Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

VOLI’MK 4. NO. 47 "Real Value in Money and Low Tax Rates" in North Carolina Ten Thousand Expert Appraisers Con ducting Campaign in Tar Heel State to Find Out What Her Property Is Worth. SPEND A QUARTER MILLION DOLLARS. After Appraisement the State Will Have Property Values That Will E-un From Three to Five Times Present Valuation. By Jule B. Warren. Raleigh. X. C.. October 30.—(Special Correspondence.) —‘‘Real value in mon ey —low tax rates” is the slogan of the thousand expert appraisers who now have under way the campaign in which North Carolina is spending a quarter of a million dollars to find out what her pro pert v is worth, and the initial reports reaching the office of the tax commission from townships where the revaluation work has already been com pleted indicates that the real spirit of the slogan is going to he attained. Ihe work has been under way since dune 1 this year, and, while the tax commis sion has made public no figures on the work thus far accomplished, the records of appraisers in all parts of North ‘ aio lina indicate that when the revaluation is completed and the legislature is call ed together in extra session to adjust the new tax rate in accordance with in creased property values North Carolina will have property values that will run from three to five tiroes the present, valuation of a billion dollars. These amounts, however, are purely estimates, for the tax commission, com posed of the three members of the state corporation commission, Chairman W. T. Ix-e.A. .7. Maxwell and George p. Pell, arc studiously avoiding giving out prospective figures on the increase inr fear that these estimates will be taken as a basis for the amount of in crease to he placed on property by the assessors. That, above all things, the commission is fighting for the actual cash value of property on today’s mar ket is the demand of the revaluation act passed at the 1919 session of the general assembly and nothing less than actual value will satisfy the law or the commission. So far, however, none of the township reports have shown less than double the present values and one township in a rural section of a eeutral inland county, which formerly had a tax value of around $200,000, turned in a valuation of nearly two million under the new plan. Demand for the Law. The law for the revaluation of all property in North Carolina was passed as a result of an insistent demand on the part of thinking people of all class es in the state for a tax system con structed along more scientific lines and one that distributed the burden of tax ation more equitably on all cla-.ses • of property than did the old law. which is a relic of reconstruction days, h’rue the old law lias been tinkered with from time to time, but there was never be fore a studied effort on r.he part, of leg is Inters to work out anew basis for taxation. The general . ssembly which conven ed in January, 1919, had ! he solution ol the tax problem before it as oae ofthe four big matters demanding settlement. Governor T. W. Bickett recommended the revaluation of all property on a basis of its real worth in money and the special tax commission, appointed at. a former term likewise recommended pra etically the same system. This recom mendation was incorporated in the bi ennial message of Governor Bickett to the legislature and as a result of this and a. general agitation the first, bill for revaluation was introduced in the upper house by Senator Earl Humph rey, of Goldsboro. This bill was placed in charge of the finance committee of both houses and worked out into the bill which is now on the statute books of the state. The measure received the generous support of both the minority and the majority political parties in the genera! assembly, neither side feel * matter for political discussion or controversy. Net a Revenue Measure. The primaaty object of the- revalua tion act Ls not to raise rarvenue, but to make the raising of revenue mor? scien titic and a general roform of the tax ing system so that the burdens of taxa tion would fall on rich and poor, white and black alike. Asa guarantee that the measure is not intended to put any largo increase of funds in the state tre asury the first section of tho.bill pro vides that the new assessment shall not THE BARROW TIMES be used as the basis for taxation until it is approved by the general assembly and revised by districts. The assurance is also given in the measure that the total amount of revenue raised under the new act shall not exceed 10 per cent of the revenues raised the previ ous year. When the work of revalua tion is completed a special session of the general assembly will be called to work out the new tax rate. The guar antee that the total revenues under the new law will not exceed 10 per cent of the revenues received the previous year is an assurance that the tax rate will lie lowered in just exactly the same proportion as the values are increased. This feature of the bill, however, does not guarantee that, the taxes of any in dividual will not exceed 10 per cent of what they wore the previous year, for the evil of large numbers of big pro perty owners getting away with very low valuations is one of the things the new law proposes to remedy. The fel low who has escaped his just propor tion of the tax burden in years past is going to bo hit, and hit hard, by the new law. But the average man, who has paid on valuations that were higher than those of the large property owner, will feel the good effects of the law and will pay on .just exactly the same basis as the bfyr follow—that is on the basis of the real value of the property in money at the market price of his pro perty on May 1, 1919. These valuations will hold good through 1923. but the personal property will have to be listed on the first of January every year. The Organization, The state tax commission has general charge of the revaluation work. Under the commission will be ten district sup ervisors, who will have ten sections of the state to supervise in getting the pro Gounty assessors in every county of North Carolina will look after thede ta;ls and these assessors can employ one or more clerical helpers as their de mands inav require. All of these offi cials are appointed by the tax commis sion and political lines are obliterated in making the appointments. In addi tion to these officials each county has a hoard of appraisers and review con sisting of two citizens of flip county representing both political parties and the county supervisor or assessor, who is chairman of tie bojual. People not satisfied w*t i value (Hit ou their pro perty hist? ferial „ this hoard for ad jns’u.'n ■„ a r * i • rd also I.the right to review all as urn and to ra'xo or lower them. The final appeal of lip satisfied prop". - v o'-ii-is um be mud* to tin- state tax me. .- sum itself -.id a hearing will he gran l -d bv some mem ber of the e.ommisiou or someone repre senting this body. In these examina tions or in others intended to find the true value of property the tax commis sion or any of its officials way require sworn answers to their questions. Methods of Work. When ail officials .required under the law had been named the tax commis sion arranged three meetings of all county and district suprevisors, all bounty commissioners and others inter ested in the tax problem for explana tions of the law and to answer ail ques tions the workers wished to ask before they took up the big task. One of these meetings was held in Goldsboro for the eastern supervisors, one iu Charlotte for the central counties and the (inal one in Ashville for the mountain counties. Governor Hiekett and i. embers of the tax commission attended all of these meetings and spoke in behalf of the new work. The governor made an ap peal to make values such that the tax books of the Old North State would tell the truth. The Questionnaire. The tax commission furnishes every eounty with sufficient blanks for list ing all property and questionnaires which are sent to every property owner of record. These questionnaires ask the most searching questions about the val ue of the property. Three different sets of these blanks furnish information about land in the rural districts, city property and personal property. Printed in black type at. the head of every blank Ls the following explanation: ‘‘The purpose of this blank Ls to dis close the fair actual cash value of the property listed. It. carries the guarantee of the state tbut the pnrjiose is not to increase the total amount of taxes paid, but to find the value of each separate piece of property equally, and by the same standard rude, so that equal just ice may be done to each taxpayer. A WINDER. HARROW COUNTY. GA.. THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 20. 1910 separate blank must be filled out for each separate piece of real property. The total increase in taxes cannot ex ceed 10 per cent for the state, for the county, for any special tax district. “The supervisor must require that full answer be made to every question. If you cannot answer any question with absolute accuracy give the answer that represents your best judgement as an estimate. The board of appraisers will not be bound by your answer as to the actual value of the property. Your an swer should represent your best judge ment of the value. The assessment will represent the best judgment of the county board of appraisers, which may l>e higher or lower than yours. You will in any case be notified in writing by mail of assessment made and will be given opportunity to be heard, if, in your judgment, it is assessed for more than its actual cash value.” While the questions on the different blanks differ to some extent, an exam ination of the questions asked owners of country property will reveal the gen eral methods used in getting at the ac tual value of the property. After blanks are provodedd which will definitely lo cate the property the following ques tions are required answered: Distance from nearest eitv or town. Does land adjoin improved or graded road ? If not, how far from such road? Number of acres in cultivation and value. NTimber of acres in grass or pasture and value. Numherofacrcs in waste land and v able. Number of acres in timber and value. Number of dwelling houses and val ue. Number of storehouses and value. Number of barns and value. Number of other buildings and value. Does this land contain merchantable timber in excess of that needed for ac tual farm use? Estimates in thousand feet. Has timber right been sold and con veyed? To whom and vvliat was consid eration? , *•*-. <- ‘ Give amount of insurance on build ings. , If whole property was rented in 191fi, what was the value in money of rent received? If cultivated by owner or partly cultivated and partly rented, what was the fair rental value of the whole? When did von acquire this land? If by purchase, what was the considera- tion ? Were there any circumstances con nected with the sale which caused it to sell for more or less than its real va lue at this time? Give cost of improvements made since purchase. Have you sold any part of it since purchase? If so. at what price? Was part sold worth more or less than the remainder? Have you had a genuine offer for this property, or any part of it in the last two years? It so, what was the highest offer* The reverse side of the questionnaire carries the oath which every property owner must subscribe to. stating that in his best judgment the answers given are correct and represent the actual •ash value of the property described. Filling Out Questionnaires. These blanks are sent to every pro - perty owner of record in a township, since the revaluation plan is being worked out on the township unit. The property owner is required to answer all of the questions and return the ques tionnaire, properly filled out. to the county board of appraisers. Following the distribution of the questionnaires the county appraiser or some of his helpers makes a round of the township visits central places in the township for the purpose of aiding any property ow ner who needs help in arriving at a true value of the property. The apprai sers have found that on the whole the property owners await the arrival of some revaluation officer before filling out the I innks. These questionnaires, when filled out, become tux obstructs and are in such shape that they can be liound into n imm anent record, as each blank is eiU in form a sheet in a loose leaf tiling system. When the blanks have been passed oe by the county board of appraisers and the values finally settled the law requires that copies of the ab stracts by townships Ik* sent to the state tax com mission. The commission, under the new law, has (be authorities of the state board of equalisation and can make investi gations of the returns and valuations in any county in the state where there is reason for belief that errors have been allowed to get in or where the val uatioos are not considered baaed on the OFFICIAL ORGAN OF BARROW COUNTY market value of tho property listed. If such investigations are necessary the county making the error is required to bear all expenses of such an investiga tion. Call in Experts. While the big burden of the revalua tion work will fall on the county and district supervisors, the new North Carolina law provides expert help in de ciding on the values of industrial pro perty of every description. This is a feature in revaluation work which is not found in any of the other dozen states which have passed similar laws and it is believed this feature makes I the North Carolina law just that much better and more effective than any oth er revaluation law in the country. It is provided because of the evident dif ficulty any local man or set of men would have in arriving at the true va lue of a manufacturing plant whose property was worth millions of dollars. The corporation commission has al ready made a contract with the Apprai sal Company of the South, of Savannah, Ga., to handle this feature of the work. This company will keep one of its men at the call of the commission during the whole year and will send its ex ports to the industrial plants in every section of the state for the purpose of getting the real value of all mills, fac tories and other industrial enterprises. In addition to these experts the com mission lias the authority to call in re presentatives of the various industries for the purpose of conferring with them concerning valuation. Several confer ences have already been held with the cotton mill men and others are arrang ed with the tobacco manufacturers, whose interests run into many millions in the state. These concerns have shown the utmost confidence in the work and have placed every facility of their ac counting force fit the hands of the eo (Gontiiuicd to last page of this section) NCho Knows How -to fit you? 1 PAUL HADAWAY jl Try Paul on your next pair and see if he can give you comfort. He ® don’t guess at your size. He has * nrr AAA to EEE to be sure that you get the correct width and size. Save Your Feet—You'll Need Them When You Get Old Come and get fitted the right way. Father, mother, sister, brother. He will save you from SI.OO to $4.00 On Every Pair you buy. He has told you over and over that you pay less here than elsewhere for your shoes. COME LET HIM PROVE IT TO YOU YOY JUDGE FOR YOURSELF MARTIN BROS. THE NEW SHOE STORE Across Clayton Street from the Holman Bldg. EXAMINED FITTED We relieve ocular headache and eye strain hy properly fitted glasses. Childen’s eyes giv en special attention. We charge reasonable fee for a thorough examination and advise you truthfully as to whether or not you need glasses. A satisfied patient is our best advertisement. We have our own grinding plant and can duplicate any broken lens on short notice. Send them to me by mail. J. L. WHITLEY Optometrist and Manufacturing Optician WINDER, GEORGIA FLOUR We have a quantity of Flour that we bought at low prices, and it is our desire to give our customers the benefit of our buying. Every sack of thhis Flour is guaranteed. If you have not purchased, it will pay to get our primes be fore buying. Also a varirety of Feed Stuff that we expect to sell at a small profit. Watson Glover & Cos. WINDER, GEORGIA. *1.50 IN ADVANCE