The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, July 27, 1916, Page 8

B i %‘ ~land is worth an average of $26.06 an: ‘Some kinds of exercise are great developers of musel It’s a great developer of thought, too, when a man’s nose is on the grindstone at the same time, What Do You Mean—Equalize? | RACTICALLY no attempt has been made in North Dakota to see that the value of farm lands for - taxation purposes through- out the state is equalized. The. result is. that in some counties-tax valuations are based at lower than 18 per cent of the true value ‘while in other counties farmers are paying taxes on over 28 per cent of the true value. : This is a condition brought to light by the state tax commission in figures taken from the real estate transfer records. The commission caused an . * abstract to be made of all real estate . transactions in all the counties for three years back. The actual sale price of the land per acre was taken from the deed in each transaction and an average sale price per acre figured for each county. The result is a table showing the value of farm lands in all the counties, as shown by the actual real estate trans- fers, and in addition a basis is obtained on which to judge how successfully the state board of equalization has been equalizing farm lands. TAXES NOT EQUAL . LAND' TRANSFERS SHOW The table, when compared with the actual assessments in the various coun- - ties, has many interesting features. The cheapest land in the state is in Billings county, where the transfers show that an average of $8.67 per acre is paid by purchasers for farms. The most expensive land in the state is in Cass county, where the average sale price is $53.47 per acre. Richland county is well named. It comes second in the state with an average sale price for farm land of $50.57 per acre. Traill county is third, the average sale. price there being $49.49 per acre. If the average valuation of the land as shown by the transfers for three years is a safe standard to go by there is much discrepancy in the taxes paid by farmers - on land. Instead of all farmers paying on their farm lands on the same basis some are paying too much and some too little taxes. The state board of equal- ization has failed to equalize properly: It has allowed some counties to get away with too low a valuation on farm lands and permitted others to pay too much. Thus, in Mercer county, where the actual - value of the land as shown by transfers is $15.20 an acre, the assessed value' is $4.37 per acre, the farmers paying on a basis of .over 28 per cent of the true value of the land. In Pierce county, on the other hand, where the transfers show the land sells on an average for $26.39 .an-acre, the assessment is only $4.78 an acre and the farmers are paying on a “basis of only 17.94 per cent of the true value.: ; - ~Another county with high: valuations is. ‘Rolette, -where ‘the actual value as shown by transfers is $19.19 per acre and where the assessed value is $5.10 per acre, on a basis of 26.61 per cent of the true value.. In Stutsman county the ass- ‘sessment “also is proportionately high. - Here the real estate transfers show the. State Board Has a Verv Different Idea From the Popular One. of Its Duty :.O.‘........0..0.......0.....0.'.........Q.C............: ° e : Some Land Values Compared ¢ H The following table shows the failure of the state board.of equalization § ® to equalize farm land tax valuations throughout the state. The first column 2 ¢ shows the actual value of the land in each county as shown by real estate ¢ 4 transactions for three years, the second the assessed value and the last the 2 e percentage of true value on which farm lands are assessed in the various : ® counties: : S . FARM LANDS . : Average Average Percentage o : . : value assessed value a:ssesseci o 3 ® County per acre per acre rue value o pd Adams ... $17.25 $ 4.06 23.56 > :- Barnes ... 36.11 8.36 J 23.16 : . Billings .. 867 201 5 2312 o s Bottineau . 2734 Lioow 6.02 2203 ¢ ° Bowman ... .. 16.90 ! 3.83 - 22.67 e b Burleigh .- 1848 4.30 2326 g [ Cass ... 5347 - 10.77 19,02 e . Cavalier .. 33.56 6.97 20.77 - ® Dickey . 3048 6.55 .21.50 : o T BAdy ot el 26.98 6.64 2461 o : Foster ... 25.69 6.49 25.26 : ° Golden Valley .. e - 19.06 . 4.38 23.00 e % Grand Forks 4323 2(1)3 gigg . ° Kidder ..... 19. 08 o ° : La Moure . 31.99 730 2220 - o . Logan ... 18.72 456 24.38 e = McHenry.. 22.44 4.60 2051 - e Mclntosh ... 18.99 SR 4.81 26.34 S e McLean .. 1938 - 423 2187 o . Merecer ... 15.20 ; 4.37 28.79 > [3 Morton ... 16.41 3.81 23.256 [ e Mountrail . 1787 - 3.22 ; ggfi S o Nelson 30.58 B © e $ Oliver 1449 .. 856 24.58 : ® ' ' Pembina . . 33.32 L Y 2188 e e . Pierce ... 26.39 oA 17.94- o ° Ransom .. 7.12 % : 6 8. ° ~ Richland 5135’; : lg(l)g ;Zg: : ; ° Rolette .. .19 ; i 26. ‘e ® Sargent . 38.01 ' 7.66 2016 3§ . Sheridan .. 21.02 = 492 2342 . . [ S Stark ... . 17.81 3.95 22.17 ° ° Stutsman . . 26.06 y -6.93 26.69 : e’ Towner . 29.90 ; 120 24,08 o (& Traill . 49.49 --10.00 2021 : e Walsh 36.33 8.82 24:27 o e Ward .. 2243 - 4B8 2052 S ° Wells .. 612 23:65 ° ] Williams 4.13 - 2388 . [d [ ] valuations are Cass, where the assessed - ties of four members of the state board value ‘is only 19 per ‘cent' of the true of equalization are ‘getting - off - pretty true: value, 'and - Ransom, wherle it is esay i ihe'matter of taxes on farm : - : bt S but it s a fact. Governor Hanna's GOT OFF VERY EASY & = county, Cass, is one of the lowest in the It is remarkable that the home coun-' state in the ‘proportion of assessed to WHAT CARRINGTON THINKS OF GOO (}QYERNMENT_LEAGUE. : The so-called “good government league,” of Grand Forks: and Fargo, is doing its best to divide the farmers of the state, and to array class against ! class by a campaign that is intended fo make the dweller in the town believe that his very life depends on keeping the farmers from getting a measure of ' power in the affairs of state. It ‘will have no further effect than to get th two cities in bad with the farming element, the 75 per cent of the ‘state’s po lation, and these two will pay bitterly for: their blundering ‘shortsightedn ¢ ~~CARRINGTON RECO turning a grindstone for Big Business is one of thém, as Hir_amfRubé has found out. -the Nonpartisan ticket. Their = hind- - sight is much more acute than their ~ they “should. attempt” to - exercise true value. Attorney General Linde’s ! county, Mountrail, is ‘among the low - e ones.. State’ Treasurer John' Steen’s : county has the lowest farm land valua- tions in ‘the state. Sargent county, from which State Auditor Jorgenson N hails, also-has a very low valuation on 1 farm“lands. . J The members of the board of equal- ization are supposed to see that’ the | taxes are equalized in all counties on farm lands—that is, that each county e pays on a farm land valuation having g the same proportion to the true value of | the land as every other county has. X Four members of the board of equaliza- tion, as shown above, are allowing the counties they come from to profit by the - failure to equalize properly. o s 5 The accompanying table gives the of value of the farm lands in the various : counties as found by averaging the real estate transactions for :the three years, I the assessed value of the farm lands <4 and the ratio of the assessed value to " i the true value. If lands were fairly 1 taxed throughout the state the last of the ‘three columns. of- figures would con- tain percentages the same in each county. s " THE STATE IS SAFE A number of the leading newspapers of the state have been attempting to tell how it happened—the big majorities for s TSRS — N —— foresight, and the explanations offered ‘. are simply belated statements of results y that anybody, with an average political judgment, could- have easily. made two years ago. ; Rl The causes that have led up to the farmers’ revolt are not far to seek. They lie within the reckless over-con- fidence of a number of political leaders of the state, being ‘able to put over and get away with any scheme of aggran- dizement and abuse of power -and ‘privilege, which they see fit to unders take. The -majority for Frazier for governor over all his other eompetitoi‘s - combined, makes the average politician’ gasp . for breath. It shows mnot 'the ; popularity of Mr. Frazier, but the intél- - ligence and the determination of farm-' o ers to resent what they believe to haye Al been gross injustice done to them, as'a. AN class; and it also is a demonstration that . i representative government in - North North Dakota is not entirely a myth.’ - The foture welfare of the state is not threatened in the hands of so many of the conservative, f‘ainninded,' sub- stantial citizens of the' state. In ; newly assumed = authority alon lmes ,' g somewhat different’ from the aets of = ‘past “legislatures, there a 5