Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-06
REAL TORS ADOPT
new TAX SYSTEM
Old Method of Assessment
Replaced by Hired
Agents.

s The old-fashioned assessor who tilted
back his chair, chewed on the end of
his pencil and, without venturing from
bis office, set property values for the
purpose of taxation, is being moved
from his comfortable seat In cities
throughout the country, according to
the National Association of Real Estate
boards.
s:He is being replaced by alert young
measuring, figuring, comparing and
testing. and the old hit-and-guess
method OF making assessments, under
which some taxes were fair and some
were not, is being supplanted by SCI
entific methods that can be proven by
any one who can add and 2, the
association declares.
:. Fifty thousand property owners in
Chicago last year refustd to pay their
taxes on the basis that their. assess
Ir1ents were unfair, and Chicago is now
engaged In a vast re-aSSeSSment of all
property In the county at q cost that
viii exceed half million dollar. In
Cleveland, Ohio, one Of the first cities
to install scientific method of prop
serty assessment, only 90 complaints
came before the Board Of Review in
the past IL months.
But the situation in Chicago was so
serious that the Chicago Clearing House
Association, representing business in
Sterests, raised fund Of $250,000 to re-
!organiZe the system of assessing In
Cook County, Ill. The Board of AS
SCISSORS did not have the funds with
which to undertake this work, and the
business interests gave it to them, 1t is
reported.
Discuss Unfair Assessments.
II enough people failed to pay their
taxes on the basis that assessments
Bwere unfair, city could go broke. but
shusinesslike methods of computing
takes will fill Government Golfers and
reduce take rates at the same time says
Harry S. Cutmore, In charge of the
srevaluation work for the Chicago area
and author of the new permanent sys-
ITEM there.
Under this system, which is similar
to the method used in Cleveland and
other progressive cities, any citizen with
a pencil and paper can assess any prop
serty anywhere" says Mr.. Cutmore, land
this alone will silence much of the
grumbling that has been heard from
perplexed property owners in the past
IN Cook County in the past whether
assessments were high or low, the prop
ierty owner did not have the least idea
how the figure handed to him was COM
puted. Now he can not only figure his
own assessment, but he can also figure
his neighbours.
1.-The old depth rule has been discard
ed and the Chicago system is predicated
on a uniform standard unit foot, which
is strip of land one foot wide and 125
feet deep, located in the middle OF an
imaginary block without corner or other
influence. Lots of greater or less depth
than the standard unit are graded ac-
icording to standard depth table and
uniform rates for calculating corner,
alley or any other enhancing or de-
stracting influences are provided. The
result will be that properties exactly
alike in different parts of the city viii
he treated precisely the same.
City Is Zone.
I'm the work in Chicago the city is
divided into A districts. Committees
lof real estate men enter on maps pro-
vided by the assessor values they be-
1ieve are fair for land in the district.
This is done on the assumption that
such men. who have done business in
these localities for many years, know
more about the fair valuation of land
than any one the city officials could
consult.
"These figures will be presented to
the Board of Assessors, who will re-
view the work of the real estate men
and probably approve the price they
establish. Then these prices will be
published in pamphlet form and dis
stributed in each district as tentative
unit prices for the land, and taxpayers
generally will have the opportunity to
revive and Judge whether or not these
prices are uniformly correct Hereto
fore the property owner wishing to COM
pare his assessment with other assess
tnentS had to visit the assessors office
and examine the tax rolls.
III Nov, after the publication and dis
Etribution of the tentative values, COM
Ipfice or at community meetings before
the final unit prices are established.
81 But it is in the work Of assessing
the improvements the buildings on the
land, that has SO greatly puzzled the
layman, and 1t is in this work that the
Chicago system is so highly developed.
Not because 1t looks like the house
in which the assessors cousin lives In
! Peoria, but because it contains so many
square feet, because it cost so much to
build and would cost so much more to
Reproduce today, because 1t can be ex-
spected to last so much longer or because
1t has porch, 1t is worth exactly 50
much now.
u Employees Appraise Buildings.
x Eight hundred and fifty men are
traveling up and down the streets of
Chicago examining with experienced
eyes the millions Of buildings that are
being reassessed. These are men who
have been In the building trades and ap-
praisers and engineers who know little
about politics and great deal about
valuation, and they are setting new val-
aies on 10000 properties day.
First come the meaSiirers, who cal
culate the dimensions Of each structure
and enter their figures on cards that
are passed on to the 'pricers,' the APP
! praisers and engineers. The pricers
work from manual prepared as q part
of the Chicago system, which contains
carefully selected illustrations Of typical
/ properties, ranging from modern ONE
buildings to modest cottages. For exc
ample. on one sheet Of this manual are