THE I. A. A. RECORD 



by 



Hits Politics As Cause 



of Tax Inequalities 



Tax Director Reveals Three Reasons for 

 Bad Conditions In Some Counties In 

 Illinois. 



An Editorial By John C. Watson 



/rilE State Constitution and the 

 ' revenue statutes of Illinois clearly 

 prescribe uniform valuations of all 

 taxable property for i)urp()ses of tax- 

 ation. The courts always so interj)ret 

 the statutes. 



The revenue laws provide that coun- 

 ty treasurers shall be supervisors of 

 a.sse.ssments in their several counties, 

 an<i shall ^ive the assessors such, in- 

 structions as will tend to j)roduce uni- 

 formity in valuations. The Supervisor 

 of A««i'««nit'nts himself is ir'iwvu the 

 power of orif^inal assessment whenever 

 he thinks that any property has been 

 improperly assessed. 



In June or July, sometimes later. 



each supervisor of assessment turns all 



assessment books over to the county 



,boar<l of review, consistinj; of the 



chairman of the 

 county board, and 

 usually of two ad- 

 ditional members 

 appointed, o n e 

 each year, by the 

 county Judjje. In 

 counties not under 

 township orpraniza- 

 tion, the board of 

 three county com- 

 missioners are the 

 county board of 

 review. The j)rin- 

 cipal duty of any 

 board of review is 

 the equalization of valuations. 

 Swear To Accuracy 

 In September or October, thouf^h 

 sometimes later, each board of review 

 closes its work for the year, and the 

 members lake oath that "the books — 

 in number to which this affidavit is at- 

 thched, contain a full and complete list 

 of all the real and jjcrsonal j)roperly 

 in said county subject to taxation for 

 the year — so far as we have been abl'- 

 to ascertain the same, and that the 

 assessed value set down in the ])roi)er 

 column ojtposite the several kinds and 

 descriptions of i)i'o|)erty, is, in our 

 oj)inion, [i just and ecjual a.ssessmeiit 

 of such ])ro|»erty for purposes of taxa- 

 tion acconlin^-: to law." 



Followinp: adjournment of the coun- 

 ty board of review, the county clerk 

 ceitilies to the Illinois Tax Commission 

 the total assessment of each of the 

 three kinds of projjcrty locally as- 

 sessed. It is the (luty of the Tax Com- 

 mission to equalize valuations of each 

 class of property among the counties 

 of the state. 



DeKalb County Case 

 In spite of laws providing for uni- 

 form valuations and for an elaborate 

 system of review of as.sessments by 

 different public officials, assessments in 

 almost every county of the state have 

 gross and indefensible inequalities in 

 valuations which could easily be re- 

 moved. Due to its greater uniformity 



John C. Watson 



VISITS I. A. A. OFFICE 



knoW th< 



SENATOR GEO. W. NORRIS 



in value and to the acre unit standard, 

 farm lands within each county are 

 more uniformly assessed than any 

 other propi-rty. Yet there is probably 

 liot a county in the state in which some 

 farm land, always the jjoorest land and 

 the least able to stand the burden is 

 !iot assessed relative to its fair sale 

 value, several times as high as other 

 farm land. Iti city and village lots, 

 for which theie is no stan<lar<l unit of 

 nieasuremenl, the situation is much 

 worse. It is at its woist in personal 

 l)roperty, especially unenumerated ])er- 

 sonal property. An exami)le of >iuch 

 inequality whs found two years ago in 

 DeKalb ('ounty. The numufacturing 

 plants in the little city »»f Sandwi<-h 

 had valuations for manufacturers' 

 tools and inii)lemenls ten times as high 

 as the much more extensive and much 

 larger number of manufacturing i)lants 

 ill the City of DeKalb. 



The foregoing renuirks apply to 

 valuations within the same counties. 

 Between counties ineciualities are far 

 worse than within c<iunties. It is not 

 too much to' say that in the state as a 

 whole there is no class of property in 

 which there are not some assessments, 

 relative to fair sale value, at hast tt-n 

 <pr twenty times as high as other as- 

 sessments. If the comparison is niade 

 between different clrisscs of property, 

 the inequality is many tinu-s worse. 



Threr- P .-asons 



The ])rincipal r^ .json foi" the virtual 

 failure of eciualization of valuations 

 are thre«> in number. First, is ignor- 

 ance of the facts. Second, is timidity 

 of |)ublic officials. Third, is politics. 

 Sometimes two or even all of these 

 re:sons operate at the same time. 



County treasurers usually «lo not 



/'ffflPf? Fitcvrti 



facts, about the a.ssossnienls 



or what should be done to correct in- 

 equalities. They can give no proper 

 instructii ns to assessors. The stand- 

 ards iof assessors vary widt-ly, since 

 each'oiu- knows little or nothing about 

 how Other assessors value property. 

 Hoards o Review likewise do not know 

 whati is 'e<juire<l for unifoiin assess- 

 mentjs of dilferent classes of i)roperty. 

 Theii- e<i lalizatioi), so far as they do 

 anything, is too often ecpuilizatioii of 

 a cotpparitively small nundn-!' of pr<»p- 

 ertiei;, or etpialization of claj^se.s by 

 gues?; w( rk only. Even the Illinois 

 Tax Copi mission can only guess at the 

 facts ab( ut assessments of different 

 classes of propt'rty. 



In niai y counties the Supervisors of 

 As.sepments and Boards of Review 

 havej .son e knowh'dge of the ine<|ual- 

 ities iin assessments of ditfen-nt classes 

 of propely, but are too timid to cor- 

 rect then . It is easier for such boards 

 to pormil ine<|ualities to continui' than 

 it is Ito p;>rform their proper <lutii>s. 

 I Politics Interferes 



Tl|e e> perience of the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural 'Vssociation in the last few 

 yeari: proves conclusively that p<ditics 

 ofteik interferes or attempts to inter- 

 fere with proper equalization of valua- 

 tions. A ppointments of members of 

 lioar.d of Review >)y county jiulges are 

 ofleiji maile f<»r political reasons. The 

 reful^al of boards of review to remove 

 admitted ine<iualities in many cases is 

 cleanly d iv to the political ambition of 

 one or rioie members of the Ixtards. 

 It will b< recalled that last year, after 

 the Tax [;«)minis.sion had ordered reas- 

 sessilient of real estate in four coun- 

 ties,! powerful political intere.><t^ in 

 every one of the f<»ur c<»unties, did 

 their utnost to prevent the oi<i«'rs of 

 :-e;'.st;essi lent from being carried into 

 elfett. '"he Tax Commission it^^elf was 

 bom )ar<lL'd on political grounds to such 

 an <>?vtent that it was slow and hesitant 

 in cjiriy ng out its ow'n order. 



It^nor: nee of the facts abou< assess- 

 menjls. timidity in correcting inecpial- 

 itiesj, and refusali for pcd it icai reasons, 

 <lo iiot n ix well with proper tax equal- 

 ization. 



Senator George W. Norris 



Speaks Before Committee 



Relates 1 Experiences as Chairman of Ag- 

 ricultur.d and Judiciary Coni:nittecs in 

 Unitct States Senate. 



:HN'A"OR GEORGE W. NORRIS of 



S 



I'll Kri( 

 liver a 

 ecu^ive 

 .ind! to 

 (•iat|oii 

 their ac' 

 C<omn 



Neb](aska visited the I. A. A. otlices 

 y. Sept.-'.), long enough to de- 

 ^hort address before th<' Ex- 

 '<)mmittee in s<'ssion that <fay, 

 and' to ^et accpiainted with the .Asso- 

 otlicjals, I staff meml)<>rs. and 

 ivitii's. 



» jomn|enting upon his exju-rienecs as 

 a ([(mg^-e.ssman and Senat<»r over a 

 ixriod (if more thim 20 years, Setiator 

 Noiiris <;aid-, "I have been impressed 

 witlj thi* seeming injustice shown by 

 so many legislators and others toward 

 agriculture. In all my experience I 

 havb nover l<nown any group to be 

 more f^ir in their demands than rop- 



