Show T Tax ax Reappraisal Program Defended by Foundation Utah's Utah reappraisal program Ordered by the 1953 Legislature was defended as an urgently needed step to remove gross Inequalities amo among taxpayers In a research report port released this week by Utah Foundation The report cites recommendations of the Utah School Survey Commission the Utah Legislative ve Council the tax study performed per per- formed by Princeton Surveys and reports by economists and tax ax researchers researchers re re- searchers at the University of Utah all 11 emphasizing the need for correcting cor cor- reeling the wide disparities In the assessment of similar properties within counties and among counties as well welt as differences In treatment treat ment meat of various classes cluses of property subject ct to the property properly tax For many years the report states states the people of Utah have sought to equalize the tax ax burden among the various s school ool district wealthier and the poorer districts u as between the This has resulted In a considerable leveling of the tax rate among the districts However It Is clear from an examination of assessment rolls that wide differences In assessment policies and sult suit In even greater Inequalities In the burden of the property tax not only among the respective taxing districts but as between Individual taxpayers In the same district Utah Foundation analysts report that repeated studies have shown that Individual properties have been assessed sed In Utah for tax ax purposes at ratios varying from 5 to Since the tax paid is Js the product of the valuation and the tax rate or levy the valuation placed upon his property Is fully as Important to the Individual taxpayer tax payer as the tax levy Imposed by the various taxing jurisdictions The Utah Foundation study emphasizes that property taxes are still the mainstay of local government In the entire nation as they are I In Utah Out of a total of approximately 11 billion In taxes levied by byall byall byall all local governmental units in the United States In 1954 more than 9 j 9 4 billion or 87 was accounted for by property taxes The formation and adoption of more specific standards to determine determIne de do termine the value of the respective classes of property was emphasIzed emphasized as a needed step in the Utah assessing process as well as the need for keeping valuations current with the economy and changes In Inthe Inthe inthe the property use An opinion of the Utah Attorney General handed down In January 1956 Is cited containing the following statement If it Is true as has been maintained In some quarters that assessed assessed as as- as values are too far removed from current market values the efforts of the Legislature should be bent toward a more precise pre else cise definition of the basis for tax valuation and at the sam time toward a general lowering of the ceiling on county levies A similar recommendation by the Utah Legislature Council in a report In March of 1956 Is quoted as follows l I 1 The law should further define values In the light of present day conditions Fixing the rate of assessment in the law without defining the basis of assessment tends toward opening the way for misrepresentations and inequities The statutory definition definitions s should relate assessments more closely to current values It should recognize a new new level In the economy index and give greater weight to prevailing market conditions The definition should require an appraisal based on market value according to use conditions In surrounding areas earnings if any and other factors with a spread of 3 to 5 S years to guard against unusual fluctuations |