The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, February 10, 1916, Page 5

FIVE Let's Get More Taxes---Sure! From the Farmers ‘Last: August the: state board of equalization decided: that the: total . valuation of property in North Da- Kota for taxation would have. to. be boosted: at.least 20 per cent. This added valuation was needed, the board explained, because the maximum: state. levy allowed is limited by the constitutoin and former valuations were' not: enough: to produce the rev- enue required for state purposes. Today the final figures on the board’s-work are a.vafla%l!e. The: total . state valuation was aetually boosted. about 23 per cent. For the first time it is now possible to figure ac- curately what propertion of this raise" will be borne by various classes of property. It develops that. farm lands rer acre will carry an added burden in taxes of ower 26 cent under the: raise, while alk other taxable proper- ty in the state will have to carry an added burden of cnly 16 per cent. Falls on Farm Land In other words, for every dollar of the increased taxes to be paid by g;lée; property, farm lands will pay Railroads: will' stand an increase of only: about 22 per cent, against 26 rer cent for farm lands. Telegraph, telephone and street railway eompanies and town and city lots: will actually pay a less pro- portion of the total tax of 1915 than they did a year prior. Express com- panies will pay practically the same progortion of the total tax that they dids;: farm: lands will pay nearly 3 per cent more of the total tax burden then formerly: . Only Ciass Increased The result of the 1915 tax making can be stated in even simpler form: It was desired to get more taxes. AlF property im the state was: raiseed. nder the raise, however, town and city lots; structures: in cities; all -persenal. progerty and telegraph; telephone and street railway compan- ies will pay less proportion of the total tax than formerly. Structures on farm™ lands, rail- roads and: ex%ress comganies will pay practically the same proportion of the total tax of 1915 as they paid of the tax a year priom But farm lands will pay a percent- age of the total tax for 1915 greatly increased over what it was a year prior, being the omly class of’ prop- erty proportionately increased. Railroads Undertaxed’ The singling out of farm lands’ to bear the brunt of increased taxation when more revenue was needed took place-in cpite of conclusive evidence, a. matter of public record, that rail- roads are notoriously under-assessed in North Dakota. ~ The board of . equalization, which: left the- assess- ment of railroads in proportion to the: total assessment at about the same. a3 it. was a. year: prior; had facts before it showing that the val- uations of railroads should have been boosted 40 per cent to put them on: the same basis in relation to true- value as: other property im the state: Evidence of the under-taxation. of *——-—— railroads was glentifu.l and, of public record. At the time the board of equalization, consisting of Governor nna, State Auditor Jorgenson, At torney General Linde; Commissioner of Agriculture Flint and State Treas- urer Steen, passed the measure which resulted in the great proportionate increase in farm lands taxes the fol- lowing facts: were known: Get Off Easy Hsre- The railroads: were i:)aying.less taxes: per mile: in North Dakota than in any state through which they oper- ated: In the last seven. years: rail- road taxes had increased in North Dakota only 26 per cent, while they had increased in all: other states in which they operated from 32 per cent in:Tdaho to 122 per cent in- the state of Washington. During the same time the total taxes paid in North Dakota had increased 80 per cent ‘and the ropulation at about the same rate. hile other. states ere increasing railroad ‘taxes in pro- portion to' population and ttotal as- sessed value, North Dakota was in- creasing: railroad’ taxes so little that they remained.out of: all Frqportmn to the growth in pogpulation and out of all proportion ‘to the added- taxes' other: classes: of property were. paying. - T From: the report: of the: railways- ‘themselves;. at the time the' state: board- of equalization: let the great increase: go' on farm -lands instead of the railroads, the latest statistics available showed: that the Northern Pacific. was paying: $320 in taxes per ‘mile“of - road in North Dakota, $417 in Montana, $784/ in: Minnesota, $582 in Idaho, $719 in- Washington and an rage -tax of $569 per mile for the- whole: system.. .0 Analysis of Action: of Board of Egqualization in Raising Property Valuations Shows Who Will Pay the Piper--- Farm Lands Increased 28 per cent, all Other Property in State only 16 per cent. The same report showed the Great -Northern was paying $382" per mile of track im North Daketa per year, $451: in- Montana, $657 in Minnesota, $847. in: Idaho, $985 in: Washington, and an average of $547 per mile for its whole system. ' It was-known wherx the proportion- ate burden of taxes on.railroads was allowed' to remain- about the same and. the proportionate: hurden on. the Total assessed value in state Assessed vaue railroads tionate. resuit same): part each class oF assessed $3.61. The p total. < farm lands increased that by every known system.of fixing railroad valu- ations for taxation or other purposes, except: actual physical valuation; the . b railroads in:North Dakota were great- ly undervalued: The state tax commis- sion;.after: a:careful study: ofs the mat- ter during two years, recommended that the total valuation of all railroads be increased. 40: per. cent, applied as follows: Northern Pacific, raise 57 per cent; Great Northern; raise 47 per cent; Soe, raise-28: per cent; Mil- waukee, raise 20 per cent. This, said the commission, ' would' place the roads’ valuation: for taxation: pur- poses on a basis of 25 per cent of true: value; the: basis: omw which, theo- retically, all'‘property in. the state is’ placed: What Board Did What the board, of equalization did was to. increase: the Northern Pacific valuation. about 5 per cent, outside of’ the general 20 per cent increase placed on all property; the Great Northern about 4 pew cent, and’ tke Soo was’ actually decreased over. 4. per: cent.”. But' t:e increase on farm land, outside of the general increase of 20 per cent on all proper- ty, was about. 8 per cent. These fig- ures are for total acreage and: total railroad mileage;. not considering in-" creases in acreage.or railroad mileage in making. the -comparisons.. : ‘But: the: big: faect was: that the board of equalization had before it at: the: time the:1915 valuations were fixed: a report on. tbe,assessme.nt of . ‘railroads’ in. North: Dakota, paid: for by the: state; by E. Dana: Durand; ex- director of the federal census and professor of economics at the Uni- versity of | Minnesota. ~ Mr: Durand DISCRIMINATE AGAINST FARM LANDS The state desired to beost the total assessed valuation of prop- erty in North Dakota about 20 per cent, to get more money for the same tax levy. The state board of equalization did. it-as follows: Total assesced. value of farm lands. .. Total assessed value other thian farm L e e e Assessed value: town and city lots .. Increase per 1914 1915 cent ..$313,286,198 $384,938,700° 23 165,328,330 213,137,140 28 Assessed value per acreoffarm lanale o s A e .. T47,957,868° 171,801,560 16 13,020,174 18,872,116 7 .. 45,702,999 56,960,772 24 o $4.30 $5:55 26. . $7389.00 $3068.00 22 Most of Raise On Farm Lands . Figuring the average tax levy in Nortli Dikota for ail pur- poses, state, couaty, school, etc., at 48 milis, which is abeut correet, the following figufll:s result (whatever tax levy is taken the propor- s Y ) 191% 1915 Inerease Total' taxes paid; alF purposes ... .$12,531,447 $15,397,548 $2,866,100 Taxes paid on farms lands ........ 6,513,133 8,525,485 1,912,352 Taxes cn all. property except on g 3 farm hlands ............... 5,918,314 6,372,603 953,748 ; Farmer Pays Most of Increase Increased taxes obtained by board of equalization........ $2,866,100 Part of this increase paid by farm lands ................ 7 per cent Part of increase paid by all other property .............. 33 per cent Where Increased Burden Was Shifted : Per cent of totak ascossed total assessed value, 1914 vatue,. 1915 Farm-lands ..........c.c0vvimun... 52.78 55.38 Structures on farm lands ......... 3.73 3.7% Town and city lots ............... 4.15. ; 3.61 Structures on town and city lots .. 6.T9' : 5.51 . Aill personal. property ........ ... 17,91 T6.3% Neilromlss s o L i e s 14.59 14.29 Telegraph fines ................... M 5 Telephone lines ................... 37 it Express companies ................ a4 Ja Street railways ................... 03 02 Pullman company ................. . 01 Farm Lands Now Pay Greater Proportion From the table immediately above it can he see exaotly what | property paid for every $100 in taxes ralse- ed in: 1914 and in 1915. Thus, of every $100. fn. taxes raised in 1914 farm lands paid $52.78 and in 1915 they. paid $55.38, while. eity. land out of every $100 in taxes raised in 1974 paid $4.15 and in 1915 only ropovtionate tax. on farm lands was increased in 1915 while every other class of property was. left at practically. the seme Firoportion to the total or-was made to pay a less proportion of the ?ees earmngs’ as a‘ basis on which to’ _figure North. Dakota’s share,: and. he- proved beyond: question. fhat. the: rail- roads were valued. for taxation in. North Dakota rediculously low. Used. Two Methods: His report figured the valuation of the railroads in North Dakota by two methods. His first method was to capitalize tke net. earnings of the various roads at 6 per cent—that is, he determined from the books of the companies what. their net earnings, or profits from rail operations, were Per cent of and then found what valuation or investment at 6 per cent weuld pro- duce that net. recenug,. 6. per cent eing the universal rate used as a fair and reasonable return on invest- ment. His other method was to take the market value of the stocks and bends - of the railreads and- deduet the bcok value of physical property: and investments of railroads-not a part of the railroad operating prop- eraty. . ! The result of the first method de- termined what an investor; wanting to.get 6. per cent on: his-money, would pay for the operating. property of the various lines, and the result of the: secondd: method: was- an: approx- imation of the value of the.various . roads as shown by tke market value of their securities. Figurecs State’s Share Mr. Durand” aléo figured a third value for the railroads by averaging these two. ¢ 3 ' Having; then, valuations for the whole: system of' the railroads oper- ' ghe spring: his: books By this method the report found the following valuations for the part of the various railroads owned and operated in North Dakota: Gives Valuations Capitalization of earnings basis— Great I\{orthern, $100,632,214; North- eég Pacific, $84,960,620; 00, $44,725,- Market: value: of stocks: and bonds %asx:h—Grezg: ‘Ig:rthem, $73,724,072; lorthern. Pacifie, $77, & $39,542,867. e a basis for taxation Mr. Dyp. and: recommended’ the valuation foul::t‘!; %F capitalization. of the net, earnings, orth Dakota’s share being figured Prorortionately to its share of the gross: earnings and mileage, Turned Bown Report Reducing, Mr, Duran’s recommeng ed valuations to g 25 per ba;is, the theoretical basispfor ?;z?r{; ation used in North Dakota, the fol- lowmg would - be hig valuation for taléatlogll\})urposes: rea orthern, $25 158 053; - ggg Pacific, $21,240,15£’5; S’oo; ’$11\{?f8t;1,- Valuations fixed by the i equaliza:tian, even af};er thc? og{!)'fl gf‘ cent raise applied to all property in the state was added, were ag follows: Great Nortkern, $22,422,465; North- g:g Pacifie $17,838,546; Soo: $11,849.- Peter Benson Is Soaked on Taxes ff[‘zle story of how oL Anna township, Ward county, were soaked on the matter of p, & is lz)mtintfiresting one, R e reter Bensen of Ryder, Anna town- ship, 152, range 80, is vi(gims. Id , 18 one: of the nna township is rather spa settled and there were onl ratx;ffig farmers in the township that had more: than. $60 worth o household, furniture, and as al} under $50 were exempt, there were only three in the township that had ass S i ey sessments levied certain farmers Raized $400 WEen: the assessor got through in were approv y the town board and sentplgo tfig county board of equalization, Upon examination. by .that body it was de- cided that the assessed: valuation of household g00ds in . Anna township should be raised 3400 and the books were sent back to the township offi- cers: with instructions to that effect. Peter Benson: was chair; town board and wion thé man of the » Wrote a pointed lett to the county board to g)he efl’ecteth:;; Anna township- was not very well E:is:.ecéh wi)thk hr:gl.sehold gocds and e hooks PBack t i express, collect, v ; County Board Acts: Thereuron the issi ers took ig upon: themselves: to raise the valuation of household; furniture in "Anna- township. This they did without further investigation: as to the truthfulness. of the township board’s recommendations, They rais« ed the assessed valuation of house- -hold. furniture in Anna township 75 per cent. . When Peter Bensen: received, on January 3rd, 1916, a statement of his personal taxes he found that his bousehold furniture was: assessed: at $257. * He thereupon wrote. to.County Auditor L. Thompson of Ward county aski for a statement of the assessed valuation of the house- hold: furniture of the different coun- ty commissieners: and alse. that of J. H. Scofield, a prominent implement dealer of Minot, who also has o farm south of Minot. - riow Board . Was Assessed ~The county avditor comvlied with the request ‘of Benson and here are - the results: J. M. Rohe,household furniture $42.00 . J. Andersom 7 2 18.00 Olaf Lokensgaard ” ¥ 42.00 John Hennessy ” 2 28.00 Peter Vandenoever .7 120.00 Porall L TR s $250.00 ating. in North' Dakota: the: report then figured the share North D'allf)ota was: entitled to! o aceount: of the mileage: in. this state. He figured: this also by two methods. The first was to give: this ctate: a share of the total value of any road equal to this state’s ‘proportion of the total mile- age; the second was to figure this state’s#share in proportion to the ; Emsr earnings of each road in North- : ta.. . Then: Mr,. Durand: took a combination -of gross mileage and recommended’ this latter method’ as the best. > The reeords also rhow that J. H. Scofield, - prominent implement: dealer and owner of a large farm, who: has householdfurniture both om his farm and. in: his-city home, was: assessed, $211.00. Peter Benson, Anna township farm- er, was-assessed $257.00. - : Peter Benson declares that they were tried, convicted and sentenced ‘without -a hearing, and. according to the records, which we are in pos~ session of; it looks as though he: is right. : e e e e e e e s et v ere 35§ The Leader. fights:for the: farmers, S s i e e | | 5 S CRRrArs s