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Show RE THE PEOPLE OF UTAH OVERTAXED? Another section of Governor Will-am Will-am Spry s messace to the legislature, in addition to thai on good roads, which the Standard can endorse, hears on taxation, and is as follows "The experiences of each passing year add convincing argument for a change in nur taxation sstem On ihree previous similar occasions I have pointed out to legislative assemblies assem-blies the necessity for modifications in our taxing laws to insure greater equality In the administration of our system. The franters of our constitution consti-tution clearly intended that the property prop-erty of the atate should be assessor al its full cash value and safeguarded the people bv prescribing that as the total valuation increased the general j state levy should automatically decrease de-crease Since statehood there has hecn absolutely no pretense that property of an class has been assessed at its true value and session by session. In order to meet the growing expense the legislators have extended the limit j) of levies for various purposes, with the result that a general movement for strict compliance with the law requiring cash value assessments would place tho taxpayer at the mercy mer-cy of the various levying authorities w:ith maximum levies far in excess of what thev should be under such method of assessment "During the years 1912-1913, the state board of equalization after consulting con-sulting with the board of examiners. reduced the state levj 1-2 mill and the fund for general state purposes suffered the entire loss hv reason of the reduction, the district schools and the high schools reei-ung their maximum maxi-mum lories as therefore, and while the people of this state, by reason cf that reduction should have been saved $200,000 in taxes, they were really saved nothing, since other levying levy-ing powers seized the opportunity to exercise their prerogathrp under an elastic levying power and added for other purposes not only the 1-2 mill reduction made by the state, but sufficient suf-ficient to make n general increase y H Four years ago. bv authority of the legislature. a taxation commission was appointed and made a thorough study of our own and other taxation systems, submitting a report with recommendations in bill form to the session of 1913. The subject, how er was too broad to permit of that mature consideration during the ses- nn sion which It merited and the. hills fell by the wayside I am thoroughly convinced, however, that (he constitutional constitu-tional provision for assessing property prop-erty at full rash value should be enforced en-forced While it is absolutely tru that the staff board of equalization has tho authority to enforce full cash value assessments, no reasonable person per-son Will criticise them for their failure fail-ure to do so ns long as county, city, town, school district and other ley-inc ley-inc powers are not curtailed in their maximum levies. I earnestly recommend a revision of the levying po.'ors downward to the end that valuation? will Increase and there may be established once and for all a basic standard oT assessment as-sessment that will insure to every individual in-dividual of the -,t;itc as near an equality equal-ity in the burden of taxation as human Agencies can afford This revision should be effected niter a careful investigation as to the ability of certain counties not favored with B.H income from the tax on public pub-lic utilities to meet their expense on a materially reduced levy and It mav be found necessary to classify counties of the stale for purposes of maximum levy." As Senator Joseph Che-, of Weber county has said. Utah has the worst system of taxation In 'he United States. The assessors in the different dif-ferent counties have no common standard of values, and tax levies are -rowing higher and higher until the taxpayer is almost in despair A government report just issued places Utah fourth among the states in the per eapita revenue drawn from the people and eleventh in the per capita cost of government. In ten years taxation has been jumped from a total of $1433.74 to nearly four million dollars, with the outlay exceeding ex-ceeding the income b over $200,000. General property tax In Utah ten years ago did not exceed $2 70 per capita and special property war, only one cent per capita. Today general property taxes per capita are 4,65 and special property taxes 78 cents per capita. The per capita tax for all purposes ten years ago was less lhan $3.40; today it Is $6.71 . There are only three other states in the union that drag from each of their property owners own-ers a sum so large, and one of the three is Nevada. In the past ten years the population of Utah has increased 32 per cent, while taxes have increased 162 per cent Is it not about time for those in control of the machinery of taxation to begin to consider the advisability of checking this tendency on the one hand to mulct the taxpayer and on the other hand to spend the monej thus obtained 1 with a prodigality almost al-most unequaled in any other state in the union0 oo |