Show TAXATION N jf if information comes t to boult JOURNAL L ari aright lit city assessor liar lar soil oil is on oil the lie wron wrong tack this year the effect of his assessment as se if it stands will bo be to destroy all improvement pro in the city it has been stated to tim THE jodio AL that lie is assessing improvements at their cash valuation or cost no building inc that was exer erected is worth 1 the til e Il money lolley that it cost every very day after completion it il begins agins to fall oil in value the times outgrow koiv it tho the ideas of the owner ehan change c things they would have cli chang anyel cil about the building and which mako make it of less value constantly occur to him anc after afier a so far as the buildt building itself is concerned it is not worth the lie bricks and stone and mortar and lumber in it to say bothin nothing of tile cost for labor no building cui can legally or justly be ed at its it cost it anav may kell for more than it cost but in suji an all event the lie increased crea cd value aaltio is due to tile real e state estate on which it is erce erected ted and the trade that i is drawn drain to it or which parses its doors not because of tile building itself on oil tile the other 0 hand it is sail mr parson zon is assessing asses sino c real cs tito belar low ow its value take the handsome tore store erected by campbell morrell all the statement is made not by ly either of its owners that the dilding lias has been assessed at or practically what it ost to its present tate state s of completion it is built on oil twenty five feet of ground and the assessment on oil this piece of ground is 2650 or about IW per foot As assessor assor larson knows the cash value of the ta ground is boic than HUO a foot if lie he will look over the records lie he will see sec that a sale of property tin no better situated took place about a month ago in which the property clia changed ned n hand at the rate of 2 la per foot there is not a piece of property on in main street between the coop co op alval wagon on machine company and the coop co op store that i is S not I 1 worth orth T 1200 a foot at any hour cash value yet t he assesses the ground at half value and the improvements at full value if what lias been stated are the facts mr larson is corkill wor working kill vigorously 0 it the wron wrong 0 end all and his bond bondsmen may find themselves liable to make up for his failure to to follow the plain reading of the law ile iio i given no des discretion whatever but lie is charged with using liis his jud judgment and that judgment is at the wrong end if mr larsons Larson fi policy is to lie be sustained lie will kill every improvement Kuil building ding will cease because the lan luan with dirty surroundings surrounding 4 weedy gardens dit ditches elies and a hovel for a home will be rewarded with li light lit taxes while those ulio feel aike like beautifying ind and adorning adornino their homes are arc having dean clean surround inga 5 and fined filled for their public Q spirit by the infliction of higher taxes the plan is neither lawful nor wise wic tit alie whole tendency of L law government and public spirit is in favor of homo home improvements and the advancement of the community on it mr larson s principal two fa farmers with equally good land would pay 50 percent valuation on their land ehile one of them with a comfortable home would have to pay up to tile the handle for the honic and the other living in a hovel would escape the penalty 0 every time a man puts a coat of paint painton pi inton on liis his house or plants a tree or puts up a new fence or lias has lowers flowers or 6 gravel walks ho he incurs a penalty under tile mr larson is said to in give tile the law re real al estate should lie taxed at a cash value not at half and tile leniency if any should lie bo shown toward improvements prove ments if mr larson with tile llie cites backing wants to stop all improvement lie need only bo be allowed to keep on doing what lie is said to bu be doing |