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Lower Land Taxes In Six Counties 



Result of Reciting Facts and Law 



John Watson, in charge of tax investigation .work for the 

 I. A. A., says the way most of us express our iWotest against 

 high taxes is by cussing out the collector when we pay the bill 

 "Might as well teU the cat," says John, "for all the good it 

 does. " ' 



The Farm Bureau has another way of tackling the tax prob- 

 lem. With columns and yards of figures in one hand and the 

 law in the other, Mr. Watson has made a good many Boards of 

 Review sit up and take notice. 



For two years this department 

 has been working on the prob- 

 lem of state taxes, and this year 

 (or the first time, the Farm, Bu- 

 reau has approached the county 

 tax problem. In eighteen diOer- 

 ent counties hearings have .eeen 

 held before Boards of R/view. 

 At this writing six of thecii have 

 secured results. 



In general, the facts are these: 

 City property Is assessed lower 

 than farm lands. However, this 

 is not Invariably true. Village 

 property is usually assessed high' 

 er than city property. Farm 

 lands have been going down In 

 value and at the same time city 

 property has been increasing in 

 value. There has not been suf- 

 ficient adjustment to malce an 

 equal t asis of taxation. 

 Getting Facts 



"The facts of the case within 

 the county, is what counts," Mr. 

 Watson says. So the first tlfing to 

 do is to make an investigation. 

 To get the sale value df city 

 property and farm lands, the ac- 

 tual sales are taken froim the 

 books of the county recorder. 

 These figures are compared with 

 the actual full assessed values of 

 the same properties, taken from 

 the books for the same year. 



Many of the Boards of Review 

 Invited and welcomed Farm Bu- 

 reau arguments. Others seemed 

 to resent the fact that farmers 

 are taking an Interest in tax prob- 

 lems. In several places there 

 has been some warm battles. But 

 ' the Farm Bureau policy of havlog 

 the amunition, the facts, before 

 going to battle has made it nec- 

 essary for the opponents to do 

 most of the looking on. 



Watch Dog Needed 



Some of the discoveries made 

 go to show that it would be a 

 pretty good thing to have a 

 watch dog on the ]ob all of the 

 time. In one county it was found 

 that a very large business was 

 assessed for 1200,000. It didn't 

 look just right, so the case was 

 foUoweS up. The balance eheet 

 of thiat corporation showed that 

 It owned property in the county 

 to the value of 13,200,000. In 

 another county, several small cor- 

 porations were assessed for less 

 than ten percent of their value. 



The whole story cannot be told 

 in this issue. We are going to 

 do a lot of talking on this sub- 

 ject from now on. This fall the 

 question of state taxes will be 

 up again, and we hope there will 

 be more to talk about. 



Let's see what results the conn- 

 ties, are getting: 



In Macoapin County 



Last spring the Macoupin Coun- 

 ty Farm Bureau made a thorough 

 investigation of their tax situa- 

 tion. They found out that (arm 

 land was assessed at 49 percent 

 of its transfer value and city 

 property at less than 31 percent. 

 Farm land was carrying the heavy 

 end of the tax burden. 



The Farm Bureau executive 

 committee and tax committee met 

 with the assessor of the county 

 and pointed out that the law re- 



quired all classes of property to 



be assessed on an equal basis. 



In July another investigation 

 was made. The actual sales of 

 farm lands and city property 

 since January 21 was compared 

 with the new assessed value. It 

 was found that city property had 

 been assessed 32.1 percent of its 

 transfer value, while farm land 

 was assessed at 32.6 percent of 

 its transfer value. 



Lawrence Is EqnsUzed 



The Farm Bureau Investigation 

 in Lawrence County showed thart 

 real estate in the city of Mt. Ver- 

 non had a full assessed^ value 

 amounting to 29.1 percent of the 

 actual sales value. The actual 

 sales value was determined by 

 taking the average of 102 sales 

 in the city. 



In other towns and villages of 

 the county, real estate was as- 

 sessed at 4 3.2 percent of the 

 actual sales value. 



The investigation covered the 

 sale of farms comprising 1,950.84 

 acres. The total transfer value 

 was $105,484 or $54.07 per acre. 

 The total full assessed valuation 

 of this land is $46,624 or $24.41 

 per acre. The ratio of full as- 

 sessed valuations to actual trans- 

 fer values is 44.2 per cent. 



The Board of Review was told 

 that it would be necessary to de- 

 crease the present assessed val- 

 uation on farm lands about 33 

 percent or increase the full as- 

 sessed valuation on city real es- 

 tate by 48.8 percent. In order to 

 place the assessments on the same 

 basis. 



Mt. Vernon Incr e ased 50 Percent 



Here is what happened: Real 

 estate in the city of Mt. Vernon 

 was increased to 60 percent on 

 full valuations. In five other 

 townships, town and village real 

 estate was Increased from 10 to 

 25 percent. In ten townships 

 village and town lots remained 

 stationary, and -in one township 

 village real estate was decreased 

 10 percent. Valuations on farm 

 lands will remain the same. 



This change in valuations prac- 

 tically evens up the situation in 

 Lawrence County. 



Good Case In Clay 

 The Clay County Farm Bureau 

 has a good case. The investiga- 

 tion disclosed that Flora real 

 estate and Improvements was as- 

 sessed 36.9 percent of actual sales 

 values. Towns and villages in the 

 county were assessed 50.6 per- 

 cent of actual sales value, and 

 farms were assessed 63.6 per- 

 cent of actual sales value. 



Farm Adviser W. E. Hart says, 

 Our Board of Review is working 

 on a reduction on farm lands 

 amounting to something like 25 

 percent. Flora real estate has 

 been brought up something like 

 nine percent and they are plan- 

 ning to increase it still further. 

 It may be that the percent sug- 

 gested will be approximated at 

 least. So far as I know there Is 

 no serious opposition being made 

 to the changes requested, al- 



though the board was very slow 

 to make any decision." 



Scott Decreased 

 The Scott County Farm Bureau 

 Investigation showed that farm 

 lands and city property was as- 

 sessed at about the same percent 

 of its real value. There was no 

 problem of equalization, but the 

 figures of tile Farm Bureau proved 

 that Scott County real estate 

 was being assessed at a much 

 higher percent of Its sales value 

 than the average for the whole 

 state. This meaat that it was 

 paying more tbaii its share of 

 state taxes. : 1 



As a direct result of the Farm 

 Bureau hearing, the Board of 

 Review has decreased ail real es- 

 tate ten percent which means a 

 saving of about $4,000 in state 

 taxes. A large share of the real 

 estate In the county Is In farm 

 lands. ! 



Indnstries Hlrri Best Attorneys 



Farm Adviser Alden Snyder, of 

 Montgomery County, writes: 

 "Glad to say that we were able to 

 get two members of our tax com- 

 mission on the County Board of 

 Review. Their plan Is to cut 

 farm lands 15 percent. This, no 

 doubt, will make considerable dif- 

 ference in the reduction of taxes 

 on (arm land. 



"There has been some increase 

 on the value of city property, 

 however, we did not have much 

 success In getting an Increase In 

 the valuation of industries, such 

 as the smelters, coal mines, etc., 

 as these Industries in all cases 

 are represented by a firm of the 

 best lawyers In the county." 



Trouble In Kane 



"We obtained the record of all 

 sales (or both farm land and 

 town real estate from January 1 

 to June 1," says W. B. Richards, 

 Farm Adviser of Kane County. 

 "We also secured the amounts 

 these properties were assessed 

 for from this year's books. This 

 investigation shows that farm 

 lands have been assessed at 45.7 

 percent of the sale value. The 

 town real estate was assessed at 

 34.6 percent of Its sale value. 

 These facts were presented by 

 J. C. Watson at a hearing before 

 the Board of Review on August 6. 

 To date we have not been ad- 

 vised what action the board is 

 going to take as a result of this 

 hearing. It has come to me in- 

 directly that they do not intend 

 to take any action. 



I am very much disappointed 

 with the attitude of the Board of 

 Review toward the work we are 

 doing. They sefem to resent the 

 fact that we are investigating 

 these matters. This is not to be 

 wondered at, considering that 

 heretofore no one has ever at- 

 tempted to get an equalization 

 between different classes of prop- 

 erty. 



"In this county it is very Im- 

 portant that real estate be as- 

 sessed on an equal basis of farm 

 land, inasmuch as It represents a 

 large amount of property in the 

 county. I do not doubt but what 

 we will get a decrease on farm 

 land in some townships as a re- 

 sult of this hearing." 



Champaign Checks Up 



In Champaign County the as- 

 sessors were instructed to reduce 

 land valuations ten percent. C. 

 H. Oathout, Farm Adviser, says 

 this was done approximately, but 

 the assessors in the towns of 

 Champaign and Urbana also did 



Cat Price On^" 

 Phosphate 50c; 

 $1.00 To Elevators 



A reduction in price of 50 

 cents a ton, from $6.50 to $6.00, 

 is announced by the Phosphate- 

 Limestone Department for raw 

 rock phosphate containing 13 

 percent phosphorus. This price 

 reduction Is retroactive to July 

 15. 



To encobrage elevators and 

 dealers to carry a supply of rock 

 phosphate on hand, the depart- 

 ment announces a price of $5.00 

 a ton. This concession is made 

 by the production conapanies and 

 is for a limited time ^My.- 



"Accounting Records and Busi- 

 ness methods for Live Stock Ship- 

 ping Associations" is the title of 

 a new bulletin announced by the 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



*'Our Farm Bureau" 

 Is Latest Movie 

 Release of A.F.B.F. 



"Our Farm Bureau," a one-reel 

 feature, is the latest release of 

 the Motion Picture Department 

 of the American Farm Bureau 

 Federation, 58 E. Washington 

 St.. Chicago. 



While not long enough for an 

 evening's entertainment, it fits 

 in well with any other picture. 

 It contains a bit of good acting, 

 some animated cartoons, beauti- 

 ful (arm scenery and good com- 

 mon sense most happi'y blended 

 into a happy presentation of the 

 Farm Bureau idea. 



P««*3 



the same thing, so It left the 

 farmer In the situation as before. 



"We had a bearing with the 

 Board of Review on July 29," 

 says Mr. Oathout. "They received 

 us very pleasantly and favorably 

 and told us they were glad to 

 get all o( the Information that 

 we could give them because so 

 many complaints were made with- 

 out any grounds. 



"The facts as we presented 

 them to the Board of Review 

 showed that farm land in the 

 county is being taxed upon ap- 

 proximately 40 percent of its 

 real value, property in Urbana on 

 37 percent of its real value, small 

 towns In the county on 42 per- 

 cent, and the city of Champaign 

 on only 24.1 percent of its real 

 value. 



"The committee seemed In- 

 clined at first to simply reduce 

 farm lands 10 percent more. I 

 do not know whether It was this 

 investigation or not that stirred 

 up the people In Champaign. At 

 any rate, we furnished there fig- 

 ures to the City Board of Com- 

 missioners and a number of citi- 

 zens of Champaign have lieeome 

 considerably stirred up because 

 they found that the taxable prop- 

 erty in Champaign was decreased 

 more than one-half million dol- 

 lars in the face of the fact there 

 has been a great deal of build- 

 ing here for some time and is 

 still going on. They have taken 

 up the matter with the Board 

 also. D. J. Holterman, a mem- 

 ber of our committee, was told 

 that they would decrease land 

 another ten percent and increase 

 Champaign ten percent. 



"I think that eventually these 

 investigations will bring about 

 much good, as they show people 

 what grest inequajlties and in- 

 justices there are in the whole 

 taxation system." 



*i. 



RED TOP GROWERS 

 GET STORAGE AND 

 RE-SHjP RIGHTS 



Means Freight Saving of $39 



On Carload From Canni 



I To Chicago; 



A stot^ge and re-shipping 

 privilege, goes into effect at 

 Flora on red top seed on Sep- 

 tember i^t, which will mean a 

 verj' de$nite saving in freight 

 costs. ,()n- a carload of seed 

 from Ca^ to Chicago with a 

 stop-oflf Bt Flora, the saving 

 will- be $B9 on a carload. 



The EJgypUan Seed- Growers' 

 Exchangiel with headquarters and 

 waretinuB^ at' Flora, had a prob- 

 lem in trinsportaUon. All of the 

 red to ) Bfed in the eight coanties 

 which th^ associsjtion is market- 

 ing n usi go to Flora to be 

 cleanel &nd stored. A large 

 share of this see4 is shipped in, 

 and liter it is shipped on to its 

 desiinitioki. The sho^ freight 

 haul 1^ a I high rate, and l^e long- 

 er treighk haul, from F'fva to 

 the i^ark^t. is a much lower Vate. 



The problem was taken to the 

 Transportjation Department of the 

 Illinois Agricultural Association. 

 The wholfe facu ot the case were 

 presented to ■ the railroad. The-, 

 case later went before-the Illi- 

 nois Frelj ht Association with the 

 result, that the privilege of stor- 

 ing tind re-shipping of red top 

 seed and other related . products 

 was granted, to go into effect 

 Septembeij first. 



This mians that seed may be 

 shipped in carloads from , anv 

 point in Illinois to Flora, (or 

 cleaning ^nd storing, to be re- 

 shipped laker to some other point 

 of final destination In lUinoU, 

 Wisconsin! Michigan, Indiana. 

 Ohio. " ant a portion of New 

 York, on the basis of the through 

 rate fr^n the point of origin to 

 final (esiination plus a .small 

 transit privilege charge. 



The Answer in Dollars 



At thei present the freight 

 charges «n a carload of seed 

 from Cai^i to Flora is 16 ^ 

 cents a hundred pounds or $49.60 

 a carload. If this seed should be 

 re-shipped from Flora to Chicago 

 the rate Would b« 26 ^ cent* a 

 hundred i^ounds or $79.50 a ear- 

 load. The total freight cost from 

 Carml to {Chicago with the stop- 

 ofT at FlD^a, would be $129. 

 Sav^s 999 on Cariowi 



Under ttie new transit arrange- 

 ment the seed can be shipped 

 from Canal, In carloads, to Flora, 

 and later jbe shipped to Chicago, 

 at the tbBough ratejn effect be- 

 tween Cai^il and Chicago. This 

 throagh rjtte is 30 cenU a hun- 

 dred pouqds or $90 a carload. 

 On this Idstance, there is a sav- 

 Ing of $3^ on a carload. ' 



The new arrangement will not 

 make a 4aving ia cases where 

 there is a back hanl to Flora. 



July Business of 

 Uoe Stock "Co-op** 

 Shows Big Gain 



An increase of 137 percent in 

 the bnslnees of the Chicago Pro- 

 ducers CoAimission Company waa 

 shown for] July, 1923. compared 

 with the kame month last year. 

 A total of 1,303 cars of live stock 

 was bandied in Jjily this year, 

 compared with 550 during July, 

 1922. 



