Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-04-20

with tho roads and bridges of Kent
of Sussex county. Moreover. the
road engineer has taken a large part
Of this work from the shoulders Of
tho Levy Court.
better Assessment System.
as 10 the assessment. the now
system has brought "A distinct and de-
cIded improvement. Several years
ago T had occasion to make a person
al examination into the assessment
lists OF Kent county. ! found that
the assessment varied from district
20 district between 25% and 1909 Of
the true value. The inequality was
glaring and ubiquitous. Marked Inn
provement had been made In the
right direction prior to last year but
II Is pretty generally conceded that
the abolition Of the district assessor
and the creation Of n Board Of As
seasrnent Of three persons has been a
decided success. There is one fea-
ture OF tho new assessment system,
however. land this feature also exists
In the Sussex county plan; was I'm
fact adopted from Sussex which /
believe TO be wholly bad-requiring
the individual property owner to
value his own property for taxation
purposes. 1 am fully aware Of the
fact that this feature has jealous
advocates. and that some OF them
oven 90 80 far as 10 ascribe 20 II
alone the Improvement in the Kent
and Sussex assessment. / am opposed
En- 10 nrrf ~ MI hNr.. a. a.. kol
morals. II penalties moral honesty.
II puts a premium on moral dis
honesty. II lowers tho standard OF
civic duty. II breeds suspicion and
disgust. This Is a train OF evils
Yes. but IT is the natural offspring OF
such legislation.
I'm tho fret place. what In tho use
Of having this private valuation OF
ones property II there is to b,
a Board of Assessment II the valua.
ton IL TO be accepted by the board
why have the board? II the board 4
not TO depend upon this private valua
ton but upon their own jpdxrnen,
why have the valuation But even 1
the private valuation were helpful {,
making a proper ASSIGNMENT, tho pric
"DRaa w WV ehfhA@ iI~ufIitolhtelY Una
a man asks himself what ampun n
shall give in 20 the Assessment Boar
as the value OF his property, imme
= diately the thought occurs 10 him tina
the amount he will have to pay In IN
7 way OF taxes may depend upon TN
conclusion no reaches. The board ma
> accept his valuation. II they do. IN
lower he puts II tho less WIN be HI
Tux. Ono thing seems pretty sure
Els not likely hat the Board will reduc
"A MS assessment below the figure tbs
; he himself has indicated win be en-
isfactory 70 him. / believe the Ker
county oesessore claim that they hay
= in fact done this In some Instance
y but such have been few ar
u the average man will hardly recko
o upon so uncertain a favor. Ever
temptation is, therefore,, on the 81,
e or the owes possible personal va
o uation.
& Valuation Of Property.
!, Arrived at this stage, Il Is n
= long before arguments in favor Of
" low valuation suggest themselves
" the property owner II n not III
the return Of income or OF busine
transactions. Those arc matters whe
the results r fixed and certain WI
o. respect to them. 81 n a clear que
- ton between truth and ~faisehood. Il
with respect 10 tho true value
!" real property. there IL room FOR arg
ment and for casuistry. How does d
property owner know what his pro
I. erty is worth? True he would n
" want TO sell below n certain fz,1,
- u perhaps he could not get ID
i hgure. Is II fair that he should set
valuation that he does not know
- could realize in a lie? Perhaps
mas made some expensive improy
9 ments. Shall he add their cost In I
VaiutionP How does he know he co,
get the money out OF them7 AT,
& all they were not made with he Id
of capitalizins their expense. w
ct then put their whole cost In the G
- sessfnentf Suppose he would not Ia
~, such and such a price for his Orc
erty. Is not thai partly due to sen
WI mentaI reasons, and should sentim,
be assessed? -
Ana so the argument with htms
AZ goes on; a dozen different arxl,rna,
CT each for a dozen different cases.
he gives In TO the temptation and
III turns an amount lower than he wol
nave said bis property was worth
lN ltS assessment was not under .,
~ SHERATON. he and the State have b,
US lost something. He has lowered
10, Of civic duty. His civic =,
All science Will be less sensitive I'm otI
matters as Well.
10 II he does not give In 70 the ten
y taton. but returns the higher val,
~ ton. he is curious to find out n
his neighbors and others have wi
~ stood the temptation. He hscor
y suspicious. He finds out hat OIL
men nave returned q lower amo,
-, than he thinks they should. 7
opinion OF thu integrity OF his neis
pors Is lowered. His confidence
-, human nature has received a sho,
q. Since this law went into egfec,
90 nave heard the character OF men on,
toned Il believe ~unjustly) in k
ana sussex counties who before WI
81 held IN universal esteem. This
a heavy price 20 pay for such a IA
and am convinced that the gene
good calls for the repeal OF these D,
- sonal valuation provisions.
The question OF the single tax C
%lector. tho county receiver OF taxes.
- The several district collectors. is
mooted one. We have not vet n
lime 20 test Il out IA Kent. But
am inclined 20 think that this m.
-, ter Of tax collection is one for VIII.
thu Levy Court itself Is prlncipa
responsible. IL the condition Of