Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1925-11-05

included In Valudtion' a., the
strike YOU as peculiar that IN tns
FACE OF the law, q practice has been
~ onenly and commonly tndulseo ~
that IL is taken for granted 70 W
legal? And further, the very 1ac.
that the State Assessors have iol
many years past included sucn
question in their Valuation hetu ILL.,
seems to sanction such an act.
The speaker went on to give eA
amples Of this exemption whlcn nau
come to his notice and in CLOSING
said, perhaps the largest lnJust'oe
that arises through this practice %
illegal exemption is the loss 10 LIZ
state and county of taxable Vaiua-
tion. The annual report of the State
Board of Assessors for the year IeI4
shows that nearly one and q quarter
million dollars worth of property -
exempted by the vote OF towns OF
by the assessors. This figure Is iaI
below the correct sum for IN the
statements furnished to me py tne
local assessors Of some OF the Towns
and cities, 1t Is found that at least
a half million is omitted. II all OF
the illegally exempted property was
added to the valuation, the state ana
county tax of many communltles
would be materially reduced. Inc
amount of Illegally exempted prop
erty in various towns and. cities as
reported, range as high as a sum
equal to Ave per cent Of the tax
valuation. Shall we continue to
transgress the law and cause many
innocent persons to help pay the
penalty?"
Raymond A. Quint of Limerick was
to have been a speaker at the morn
ing session but he was unable to be
present and the speech by Mr.. Fur
bush was the only one to be delivered
at that time. The remainder of the
morning session was taken up with
| discussion of the paper by Mr.. Fur
bush and with other discussion. The
meeting was about equally divided on
the subject of the granting Of exemp-
lions by towns, a portion feeling that
the industry by locating in the town
might confer enough benefit upon the
town as whole to make up for the
loss in taxes.
| The question of the exemption of
| fraternal organizations was also taken
I'D and although the opinion was al
most unanimous that these organiza-
lions should be exempted. there was
at least one man present who felt that
fraternal organizations and even
churches should be taxed.
A committee consisting Of G. w. Q.
Perham of Woodstock, j. A. Cunning
ham of Ellsworth and G. A. Chamber
lain of Winslow was appointed at this
session to report the slate OF officers,
which was done at the afternoon ses-
sion and the report was accepted and
the officers elected.
Forrest H. Colby
Seventy-ei eight percent of the State
Of Maine is covered with forest
growth. This approximates 10000
! 900 acres, about 100000 acres OF
which are located in wild lands or
unorganized towns or plantations.
| and about 100000 acres in the towns
and organized plantations. A lit
| tie over one-half Of the so-called
farm land Is covered with forest.
The taxation of this forest growth
| Is one of the most important subjects
| for discussion in the State OF Maine
today. probably standing second TO
| that of water powers. The question
before us is to meet this subject In a
! fair and equitable manner for both
the owner of the forest property and
other property owners in the towns
| 1t is believed by many that this for
| est growth is not assessed proper
| tionately. If I were Chairman of the
| State Assessors would send to every
board of local assessors letter in
sisting that they have the timber
| lands in their respective towns
| cruised and valued by some expert.
In my own town, we have found
that many lots were not valued with
in 1870 of their real value, and that
very few We're over valued. During
the last year and half we have
looked very carefully into the valua-
ton Of these forest lands and have
on file in our Office report of every
lot in the town with its value, and
| from this have made the assessments
Owing to tho type Of property under
| discussion, it is necessary to use ex-
| IRENE care that the owner is not
driven to, cut the growth before it
! natures.
! At the present time, there is con-
/ siderable talk about the so-called
! stumpage or excise tax of lumber.
| The basis of this tax is that the tim
| Der shall not be taxed until 1t is cut.
| This has been tried in other states
and in foreign countries. Several
| years ago, a bill to this effect came
before the House, but was turned
down by the taxation committee. A
| bill of this nature would have to be
worked in gradually as 1t would be
difficult to obtain sufficient revenue
to run the town until the time came
to cut the timber. There is in ex-
istance now the so-called Auxiliary
State Forest Law under which an
owner can place his land by confer
ring with the Forest Commissioner
and local assessors. At the present
time, approximately ten individuals
or concerns have listed their lands
under this law.
II / were to leave a message with
you. / would insist that you have
your timberlands cruised. not going
at it in haphazard way, but by call
ing in expert authority. A town
could we'll afford to hire one or two
expert timber cruisers for a period
OF at least two months.
Evening Session
In an interesting talk Wednesday
evening on Taxation of Musical In
struments and Automobiles, w. A.
Kicker of Castine urged a constant val
uation on this type of personal prop
erty throughout the state. He declared
that he felt 1t perfectly feasible TO
place the valuation of piano at one
half its cost at retail for the first year
md to reduce this valuation the sec
ond and third years so that when tax
ed the fourth year the valuation on an
instrument costing up to $500 would
be 800. with proportionate increase