COLORADO. 



167 



H. Gabbert, Democrats; President Judge of the 

 Court of Appeals, Charles I. Thompson; Associ- 

 ate Justices, Julius B. Bissell and Adair Wilson. 



Finances. The chairman of the Finance Com- 

 mittee of the Senate announced in January, " Col- 

 orado is face to face with a deficit of $200,000." 

 The difficulty seems to be in the fact of a consti- 

 tutional limit to the percentage of State taxa- 

 tion, together with the fact that there has been 

 no limit to the percentage the counties may levy; 

 hence the valuations are kept low by county as- 

 sessors. In his inaugural message Gov. Thomas 

 said: " Mulhall, the statistician, gives the total 

 value of Colorado at $1,100,000,000. I think these 

 figures are too high. My own estimate of the 

 value of the State is from $000,000,000 to $800,- 

 000,000. The total assessed valuation placed on 

 the State by the county assessors, of a little more 

 than $190,000,000, is a libel on the State." 



The educational and charitable institutions re- 

 ceive almost half of the revenue under these con- 

 ditions. 



In his report for the last biennium the Auditor 

 says : " The State Constitution limits the amount 

 that may be levied for State purposes in any one 

 year to 4 mills on the dollar for the taxable prop- 

 erty of the State. From these 4 mills the stat- 

 utes have diverted into continuing appropria- 

 tions the following amounts: Capitol building, 

 {j of 1 mill; maintenance of the following State 

 institutions State University, Agricultural Col- 

 lege, School of Mines, Asylum for the Insane, and 

 the Mute and Blind Institute 3 fi - of 1 mill each; 

 Normal School, - 3 5 - of 1 mill; stock inspection, 3 a - 

 of 1 mill; or a total of !- mill, which leaves 

 but 2-^j mills subject for appropriation by the 

 General Assembly for general State purposes. 

 From the date of the admission of Colorado as a 

 State up to the year 1891 there was a limit fixed 

 by the statutes on the amount that might be 

 levied ' for ordinary county revenue.' " 



By a statute of 1891, the Auditor says that, 

 while the limit on State taxation remained, " the 

 limit was removed as to ordinary county revenue, 

 and the counties were allowed to raise an addi- 

 tional 3 mills for ' unforeseen contingencies and 

 casualties.' It is evident that the framers of the 

 Constitution intended that the General Assembly 

 should have control of the finances of the State, 

 but the result shows that when the statute of 

 1891 was passed the General Assembly abdicated 

 its authority and delegated it to the county as- 

 sessors. The full effect of the repeal of that 

 clause of the (general Statutes which affixed a 

 limit on the amount that might be levied for 

 ordinary county revenue does not seem to have 

 been at first fully appreciated by the county as- 

 sessors, or they may have been unwilling to evade 

 the plain mandate of the law to assess property 

 at its full cash value. But the enormous reduc- 

 tions in assessments made in some counties seem 

 to have soon convinced the other counties that 

 they must pursue the same course or pay an 

 undue share of the State taxes, and from that 

 time to the present there appears- to have been 

 a mad scramble to deprive the State and its edu- 

 cational and charitable institutions of their just 

 proportion of the revenues. This has been ac- 

 complished by reducing the assessments through- 

 out the State on an average to less than 30 per 

 cent, of the cash value of property, according to 

 my estimate, and increasing the levies for ordi- 

 nary county revenue to an extent theretofore un- 

 heard of in the history of the State." 



The law requires that all taxable property shall 

 be listed at its full cash value the amount at 

 which it would be appraised if taken in payment 



of a just debt due from a solvent debtor yet 

 with these provisions " as a plain guide to the 

 faithful discharge of their duties, and notwith- 

 standing the large increase in population and 

 rapid accumulation of wealth in the last few 

 years, which are the pride of every citizen of the 

 State, the valuation of the taxable property of 

 the State, as returned by the assessors, has fallen 

 off from $238,722,417.05 in 1893 to $192,324,080 

 in 1898, a net reduction of $40,398,337.05. As- 

 suming that the value of the taxable property of 

 the State is no greater than in 1893, this indi- 

 cates a loss to the general revenue of $104,793.16, 

 and to each of the educational and charitable 

 institutions of the State of over $9,000 annually." 



The amount required for two years for the sal- 

 aries of officers and employees of the State and 

 the interest on bonds, warrants, and other evi- 

 dence of indebtedness, which are in the nature 

 of fixed charges, and the payment of which must 

 be provided for, is $743,952. The total tax of 

 the State, including the levy of 4 mills on the 

 dollar and three tenths of a mill levied for in- 

 terest on the insurrection bonds, was $859,458.76 

 in 1898 and $831,240.45 in 1899. The fees and 

 other receipts bring the estimated revenue for 

 the two years to $1,125,346. 



The appropriation bill called for $87,200 for 

 legislative expenses, and the estimates for State 

 institutions amounted to about $674,899, includ- 

 ing deficits, repairs, and new buildings, for the 

 coming biennium. To complete the State canal 

 $100,000 a year for four years is required, and 

 State roads and bridges called for more than 

 $200,000 additional. 



Revenue Reform. A convention was held at 

 Colorado Springs, Jan. 25, for the purpose of 

 bringing about reform in the revenue laws. The 

 convention was called by the Colorado Springs 

 Chamber of Commerce; each chamber of com- 

 merce in the State was invited to send 10 dele- 

 gates, and where no commercial body is organ- 

 ized the city councils were requested to appoint 

 delegates. The following were adopted: 



" Whereas, From the difference of individual 

 opinion, localities, and for other reasons, wide di- 

 versities and inconsistencies exist between the 

 valuation of the different counties and property 

 of very similar kind, class and quality is assigned 

 widely different values in the different counties, 

 and the above condition gives rise to great con- 

 fusion in collecting taxes, and to great inequality 

 in the bearing of the burden of taxation by the 

 people of the State; and, 



" Whereas, The Board of Equalization of the 

 State, as at present conducted and administered, 

 exercises only a partial supervision and power 

 of control over the acts of the various county 

 commissioners and assessors, and a great and 

 growing evil results therefrom; and, 



" Whereas, From the decisions of the Board of 

 Equalization, as it is at present constituted, there 

 lies no appeal, and there is no power to revise, 

 control, limit, or qualify the action of said Board 

 of Equalization, all to the great injury and dam- 

 age of the tax-paying public ; now, therefore, be it 



" Resolved, That it is the sense of this conven- 

 tion that such immediate action as may be con- 

 stitutional should be taken by the Legislature of 

 the State of Colorado at its present session which 

 shall require of the State Board of Equalization 

 the exercise of a supervisory function over the 

 assessments of the several counties; shall fur- 

 ther, if possible, provide some form of appeal by 

 the several counties from the decisions of said 

 board of the proper courts of the State of Col- 

 orado." 



