New Britain herald., 1923-01-02
Records Also Show That
Non-Residents Own Prop
erty Here Worth s245.-
$3.50.

1
made Il possible for a certain eonnee
tieut town TO obtain from the stat
during the past year. enough fund
for It's schools 10 pay is,sl per cen
of all its other annual expenses, wa
made in the report OF State Tax Com
missioner William II, Blodgett, mad'
public yesterday
The town is not named in the re
port, but the amount of Its grand lis
for the year 1871 is given as s5ss,sss
on the ground that the report OF th'
local assessors said that land and
buildings were assessed on a basis Of
! rs per cent of fair valuation, tbs
grand list was raised to ssse,sis b,
/ the state board for equalization. leaN'
| Ing the town In the class 10 receive
from the state 60 per cent of the
amount paid 10 its teachers In the
year preceding. II also became en-.
titled thereby TO the special aid hu-
| thorized TO be paid within the disere'
ton OF the state board OF education
A tax OF go mills levied by the town
on its grand list as reporad was cal
culated to raise sib.644.s4 for all
purposes. II received s6,7i3.39 or
42.9i per cent OF the amount, from
the state on the basis OF the teachers
salary grant for the school year ended
In July. 1922. Since Commissioners
Blodgett's report was written the
town referred to has requested ss22.-
CO from the state In special aid for
its schools. and received s29s.i9.
III this towns grand list were
raised TO a full valuation, leaving q
small margin for conservative action.
its grand list would amount TO 81.
1884" says the commissioner. and
Il would be raised out of the class to
receive school aid. special or other
wise, under the provision OF Chapter
$50 of the Public Acts OF 1919. Fur
thermore 1t would be placed In the
class of towns entitled to receive
highway aid which pays one-fourth
the cost of state aid construction. in
which pays one-eighth of such cost"
1T is of importance that the state
deal equitably with all towns in the
distribution of state aid money" says
the commissioner in his report, but
it is of first importance that the dele
gated power to tax the inhabitants of
the state for local needs be exercised
with painstaking care to the end that
each taxpayer shall be required to
bear his fair share of the public bur
den under the law. Avoidable injus-
tice in the application of any tax law
is intoierable."
New Plan Necessary
Pointing out that the total proper
ty levy for the state. which was last
made and reported to his office, be-
ing that of 1921, amounted to s44,-
655,476.1O, the commissioner recon-
mends that some plan should be de-
vised at the forthcoming session OF
the general assembly by which the
work of care free taxing officials may
be reviewed and corrected He holds
that the work of raising forty odd
million of dollars annually is OF suffi
cient importance to fully justify the
creation, in each county, OF board
to which any taxpayer, Whether as
grieved by reason of his own assess
ment, or by reason of the failure OF
local taxing officials to observe the
statutory rule of valuation with re-
spect to the property of any other
taxpayer of the town wherein he re-
sides may take appeal. by keeping
in close touch with the work OF the
assessors in the towns of the counties
wherein they respectively may have
jurisdiction" says the report, such
boards may serve to equal1ze the ta&
burdens among taxpayers. correct
abuses and relieve, to a large extent,
the exercise of power now centralized
extensively in the board of equaliza-
ton" which is composed of the tax
commissioner, comptroller and treas
urer of the state. No solution of the
problem of procuring anything like
equitable assessments of property, OF
euuitably distributing state money
among the towns on the basis OF
grand lists, is expected by Commits
sioner Blodgett 80 long as the re-
sponsibility of fixing property values
for purposes Of assessment is lodged
as at present each town board OF as
SCISSORS interpreting the law different
ly from every other"
NONRESIDENT Holdings
Non residents are shown in the re-
port to be in possession of property
valued at S245,5S7,610, out Of the to-
tai valuation of $1,962,763,6S1 of all
taxable property in the state, as
shown by the last Connecticut grand
list, that of 1921.
That the owners of 1888 motor
vehicles in the state apparently es-
capped taxation last year, that five
towns have not complied with the
statutory requirements of genera
revaluation OF property, that double
exemptions from taxation were dis
covered in some towns and personal
tax delinquencies in New Haven and
Bridgeport all out of proportion to-
the delinquencies in other towns, arc
disclosed in the report.
Based on a careful investigation in