THE TAXATION OF OYSTER PROPERTIES 



By Henry C. Rowe 



The subject of the taxation of oyster properties has 

 recently received much attention from legislators, state offi- 

 cials and other persons more or less acquainted with the 

 oyster industry. It has been under consideration in several 

 states, and doubtless will be in others soon. In Connecticut 

 the General Assembly has had before it over twenty bills 

 affecting oyster matters during the past eight months, and 

 there have been extensive hearings and discussions. Prior to 

 that, for two years the subject was under investigation by a 

 commission. In this discussion many propositions have been 

 urged and answered, and the disproved assertions and super- 

 ficial opinions have been discredited and rejected. In this 

 paper I shall briefly state the results. The facts can be 

 easily verified, and I hope that the deductions will be obvious. 



The oyster growers in Connecticut, and so far as I know, 

 elsewhere, make no objection to paying their just share 

 toward the expense of government as other citizens pay upon 

 other classes of property. How then shall this share be 

 ascertained and fixed ? The decision has been reached that 

 where perpetual franchises have been granted to individuals 

 for the propagation and culture of oysters, it is reasonable 

 that these franchises should be assessed at their fair market 

 valuation, and should pay such a rate of percentage of taxa- 

 tion as is proportionate to the protection of law which they 

 receive. 



The tax commissioner of Connecticut, after investiga- 

 tion, recommended that all cultivated oyster grounds should 

 be assessed at an equal or flat valuation, and asserted that the 

 clerk of shell fisheries, whose duty it has been to make 

 these assessments, is not competent to assess them at ade- 

 quate valuations. A practical oyster grower was, however, 

 called upon to make these assessments, and according to the 



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