| Show V TAXPAYERS INDIGNANT THERE is always some complaint about taxes no doubt there always was and the probability is that there always will be until that which is perfect is come then justice and equity will prevail and public duties will be regarded as privileges and be discharged charged dle with promptness and pleasure just now there is a general outburst of dissatisfaction in regard to the city taxes the strong language used is not so much against the rate as against the valuations that they are excessive and unreasonable Is universally cl clr timed Almed and we think not without reason of course it is in easy to gru grumble m even when there is little or no cause but on this occasion the cause is ample property is assessed at fancy prices large advances are made over last years assessment without any apparent reason many places are put at figures far beyond what they are offered at on the market houses are valued at higher prices than they cost to build the city assessments are again much ahead of the county assessments assessment cand X nd there to is an outcry that is very u unfavorable favor to liberal management the only answers we have heard to the vigorous complaints are the assessor is required by law to assess property at a cash valuation the fau fault it is therefore in the law and you cant have public improvements without money to pay for them 12 these replies are open to criticism let us examine them the law has always alays required property to be assessed at a cash valuation or at a fair cash value J which means the same thing but the present law defines its own meaning and says the terms value and fair cash value mean the amount at which property would be taken in payment of a just just debt due from a solvent debtor this definition has been derided by some of the officials interested I 1 D making exorbitant assessments but every intelligent person can understand it and see that it to is a fair guide cash value does not mean a fancy price fixed by the assessor but what the property would fetch on a cash sale for debt deb t nt I 1 it to is well known that real estate h ha declined in price ever since the alib liberals captured this city by fraud the boom burst bona fide transfers are I 1 few values are much lower than they were two years ago and forced sales would bring but email small figures yet in the midst of all this taxpayers are am assessed at speculative prices and fie tinious values are placed upon their property and there is no wonder that they emphatically object then the public improvements are chiefly to be seen in boastful comments of the liberal organ A few streets have been leveled and improved sidewalks have been graded so that the property adjacent in many in stances has been nearly ruined it if is either left away up so that steps have to be made to reach it or so 80 low down that a ladder must be placed to get down to it some of the most cranky and utterly ridiculous work has been done at immense expense and to the detriment of adjacent property holders what else who can tell what is there to show for the exorbitant taxes reckless expenditure and enormous debt which are the result of liberal Liber alv municipal control iol the cry for more money at the expense of the over burdened taxpayers is impudent and outrageous and the method of obtaining 7 it is deserving of all the odium which it bears bear the system of paying a per for assessing property is a premium in upon injustice it is an incentive to the officer to make valuations exorbitant why should these values be kept up to make a big per for th the assessor and provide more revenue than is 18 actually needed for municipal pall purposes as the muddled estimates show the board of equalization have a heavy task before them it is to be hoped they will be considerate to the taxpayers even if being so shall cut ailt down the amount to be reaped by the assessor and collector it is not unlikely that the matter will be taken into the courts before it is done with the law is plain its intent and purpose have not been considered the en deavor seems to have been to get as much out of the taxpayers as possible there should be a remedy for this we believe it can be had bad in the courts last year the pleadings of the op pressed taxpayers were in most instances sneeringly disregarded this year unless they are listened tu to with reason and some attempts at fairness the aggrieved should combine to press their appeals to a legal issue that burdens may not be fhate fastened ned upon them too grievous to be borne meanwhile let all who are over assessed make their applications to the board before the close of the coming week dont le leave ave lt it until it is too late 1 |
