I 



You Can Control Local Taxes! 



// You Want To Keep Your Taxes In 

 Line You Will Have To Watch Your 

 Local Budgets And Levies, Ws Too 

 Late When You Get Your Tax Bill. 



By CRESTON FOSTER 



Editor, lAA Record 



ON AN ordinary grain and livestock 

 farm of 205 acres in central Illi- 

 nois a farmer this month paid a 

 1948 land property tax of $559.08. 

 On this same farm he paid a 1945 

 property tax bill of $303.44. The 1947 

 tax bill was $459.34. 



That's the tax picture for Illinois 

 farmers today. Taxes are steadily going 

 up. Where will they stop? It takes 

 more bushels of com to pay the tax 

 bill today than it did even a year or so 

 ago. When the farmer paid his 1947 

 tax bill in June, 1948, he was getting 



$2.18 for his corn. Today his tax bill 

 is higher and corn is bringing him $1.22 

 a bushel. 



It's something to think about, isn't it? 

 With taxes and other production costs 

 moving up and farm prices coming down, 

 the farmer is caught in an ever tightening 

 squeeze. 



What can be done about it? Well, 

 this $559.08 tax bill we're talking about 

 is a local one — the tax is levied and 

 spent in his community. The local tax- 

 payer can say more about these taxes than 

 his federal income tax for example. 



Let's take a look on how this $559.08 

 is spent. The assessed valuation of the 

 farm is $28,560. 



Rate on $100 

 Valuatior> 



County tax $39.98 .14 



Township tax 35.13 .123 



Road & Bridge tax . 98.39 .3445 



Road Bond tax 7,43 .026 



Cemetery tax 24.70 .0865 



High School tax . . 208.49 .73 

 Grade School tax . . 144.96 .5075 

 Total $559.08 $1.9575 



It's plain to see that roads and schools 

 are the big items in this tax bill. These- 

 two items account for 83 per cent of 

 all the land property taxes paid, and these 

 expenditures are made within a few miles 

 of his home. Let's look at the school sit- 

 uation for this particular farmer. Schools 

 cost him $353.45 in his 1948 tax bill. 



In his high school district there are 75 

 students with eight teachers. In a neigh- 

 boring high school district the enrollment 

 is 160 with nine teachers. His district 

 has a valuation of $6,000,000 and the 

 neighboring district has a valuation of 



205 ACRE^ OF FARM LAND 



..Totdl Real £sid+c Tax .#559.08 



L A. A. RECORD 



