The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1922-04-27
TAXPAYER IS
BETWEEN TWO
CROSS FIRES
National Administration Ham
mering Down Value of His
Services and State Govern
ment Rulers Boosting
Property Values


ministration "hammering down the val
ne Of his services and property" and
the Republican state administration
ard local governments raising the
rates and the assessed valuations" in
order TO meet the deficit in state OPP
Grating costs as the result OF high sal.
aries, extravaganza and waste, the
taxpayer of West Virginia is caught
between cross fires.
That is the opinion OF former United
States Senator William Z. Chiffon,
who has made close study of the tax
situation and who discusses 1t during
the course of an interview with q
Charleston news writer.
In referring to the plan of State Tax
Commissioners Walter S. Hallanan
which IS now being put into effect BY
county assessors, to boost property val
uations at a time when the tax burden
Is especially heavy and the revenue I'M
usually light, by increasing property
assessments with the promise that some
time in the future that state legisla
ture might lower the assessment rate
by authorizing a constitutional amend.
@@NAh AOA NiO ptOPiV ~ 'ObC bpOilt oCI
ator Chiffon says:
Some May Be "Equalized"-
THE word 'eQualizing' has a friend
~ sound, but when it is used for the
avowed purpose of getting more mnoey
for the treasury everything vanishes
but the sound. The taxpayers dread
the lottery of equalization that has
fN,- go ~, ~.
After the process is over, some will bt
'equalized,' some shaken down anc
others black lacked ="
Senator Chiffon says the tax rate
and the tax burden in West Virginia
Have reached the danger point, ever
FOR prosperous times but for these
days of normally they are ringing
alarm bells that spell calamity"
The issues of the coming campaign
have been made, Senator Chiffon saws
In the state, we find the highest tax
oNi ever presented 10 the people, snt
| 1t comes with the apology that more
is needed and with the threat that ii
the assessment now going forward doe.
not produce more, then probably the
legislature will be called into eXtraor
binary session TO provide means foI
meeting a deficit. Since the last legis
lature was Republican, by IL two third.
majority, in both branches, and has
been controlled by that party from
1913 till the present time and never
forgetting that the Democrats have not
controlled both branches since 1892
there is no trouble to fix the blame OF
praise for this condition. When one
examines the pay rolls OF the variOu.
departments, and notes the regularity
and persistence with which salaries
have been raised and new Offices Great
Ell, one of the chief reasons for the
size of the tax bill, the apprehensions
of deficit become apparent The eff
fort to increase valuations on the as
SCISSORS boks is subject to many criti
cisms.
Hammer Down Earning Power
These are days of national de
flation,' promised in the Republican
platform on which Mr.. Harding was
clected-one promise that his admin
I istration has kept. Values are going
down, when measured in money. Now
since the taxpayer must pay in money
he Is shocked at the suggestion thai
the national administration is ham
mering down the value of his services
and property, thereby weakening his
ability to pay, while the state admin.
lstration and the local government.
are raising the rate and the assessed
valuations
Capital is alarmed labor is sick al
heart; the farmer is discouraged: the
business man is forced to wait anc
hope. 1t requires no sage to compre
hend that taxes are sapping what lit
tie life 'deflatiOn' has left in industry
To add to the distress railroad rate.
are so high as to be almost prohibitive
This is the time to reduce, not II
raise salaries, and taxable values ant
rates. Economy is now a joke. The
budget system at Washington has I'm
creased appropriations as Il did ir
West Virginia. Congress, like the leg
islature, has found means to evade IL
Nothing in the way Of appropriation,
has stalled Congress, except the al
lowance to the soldiers, clearly ant
fairly promised them, and justly due
/ them In equity. They fought and risk
ed their lives for our liberty That +.
! all sufficient; but when their pay. az
soldiers, and the average wages o.
those who were not mustered in, are
put side by side, the justice OF theii
| claim rises to the point that precludes
| all arguments, except the total inabil
lily Of the government to pay. Blu.
when one observes that the railroads
owe the government 700 millions foi
borrowed money, and that some of the
railroads are demanding over bill
lion dollars for damages under gov
| eminent control all this talk OF II