Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1930-10-02
Historical Library
HELENA, Mont.
Voters Entitled To
Know The Facts

Perhaps there is as little real UNI
Outstanding of the matter of taxation
as any subject that confronts the pub
lie. As the question of taxes is much
discussed in almost every campaign,
it is not amiss to attempt to spread at
least a little information regarding
this much talked of matter. 1t is a
discussion that can with all reason
be included under the general cap
ton, 1.-THE Voters Are Entitled to
Know the Facts
There are five separate and distinct
agencies that have the power to i'm
pose taxes upon the public. They are
the state legislature of Montana, the
board of county commissioners, city
councils, boards of trustees of school
districts, and improvement district Of
ficials. The tax levy for state purposes
is determined wholly by the state
legislature at Helena. This year it was
4 1-3 mills. The board of county COM
missioners nor any other agency has
anything to do with that much of the
tax burden. In its turn the board Of
county commissioners levies taxes SUI
ficient to meet the running expenses
of the county They are supreme in
that regard insofar ~ they do not ex-
coed certain restrictions City councils
determine the tax levy for incorpor-
ated towns and cities, and the boards
Of trustees Of school districts do the
same for the various schools of the
county. In neither city nor school dis
trict levies do the county commission
ers have anything to say about the
amount of the tax levy.
There Is another phase Of this sub
ject that is little understood by the
general public. It has to do with sums
levied by improvement districts with
in cities and by other districts such
rs irrigation districts or fire districts.
Take for example improvement dis
tricts within the city of Libby, and
the same condition exists in all other
cities. A certain number of citizens de-
eide they want to build cement side
walks, or construct sewer system, or
sprinkle or oil their streets, or perhaps
gravel the streets IS was done several
years ago. In every such instance the
property owners are first allowed to-
take stand for or against mourning the
indebtedness, and before work can be-
gin on the proposed improvement and
the improvement district organized. at
least 81 per cent of the property own
erMnust be in favar Of it. If enough of
the property owners are in favor of the
improvement, the work proceeds and
certain stipulated sums are assessed
against the property over series Of
years to pay for the improvement The
law provides that these payments shall
be made to the county treasurer at the
same time taxes are paid For that rea-
son people get to feeling that payments
on those various improvements are
taxes, when as a matter of fact they
are not They are not levied to meet
expenses of running city or county
governments These payments have
been placed upon the citizens by the
citizens themselves and are not taxes
in the true sense of the word. City or
county officials have nothing to do
with responsibility for levying those
expenses. They are expenditures voted
upon the public by the property own
efs for desired improvements.
Conditions and procedures are large
ly similar in irrigation and fire dis
tricts The interested property owners
want an irrigation system constructed
or they want protection from fire haz-
ard They vote the expense thereof
upon themselves. In northern Lincoln
county there is an irrigation district
and Rexford and Fortine have fire
districts. Payments to meet those ex-
penses are made at the same time taxes
are paid, but they are not really taxes.
For these reasons, citizens should
recognize that there is big differ
ence in what they are paying for actual
taxes and what goes for improvements.
Very frequently the sums paid for
sidewalks or sewers or sprinkling or
for fire protection are much greater
than is being paid for the running ex-
penses of their government The
cost of these improvements they have
voted upon themselves.
They should also recognize that no
one set of men have the levying of
taxes That state taxes are levied by
the Montana state legislature, county
taxes by the county commissioners,
city taxes by city councils,
school taxes by the various school