September, 1932 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Seventeen 



1* 



'<?': 



Issues Last Call For 



1932 Tax Reductions 



I. A. A. Tax Director Tells Farm 



Bureau Committees How 



To Go About It 



JOHN WATSOK 



The last call for tax reductions 

 for all county purposes was issued 

 recently by John C. Watson, direc- 

 tor of taxation, in a letter to the 

 County Farm Bureau tax com- 

 mittees. 



Every county having a board of 

 supervisors is required by statute 



to make tax 

 levies in the 

 week beginning 

 Tuesday, Sep- 

 tember 13. In 

 counties having 

 a board of coun- 

 ty commission- 

 ers, except Cook 

 county, tax 

 levies must be 

 made beginning 

 Monday, S te p- 

 tember 19. 

 Each county 

 board is required by law to prepare 

 a budget of expenditures, setting 

 forth the various purposes for 

 which expenditures are believed 

 necessary or desirable and the 

 amounts proposed to be expended 

 for each purpose in the next fiscal 

 year. 



Estimate Income 



Good practice requires that be- 

 fore determining the amount which 

 must be levied in general taxes on 

 property, said Mr. Watson, each 

 county board shall first estimate, 

 as accurately as possible, the 

 revenue of the county general fund 

 which, on the basis of previous ex- 

 perience, may be reasonably ex- 

 pected during the fiscal year from: 



1. The fees collected by each fee 

 officer after deduction therefrom of 

 the salary of the fee officer, the 

 compensation of other employees 

 In his office, and other necessary 

 expense of the office. 



2. Other county non-property 

 sources, such as the county farm. 



3. Refund of the State's share of 

 blind pensions and mothers' pen- 

 sions previously paid by the county. 



The sum of all revenues which 

 may be reasonably expected from 

 non-property sources should be de- 

 ducted from the total general coun- 

 ty levy. The remainder, if not re- 

 quiring more than the maximum 

 tax rate permitted by law, repre- 

 sents the levy which must be made 

 upon valuations of all assessed tax- 

 able property for the current year. 



Mr. Watson suggested that each 

 county tax committee should request 

 a .conference with the finance com- 



mittee and the chairman of the 

 board of supervisors in counties 

 having township organization, or 

 with the county commissioners in 

 other counties. In either case, the 

 county clerk and county treasurer 

 should usually be included in the 

 conference, he said. 



What To Consider 



"In the conference each county 

 tax committee should, with con- 

 structive and helpful purposes, ask 

 for further information about any 

 matters which are not clear. In 

 particular the conference should 

 discuss such matters as illegal 

 levies, if any, and tax objections 

 thereto, the method of determin- 

 ing appropriations for the various 

 items of the county budget in each 

 of the last two years, the degree to 

 which actual expenditures for va- 

 rious items agree with appropria- 

 tions therefor, the amount of rev- 

 enue from non-property sources, 

 delinquent taxes and measures 

 taken to require their collection, 

 county indebtedness of any kind 

 and methods of reducing or paying 

 samej reports required by law either 

 of the county board or of county 

 officers, and the necessity of hav- 

 ing all audits required by law made 

 by unbiased persons who not only 

 are competent and experienced in 

 accounting but are familiar with 

 the statutes relating to county gov- 

 ernment. 



"If any county tax committee is 

 convinced that expenditures are be- 

 ing made for political or other use- 

 less purposes, it should ask the 

 county board to eliminate them. 

 The conference should also care- 

 fully consider any expenditures for 

 non-essential, even though desir- 

 able, purposes which might tem- 

 porarily be reduced or even omitted. 



Reduction In Pay 



"The conference in each county 

 should carefully consider a tempo- 

 rary reduction, wherever legally 

 permissible, in the compensation of 

 county employees commensurate 

 with the reduction made in wages 

 and salaries paid to employes by 

 private employers. Due to constitu- 

 tional restrictions, reduction by 

 county boards in the compensation 

 of county officers is permissible this 

 year only in the case of circuit 

 clerks and recorders, who are to be 

 elected this fall. In case of all other 

 county officers, reductions will be 

 valid only with the consent or by 

 the voluntary action of the officers 

 themselves. But the county board 

 has power at any time to adjust the 

 compensation of all other county 

 employees, including deputies and 

 clerks in the fee offices, but only, 

 in the case of each fee office, if the 

 county board has followed the bet- 

 ter practice of allowing a specified 

 amount for such expense apart 



from the compensation of each fee 

 officer himself. 



"All reductions in county costs 

 effected by any economies should 

 be fully reflected either in the com- 

 ing levy of taxes by the county 

 board or, in counties which have 

 unpaid obligations, in specific pro- 

 vision for their payment." 



STRONGER WOOL MARKET 



REPORTED BY NATIONAL 



(Continued from page 15) 



Marketing Corp. for the week end- 

 ing Aug. 20. 



Private wool dealers have fol- 

 lowed the lead of the National 

 when it advanced its holding prices 

 5 cents per clean pound one week 

 ago. The situation is, therefore, 

 strong. 



Choice Fine Territory wool, 

 graded for staple, has touched 40 

 cents, clean. Owing to the scarcity 

 of rain and resulting unfavorable 

 range conditions in many produc- 

 ing sections during the growing 

 season, the supply of staple wool 

 is limited. For this reason the Na- 

 tional can see no necessity for of- 

 fering its holdings in volume at this 

 moment. Choice Territory Fine 

 wools, with a sprinkling of Half- 

 blood, have also touched 40 cents, 

 clean, in the original bags. 



Topmaking wools, in the original 

 bags, are obtainable at from 35 to 

 38 cents, according to quality. Half- 

 blood graded wools are firm at 38 

 cents, clean. Choice territory 

 Three -eighths blood is very firm at 

 32 to 33 cents, clean, while ordi- 

 nary wools of this grade may be had 

 at 30 cents, clean. Quarterblood ter- 

 ritories are difficult to obtain un- 

 der 30 cents or slightly more. 



This strong situation has brought 

 on renewed buying activities in the 

 West, and prices all the way from 

 2 to 3 and 4 cents, in the grease, 

 over prices obtainable at shearing 

 time, have been paid. 



A GREAT DEAL of wool has 

 changed hands during the past 2y2 

 weeks. Topmakers and manufac- 

 turers are still eager to buy in 

 quantity at the old prices, but are 

 finding it more and more difficult 

 to trade on this basis. It is evident 

 that many mills are now accumu- 

 lating stocks for future needs. In 

 these circumstances the National, 

 being strongly financed, is pursu- 

 ing a policy of conservative selling 

 but cannot well refuse to consider 

 offers from its regular customers 

 based on its latest quotations. To 

 date the National has sold only 10 

 per cent from its holdings of 1932 

 wool, believing it possible to obtain 

 somewhat better prices as the sea- 

 son advances. 



Uncle Ab says he is not sure which 

 is worse, the knocker or the booster; 

 one means deflation and the other in- 

 flation, and both are bad. 



