per acre or 500 of its
value. Instances can be multiplied.
Will anyone contend that this was
justice in taxation.
1 The third reason for true valuation
is that the people of the rural dis
tricts of Missouri must have the bene-
fit of the full assessment Of their
property IN order to support their
own counties, improve their own
counties, improve their own roads and
maintain their own schools.
For years we have heard people talk
about the tax hobbies Of the Missouri
State Constitution. They said that
the tax limitations written into the
Constitution Of 1875 would not permit
the raising of enough money by local
taxation to build bridges and roads,
and school houses, and they were cor
rect as long as property was assessed
at small proportion Of its value.
But when property was placed at its
true value, those tax hobbies disap-
peared. This is what true value as
sessment means to the State. It does
not increase taxes single penny, but
it nearly doubles the assessed valua-
ton of the State, so that the people
of the various cities, counties and
school districts can, of by their votes
they so elect increase taxes to build
roads, bridges and schools. True val
uatiOn of property unshackles the
people of the state, and puts in their
hands the power to have the kinds of
roads, bridges and schools they elect
to have.
True valuation puts local self gov
ernment in the hands of the people.
They can do what they themselves de-
sire to have done. The fact that the
county courts and the school boards
increased taxes generally indicates
that they need more support. If the
Court and the school board are wrong
(they are of all taxing bodies closest
to the people, the people can elect
new ones to do what the people want
done. To deny that the people can do
this is to deny the whole theory of
local self government.
The average rural school has a
term 1915 days long, the average
town school 171.5 days long. The
rural school uses the system of alter
mating grades and stops at the eighth
grade. The town schools teach each
grade separately, including four
grades in the high school. The rural
school has one room, one teacher,
scant curricula, small equipment, prac-
tically no laboratory or library. The
town school has eight to twelve rooms,
the same number of teachers, wider
curricula, good equipment, libraries,
laboratories, vocational training, etc.
The boys and the girls of the country
have not been getting an equal chance
in life because they have not had an
equal educational opportunity.
The average rural school district
has less than two hundred people in
it. Let's see what it would mean to
st. Louis if the school system in St.
Louis was on the same basis as it is
in the average rural county. In st.
Louis they have magnificent system
Of schools, not perfect, but by all
means one Of which they can be
proud, consisting of its grade schools,
its high schools, its vocational train
ing opportunities, and SO on, and
why? Because st. Louis taxes as one
school district the property Of $780,
600 people, all in one district. To
place St. Louis on the same plane as
a rural county, divide st. Louis into
school districts of 200 people. That
would give st. Louis not one district,
but 1000. Instead of the magnificent |
system of schools st. Louis now has,
there would be 1000 one-room school
1000 school boards, 1000 independent
teachers. Instead of great school
buildings, with laboratories and lib
raries give to st. Louis the one room
school house, with its scanty curri-
culum, and its poverty of equipment,
and ! venture the assertion that st.
Louis would be little better than q
whistling station inside Of 10 years.
People would not live there; they
would go as so many farmers have