OCR Text |
Show Reform Needed In Assessment Of Farm Lands Reclassification Will Remove Some; Discrimination In Tax Burden. Substantial relief from the present burden of taxation in Ut-h could be obtained if the present method of inequality and discrimination in assessment assess-ment of property were eliminated, elim-inated, in the opinion of the state tax commission, as outlined out-lined ,hi its biennial report to the governor and state legislature. The report points out th;it "haphazard' "hap-hazard' assessments have been found in many, of the counties with ratios of assessed values to true values ranging in particular instances from nothing to 400 per cent. ... Surveys made of the assessment figures of sample real -estate and iiirm properties in. Utah county show that the same condition exist--in Utah county, according to Robert Rob-ert L. Elliott, county assessor. NohEug Is Done - Mr. Elliott is convinced that classification clas-sification of farm lands is the only soiution for the problem, and has advocated this step before the county, commission. So far, how-evtr, how-evtr, nothing has been done . . to bring about elimination of the present inequality and hit and miss assessment methods. , Under the plan as proposed, by Mr. Elliott, all farm lands would be placed into four classes with the same assessment per. acre for each class. The placement would be made by groups of three men, one -rom eacb of the three sections, of the county, north, ..central and south. Once made, the classification classifica-tion would hold for probably fiv years, when a. , re-classification might again be profitable to readjust read-just to changing conditions. .Eliminate Favoritism Under such a system all danger of favoritism or political pressure - exerted on the deputy assessor would be removed and each piece of property would be assessed according ac-cording to the class in which it is placed by impartial and disinterested disinter-ested men. At the present time each individual individ-ual piece of property is virtually in a class by itself and the assessment assess-ment is a matter wholly left to the i discretion of the field man from ! -the assessor's office, who is only human, after all. . According to Mr. Elliott, the state tax commission has offered its support in the classification and reappraisal program, which would I cost approximately $2500 in Utah j county. The commission will pay I one-third or thereabouts of this amount, if the county will stand i the remainder of the cost. At the present time it costs Utah ' county $1,000 per year tn i'.ssc:--:s form lands. If the classification program was put into operation, tli is annual expense would be eliminated elim-inated and the assessment of this kind of property could be done from the office, with readjustments readjust-ments up or down, carried out on a bbinkct per centago bnH on all the jjroperty within a certain class. |