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Show BOARD 10 EXAMINE- IRK DF ASSESSORS Equalization Bodies May Be Required to Make Tax Changes. B. II. Roberts, chairman, and James T. Hammond and Henry Gwilliams, members of the state board of equalization, equali-zation, will go to Utah county Monday to look over the work done there by the county assessor and to meet with the state board of equalization. Tliis will be the first of a series of visits to counties to be made by members mem-bers of the board this year to discuss the work of assessment as it has been carried on so 'far. Under a change of tho provisions of the law, made by the last legislature, the powers of the stato board, and the duties required of it arc considerably enlarged. The board may require the county boards of equalization to make such changes in the assessment rolls as are necessary to equalize the assessment as-sessment throughout the state, and this power may extend, not only to classes of property, but to individual assessments. assess-ments. No radical change has been noted in the assessment of real estate in Utah in 1919, as reported by the county assessors, as-sessors, as compared with the assessment assess-ment in 1918. The figures by counties coun-ties when the total acreage of real estate es-tate assessed is compared with the total assessment show the following average values for acreage: Weber county, $26.26 per acre; Davis county, $37.75; Salt Lake county, $52.11; Utah countv, $27.04; Garfield county, $25.50; Cache, $24.28; Sevier, $22.34; Millard, $23.30; and Piute, $21.25. All the other counties were under $20 per acre, Duchesne being be-ing the lowest with $4.95, and Boxelder next at $5.25. These figures serve to illustrate just one part of the problem which the state board of equalization has set before it. It proposes among other things to go into the question of real estate thoroughly this year and next. At present special investigators for the board are visiting many of tho southern counties of Utah, looking up the assessment rolls on particular properties prop-erties and making reports to the state board. The board members themselves will check up on this worW. in an effort ef-fort to reach a solution of the problems prob-lems before it. Yesterday morning the board went over the reports from its investigators, Adam Petersen and James T. Hammond, Ham-mond, Jr., with the result that it was the judgment of the board that some of the counties are assessed decidedly low on real estate, livestock and merchandise. mer-chandise. Somo increases in the assessed as-sessed valuation of these classes of propertv were predicted yesterday by William Bailey, secretary of the board. |