The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1926-02-12
TAX COMMISSIONER REPLIES
''''' 70 VALLEY COUNTY ASSESSOR

stock. you state that the Government
5o.t Is on hEcSjacE as of January I
i4-9, included al animals under six
months of age not assessed" I cannot /
conceive why am animal six months ola /
On January iSt and eight months old T
On march lst should not be assessed. In .
act our reports Tor 1925 show that I
there We're 261,I20 coming Zearlinas .,e
se&ae4 ~ Sl.55G654. You also mention .
lnal solac stock is sold and shipped Ouf I
Of the State between January Ist and /
-idteh 49, fCu viii again remember I
az. Boucher, that I took this into con
Slotfat!on. and made 20 per cent dedrc- /
ION Tor stock sold and slaughtered and /
Tor losses from disease or eypOs1Ira ana /
} Still leaves the assessors from 20 per /
cent 10 % per cent short. As a matter /
OF TACT the assessors reports show as
OF March L 1925, less than So per cent
oI me NUMBER shown by the Govern |
a 5nehe report as Of January /, 1925. I
the children's ancient pony or the I
FARMER lads orphan lamb mentioned i'm I
your letter constitute very large per |
USUALLY ON THE TAX ROLLS.
You have mentioned the farmers /
patched overalls and his dollar watch; |
Dut you have failed to mention the lux |
uflouS oriental rugs on the floors the |
Deautltul paintings and draperies on the |
walls, the expensive pianos, phono-
graphs and radio sets in the homes of
the Well-tO-dO and comfortably fixed
resident of this State, and yet records
show that all this property, together
with wearing apparel and jewelry of the
-FOUR members Of the average home in
the state of Montana, is assessed at
$l55 and pays a tax of $40. One
third of these homes are in the coun-
try, two-thirdS in the city hut Won
could eliminate this entire class Of pro-
perty owned in the country and the
average assessment would still be ridi-
culously low. You fail to criticize the
remarks about my belief that stocks
Of merchandise We're under-assessed. If
my belief was well founded, tho proper
assessment of this class of property
surely Will not penalize the farmers
Again. you fail to mention the as
sesSmcnt of that class of property
known as solvent credits In your own
county, for instance. the bank state
ments as of March l, 1925, show that
there was 'On deposit in the five banks
/ of your county $1,387, 900. of which
/ $4,000 was on time and saving de-
pOSitS, being placed in your county
! looking for investments paying better
/ rates of interest than 4 per cent There
/ is undoubtedly considerable capital in
your county invested in notes. stocks
and municipal warrants, and money due
/ on open accounts. and yet in all your
| county you have been able to get less
/ than 100000. If the farmers in your
! county are as destitute as you infer
| clothed only in OVeralls and adorned
/ with dollar watches, being obliged to
/ conduct their farming operations with
old WOrnOut machinery-nO solvent
credits could be assessed to them SO
/ by getting more of this class of pro-
! perty on the rolls you would relieve
their condition to considerable .eX-
have answered your letter quite at
/ length for the reason that l believe you
are labOring under a misapprehensiOn,
/ and for that reason am enclosing
copy Of the manuscript which you Will
remember I followed very closely. This
/ Board does not even hope to be always
/ right, and we grant TO every assessor
/ the right to his own opinions, both as
to valuations and as to the manner of
of his assessment We appreciate let
tiers from the assessors stating their
/ opinions on local tax matters. even
though they differ from ours; we even
invite criticism if offered in q friendly
spirit, but l detect IN your letter a
not played fair with the farmers of the
State You know, Mr.. Boucher or al
least should know, the determined
stand this Board has assumed in the as
seSSmcnt of certain corporations OF TINS
State and some times this was not
pleasant duty. but we did it because we
thought we We're right, and the infer
ence implied in your letter does not
hold out much encouragement Tor q
public official to do his duty. We be
GeVe that all the lands OF TINS state,
both agricultural and city lots, are on
he rolls at near their market value. We
believe that all the property of public
utilities is on the rolls at nearly its
market value. We believe that the net
proceedings of mines, metal. coal and
oil are assessed in accordance with the
constitution and laws of this State. We
believe that many farmers, stOclmen,
merchants, and home owners turn in
all their property to the assessor And
we further believe that in fairness to
} these people their property should not
be obliged to bear any additional bur
den of taxation that rightfully belongs
to property escaping taxation, and
with that end in view we are asking
YOU. as well as every other assessor
in this State, to make special effort
this year to get all the property in your
county on the roll.
, Very truly yours.
J. w. WALKER,
Chairman Montana State Board
Of Equalization