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might be improved, which follow the table of "Replies of Assessors," the necessity for a radical change is made clear, for certainly the views of these men, who have had the actual matter of the assessment of property in their several towns in charge, and have personal knowledge as regards the existing inequalities, and are pronounced in their opinions as to what, in their judgment, is necessary for the best interests of the community in which they reside, and also have a comprehensive knowledge of what are the rights and interests of all classes in the community, should be worthy of consideration.

The need of plotted maps for the purpose of securing accurate descriptions of all real property, has received much attention, and seems to have met with great favor, the many benefits to be derived from their use being obvious. Town records of transfers are of such a character in regard to descriptions made, the deed as to quantity stating acres more or less, that opportunity for deception and evasion is plainly shown, and there is no manner of doubt as to the advantage taken by the unscrupulous, localities.

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Recommendations by Assessors that all property, both real and personal, should be subject to annual examination by town. officials appointed for that purpose, are almost universal, and that this method would be beneficial in effect is unquestioned. The present mode in no way accomplishing the purpose of the law under which assessments are made.

Complaint as to the limited time allowed Assessors in which to complete and perfect the list are many, and the position taken appears to be well grounded, for, as is commonly the case, new Assessors being elected to office the first Monday in October, rarely assume the duties of the office to which they are elected till the tenth or fifteenth of that month, leaving scarcely two months before the expiration of the time allowed by law in which to complete the assessment. The incoming Legislature might well take this matter into consideration and enact into law some having reference to relief from the very evident injustice of the compulsory completion of the assessment lists within the

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time above mentioned.

The matter of having a continuous Board of Assessors has also been the subject of some considerable investigation, and it is found that such a plan meets with the approbation of a very large number of citizens, as well as many of the members of

present Boards of Assessors. Recommendations are numerous, that the Boards of Assessors consist of three members, and that they be elected for one, two and three years, one of which to retire each year, thus ensuring a Board of which two members had previously served. Legislation with this end in view is most certainly needed.

Inadequate compensation for services of Assessors in making up the assessment list is evidently one of the most potent reasons for imperfect and unequal assessments. Examination of the table giving the compensations received by the Boards of Assessors of the several towns, develop the information that sums as low as one dollar per day for the actual time expended, are paid in some towns.* It is a peculiarity existing in no other community than this, that a person competent to judge of values of real estate, and possessing the necessary judgment and qualifications for the proper performance of the duties required of him by law, to receive less than ordinary day laborers' remuneration for the service rendered the town, in whose interests he is supposed to be employed.

Suggestions are made that all property owners be compelled to make a complete inventory of all real and personal property owned, whether taxable or not, in order to prevent the liability of evasion of taxation by the unscrupulous, by reason of the claim that money invested is in non-taxable securities.

The suggestion made by one Assessor, that all persons erecting new or repairing old buildings, be required to make a sworn statement to the Assessors of the actual cost of such improvements, and to require merchants and manufacturers to return to the Board a full inventory of the average stock on hand for the year, also to require all insurance companies to make return of amount of insurance carried by each individual on business and buildings, would certainly work a reform in the present condition in respect to evasions of taxation by many whose taxable estate as now assessed is far below its market or known value.

The entire exemptions from taxation of all personal property is recommended by many, they arguing that much of it the

*The matter of adequate compensation for services of listers in compiling the ratable estate for purposes of taxation, was more liberal in past days than at the present, for in 1807 the listers were "allowed twenty-five cents for each thousand dollars included in the sum total of the lists of the towns respectively, including the amount of the list of the polls of military exempts, on condition that said listers comply in all respects with the requirements of the act;" and in 1821 the compensation was increased to an amount not to exceed fifty cents per one thousand dollars, subject to the same conditions.

Assessors are unable to find "unless the owner chooses to reveal it," a "few being punished for their honesty, while others with more elastic consciences escape."

State supervision of the assessments of all the towns is advised by some, and from statements made and information gained, it is a subject worthy of thought and of action by the law-making power at the coming session of the General Assembly. A tax commission, constituted as it should be and endowed with sufficient authority to appraise and assess at its fair market value, all property in this State liable to taxation, would be of incalculable benefit to the smaller land holders and taxpayers. Given the power to establish a uniform and just system of assessment, and by the use of that power compel the Assessors of the several towns to obey and comply with the provisions of law governing the matter of taxation, the claim that the small owners were taxed more than their proper proportion, as against the large property holder, would surely disappear, and, as it should be, all would be taxed equally and in just proportion to the amount of property actually owned by them. The law which went into effect in the State of New York this year, extracts from which will be found in this volume, is of a character calculated to prevent unequal assessments. It establishes a tax commission, endowed with supervising power over local district Assessors, and secures a uniform system and form of assessment rolls, which are of infinite value to the taxpayers from every point of view. A study of the provisions of the enactment will lead many economists to recommend to legislators the advisability of emulating the example of that State, and give Connecticut a commission, in whose hands the matter of assessment of real and personal property at an equal and fair valuation in all the towns of the State can be given, and who could formulate a uniform and regular form of assessment rolls, which would result in absolute equality, in so far as each town would then be called upon to pay but its just proportion of a county or State tax when laid.

Listing of book accounts or bills receivable is authoritatively stated to be entirely ignored in many towns. The law bearing upon this subject is clear and should be obeyed. The amount of accounts due, less amount of debts, is as tangible taxable estate as though the money involved was invested in houses and lands. The principle seems to obtain with many manufacturers and merchants that accounts due them are of no value so far as

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taxpaying liability is concerned, and that they are guilty of no violation of statute law when they fail to place in their lists of taxable property the amount of collectable accounts due them, deducting therefrom the amount of their debts due to others.

The entire neglect to place in their lists of property liable to taxation personalty consisting of individual notes, is of considerable magnitude and amounts to many hundreds of thousands of dollars in the State. One instance is known of which the story is told by the debtor, which is illustrative of the injustice done those who are more punctilious in their observance of the laws governing the matter of handing to the Assessors a true and perfect list. It appears that the debtor above referred to, in making purchase of certain property, found it necessary to borrow a sum of money, and gave to the person of whom the loan was made, as evidence of the indebtedness, his personal obligation in the form of a promissory note for the sum of forty thousand dollars. Subsequent to this transaction, and after the time for handing in assessment lists had expired, the person who had given this obligation visited the Assessors' office and examined. the sworn list of the creditor on record there, and found no amount whatever taxed against the estate of the creditor to whom the obligation had been given, and which he was known to continue to hold. Inasmuch as he, the debtor, considered his note of hand to be paper worth its face in the market, he inquired of the person holding it why the amount had not been placed in the list as money at interest. The reply was made, that a note was deemed by the owner of no value, so far as its liability to taxation was concerned, until paid, the question as to the responsibility of the maker not appearing to be considered. An elastic conscience must indeed be possessed by citizens who fail in so great a degree to include in a sworn statement assets of a character the collectibility of which there could have been no doubt.

Failure to collect in full the legal collectible commutation tax, as returned by the officers making the enrollment for the towns, is a source of serious and great loss to many towns, by reason of faulty enrollments being made and accepted as being correct. The fact that many are enrolled as being liable for payment of this tax who are really exempt, either for physical disability or having reached the age limit, and for each of whom, having been so enrolled, the town, under the law, must pay into the treasury of the State the sum of two dollars (less ten per

cent.), and failing to collect the aggregate amount of such payment to the State from the persons so enrolled, mainly on account of such exemption from liability; many collectors also failing in part, if not altogether, to secure payment of this tax, except the person so taxed be also the owner of real property, thus many escape the payment of this very important portion of the revenue, justly due the towns in which the persons liable to this tax reside. A newspaper published in a large and prosperous city of the State asks:

"If the military enrollment tax of the current year will be equal to the amount required for expenditure for the National Guard? This is a question which is being asked in nearly every part of the State just at the present time, and it appears to be the consensus of opinion among those in authority, who ought to know, that the tax will be considerably less. In that event, more or less censure will fall upon the heads of the military enrollment registrars. Such criticism will be drawn out from the facts which are undisputed that there is a laxity in the methods pursued by the registrars in this respect.

"Why this should be so is a mystery, for it would be just as fair for one political party as the other, to see that every one eligible to pay this tax should do so. In fact, it is very necessary that they should do so. The military treasury should be kept in a solvent state. All men between the ages of eighteen and fortyfive, except those exempt by law, should pay this tax. In this city, however, as in other cities of the State, the enroller simply goes over the tax list and compels those whose names he finds there not exempted, to pay the tax. So it seems that the property owners pay this tax, while thousands of others who are also liable, escape it.

'It is an undisputed fact that if every one liable to pay the commutation tax was required to do his duty in this respect, the receipts would provide for a national guard a third as large again as the present force. This tax does not go into the military treasury, but simply into the general State treasury whence the money for the military is drawn. The idea that predominates appears to be, that the commutation tax furnishes the money for the National Guard, inasmuch as it is the tax paid by those who are not in the service, or, for that matter, are not infirm or otherwise exempt. This is shown from the fact that for years, under normal conditions, the tax just about equals the military expendi

ture.

It is a well known fact all over the State that the larger part of the legal voters of the State never pay this tax.

"Nothing is ever heard of the delinquents, although their names are selected and printed. Some voters would scarcely know what was meant should you mention this tax to them. Several times it has been threatened that a scandal in this respect would sooner or later crop out, but both political parties appear

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