Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1934-06-14
To the Voters and
Taxpayers

The following is the speech l made
at Askov on June 6, 1884, and these
are some of the principals l believe
in and will work FOR If l am elected
to the State Legislature.
Agriculture is the foundation of
our prosperity and the people of Pine
county depend entirely on the farmer.
If he is prosperous, everybody else
will be. The laboring man, the bust
ness man and the professional man
all depend upon the success of the
farmer, so when l say farmer 1 mean
everybody in the county.
The farmers interests has always
been neglected at our state and ma
tiOnal capitals, because we have but
very few farmers there to represent
our interests and it is our own fault.
We have a privilege to vote which is
one of the greatest privileges that we
have, so let us use this power and
elect men to represent us in our law
making bodies who are men from our
own ranks farmers, taxpayers, and
men who know best the economic con-
ditions of our county.
OF course no government nor law
will make people honest, intelligent,
thrifty or ambitious, but we must
pass laws that will equalize the bur-
den of taxation and shift part Of this
load on those who are more able to
pay, such as gross earnings, inheri-
lance and large incomes.
Taxation is our biggest, if not the
whole problem. Times are changing
and tax laws are the same, and do
not fit present day conditions.
For example, if you have $1,000 in
moneys and credits you will pay a
rate of 80 cents per hundred or So
in taxes. You invest this same $1,000
in personal property here in Askov
where you have a tax rate of 1O4.5
mills and you will pay tax of $34.83
on this same money. Now gentlemen,
there is no justice in such a law, but
that's the very law that our taxation
is based upon.
There is no incentive for a man to
own or improve any property any
more because we are being taxed out
of existence. Our tax laws must be
revised and adjusted so that the
farmer and real estate owner pays a
tax rate somewhere near that of the
man with moneys and credits and
then you will have no delinquent
taxes.
Pine county is nearly so per cent
delinquent. Why? Because we killed
the goose that laid the golden egg
with just such laws as l mentioned.
We levied in 1882 for all purposes,
state, county, schools and municipal
tiles $574,S75. We collected $312,224.
This leaves uncollected taxes for that
year $261,657. The total uncOllected
taxes in Pine county on Jan. 1, 1894
was $1,363,351. If we could collect all
delinquent taxes in Pine county we
would not have to levy penny's worth
of taxes for three years. The total
| uncOllected taxes in the state of Min
nesOta on Jan. 1, 1884 was $72,138,161.
Now, we will say it's our schools
that makes our taxes so high. Sure
it is. The school tax rate here in
Askov is So mills. More than half of
our tax money goes to our schools.
The state tells you what kind Of
school you must have and how to run
| them and the state should also pay
to maintain them.
Some years ago our state legisla-
ture put an occupational tax on iron
ore. Money collected from this tax
| several millions should have
| gone into the state school fund where
it belonged and same would have re-
duced our school tax.
| Instead this money went into the
revenue fund and the state spends it
for other purposes which are not near
as essential as our schools are. The
state legislature must divert more of
this money collected from the occu-
pational tax, gross earnings and in
come tax into the school fund which
will give us relief in our school taxes.
thus reducing our taxes.
Our governments expense must be
reduced and can be reduced if favor
able laws are passed. For example,
under the law we must re-aSsess the
real estate property every two years
and this could be done every four or
six years and this county would save
approximately $4,000 every two years
and you would have more uniform
assessment. After the tax books are
equalized and adjusted by the equal
ization board the valuation would be
the same for fOur or six wears. This
way you change it every two years.
could cite more such instances but
space does not permit.
Now with my past experience of
II years on the county board in county
matters l am sure that l am more
able to represent you in our state
legislature than those who have had
no practical experience in our county
matters.