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Show STATE EQUALIZERS . 1 ISSUESniEMEHT .B p, Paper Is Formulated in 1 View of Rebelliousness of Cache Valley. THREATS ARE DENIED ri .t No Discrimination Against " Farmers in Assessments rn hi Is Contemplated. ti CM , ,(- . The state board of equalization yes-c.g yes-c.g terday issued a formal statement, re-' re-' plying to charges made at a mass meeting meet-ing of Cache county citizens in Logan Thursday, that the hoard had threaten threat-en ' ened to sue the Cache county assessor if he under-assessed property. nj That meeting was presided over by iV. Olaf Cronquist, who had been the lead- er of the Taxpayers' league movement, 01 iu opposition to the increase in farm ;j valuations under the amended tax r code. Resolutions adopted pledged the f; support of Those present for the assessor, as-sessor, as against the board of eqiiall-I eqiiall-I zation. j 5' The board of equalization comprises , r William Bailey, president; Harden j Bennion and Amos S. Gubbott. The I board's statement has the approval of ell three members and was issued by l' them as a board, as follows: i For nearly two months past numer al ous signed articles have appeared in the Cache county newspapers criticising criti-cising the state board of equalization for its efforts to secure the assessor assess-or nient of property at its full value. We a have no desire to attempt to answer these articles? in detail, nor to enter Into any newspaper controversy with 'I Mr. Woodward, county assessor, Mr. e Cronquist, or anyone else. However, ci we feel that grave misunderstanding t are being created in the minds of the V taxpayers and thai it is our duty to make clear our position. No Threats Made. j To begin with, neither the board nor ,r any of its members has ever Instruct-c Instruct-c ed your county assessor to assess any land in Cache county at $250 per acre, notwithstanding the fact that it has abundant proof that there are many v ' tracts worth that sum per acre; j neither has it, nor any of its members, mem-bers, threatened to sue the assessor i on his bond if he fails to assess land i at tne ngure named we nave sam ( to Mr. Woodward and to all other county assessors in the state, publicly 4 and privateiy. that all property must ( be assessed at its fair cash value, as required by law; and, in the presence pres-ence of Mr. Woodward and other gen-a gen-a tlemen, when the question was asked j as to what could be done with an as-r- sessor (not Mr. Woodward, but any assessor) who refused to comply with ! the law on the subject under discussion, discus-sion, the questioner was referred to sections 2555 and 2556 of the Complied fi Laws of Utah, which are as follows: "2555. The assessor and his sureties sure-ties are liable on his official bond for 4 all taxes on property within the coun-, coun-, ty which through his wilful failure or neglect is unassessed. or which has .-"been by him wilfully assessed at less s" than Its cash value. "2556. The county attorney must, 1 after the assessor completes the assessment as-sessment book for the year, commence an action upon the assessor's bond for ail taxes lost from such wilful failure fail-ure or neglect." Please note that these sections give no authority whatever to this board In the premises. Other sections of law give us supervision of assessors when assessing and county boards of equalization when equalizing. Our only recourse in the event that an assessor as-sessor decides to take the law into his own hands and ignore our suggestions sugges-tions and recommendations is to raise or lower the valuations fixed by him. Id doing so, however, the change made must apply to all real estate of the class under consideration, all merchandise, al! livestock, or all of any other class of property within the county that is not properly asessed as required by law. Any urder made by this boar, under these conditions, must unavoidably work a hardship upon some taxpayers, and in addition cause much expense and delay in the completion of the tax rolls; hence, our solicitude for a correct initial assessment. assess-ment. No Distinctions. We wish to say emphatically that we are not making any war upon the farmers. Our instructions have applied ap-plied alike to all classes of property. The reason thai farm lands have been so much under discussion in this controversy con-troversy is because of the fact that certain gentlemen in Cache county, owners of some of the most valuable land In the county land that has in the past been assessed at a very small fraction of its value have come to the conclusion that the assessment of ail property at actual value would mean increased taxes to them, as com Dared with othpr taxr.n vers, a nrl have begun an agitation against the enforcement of the law. The county oommifasloners. in order to get ihe matter squarely before the people, called a mass mating of taxpayers on December 21 and invited members of this board to be pr(-M and discuss dis-cuss the situation. T;.e ir.r-u;n? was held, and the county assessor, among others, was Invite- to ppeak. In the course of h:s remarks he ln:irai'-d that it was his purpose to assess the property of the county on a basis that would yield the same revenue that had bea produced in the past. At a eub-ftaquent eub-ftaquent meeting of the countv coni-mlssfoners coni-mlssfoners and the assessor, with the members of the state bnanl of equalization, equal-ization, he stated that in ord-r to accomplish ac-complish that obi Act It wiuir ri"t be i necessary to a-se-s th b'-st land In J The. county at rnoie fr.m ?1'.0 rCM nr. 1 He was rf-mird'-d trnt th purj- se of the la w was the. ass:!- ri,-i, L of the property at fuil value, retard: e- of whether the resuft was mure revenue than ha;1 been ml ( In the past or ftsa. and that It was not rleht to say that no land In the county should be asaen.'M at mor than $:; per acre, rard;es of its actual vaJue. No Compromise. Wo undTg'ano1 that the aCFr.mr has since mdiOd h:s pc---:tion lo the ex-er, t of ; 'rifr- .n;r.c hi ri'I on t !..; as?. j.Mnerit roh ;i t J : r,.r hit- a ;. that he alfj mv,vf- f, 'v,n-pi --- mib-j" of Jj 1 75 an ;j't-. M v, :y. Informed In-formed th'lt the Hlat. f, r,j ,,f ,.(U;, lsatlon hid no c'Jinpromi'w; (o mnk nd no peclrlf: prir, upon a ny tract of ln.nd or other property to a s-itsp,;d s-itsp,;d by him; that ino only requirement require-ment It madj of h'.m that he aAnKS all property of !hi county, ln-cbjdlnif ln-cbjdlnif fa rin la r.d, at 1 1 n r,,ir h VaJui. d r'U;r"! hy law. t'n-JH nvo;-l-Inff the ri'-'''-f''.lf '.' of ; t. aid h f-r 'nvoklr.g tj,.; u el t! r,:.( o-;rU-tlrribl! bT'l it .:'; i.'Mv hi i'n cJl'-; ')- -i ' i " i t , . .i , ;. m We 'lo not ;:! 1 r ' r- :.-i .vi',, Mr. V.' ood "A a r 'I r. o r f - i r i , 1 j e n h ! 4 mot iv-. H'h I ft i .r iif hip' ruft I'Jiifl to hid rlcpijM'--4 Ih L1 f a i '' 'a ' r f i y . (i-jv rtlffireri'i hitn foi,p:'f. In our tilfc that It la f.ot hlu duty or funo- tlnn to rri)1nte thn amount of tiiT t i r,;,Ui t,v hlo T.n-iitueritH, hut mi'T-r in h-' U,f t,r(..fl-.rt v of thi ":.J'' z .-hi. I r;r. t., f.vli,.- r.f i 1 ;tli:'.i,,.( r,f rT)iJ'! lo 1 " i ' 'i 1 ' If: '. r j , 1 1 j 1 1 ( to n Hfttm I , ; T'.t' rt v (if t ho (jorn :i n "H w; hrr, t.v lii r'-' ulr'-l to (i n t fiH viih;-. in' h vnliio tn ho (J'-tcrrnliiffl ,v M.rn.. FH.wi-Iitr'ln wo uik Lho i county ajMtcHMuro to anly. |