Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 June 1909 — AUTOS MUST PAY MORE TAXES [ARTICLE]

AUTOS MUST PAY MORE TAXES

Board of Review Raises Total Assessments $4,000. NEARLY SO AUTOS IN COUNTY • And While itegularly Assessed Much Hlghejr Than Last Year, the Board Raises Nearly All t£e Individual Assessments—Horses Raised 20 Per Cent In Carpenter, and Cattle 10 Per Cent In Barkley and Carpenter—Board Adjourns To-Day.

Owners of automobiles in this county must pay more taxes hereafter as a result of the agreement for a basis reached by the township assessors last February, and the action of the Board of Review in raising the assessors’ figures a total of about $4,000. Assessments heretofore had been ridicuosuly low, compared with other personal property, as pointed out last June by The Democrat, and our showing of the assessments made last year not only stirred up the taxing officers in this county, but several of The Democrat’s exchanges took the matter up after reading our remarks, with the result that the question was quite thorouglhy discussed through the newspapers of the state, and the increased assessmnets as a result will likely reach many hundreds of thousands of dollars. There are more autos owned In Jasper county than most people suppose, and the list here given will be a surprise to the reader. A few machines had escaped assessment this year entirely, and there may perhaps be one or two that do not appear herein—the Board having added to the list all those that were missed by the assessors and which come to their notice. Machines bought since March 1, of course, are not assessable tnis year. The list following gives the name of the owners of autos in Jasper County on March 1, 1909, and the figures in the first column show the valuation in the assessors’ returns while those in the last column give the assessments as fixed by the Board of Review. But one assessment was reduced, as shown: H W Marble $65 Horace Marble 500 $750 W B McNeil. ....... .600 400 Dr Besser 10 Wi T Elmore 125

S G Hand........... 200 345 Ellis Jones. 100 W D Bringle 300 440 W E Jo4hnson 160 460 Geo W Jones 50 John M Ott .400 600 John Marlatt. . .... . . 150 340 W H Snedeker 300 375 F A Tufler, 3 autos... 800 935 Jasper Co Tel Co 50 L A Bartoo .....200 340 Delos Thompson .... <IOSO 1400 Matt Worden ..270 360 Farie E Leek 375 500 I M Washburn 375 500 Dr Kresler 275 400 Dr English. 75 George Terwilliger... . .375 500 C G Spitler 250 E L Hollingsworth.... 375 500 Ernest Lamson...... 500 H F Parker 40 Babcock & Hopkins. ..125 B F Ferguson 75 Joe Bennett 50 H Lowman 50 Caleb Cheeker. ...... . 20 L N Wells. 30 Dr Gwin 75 Dr Kannal 75 Lyman Raymond. ..... 600 750 A B Elmore 340 Harvey Davisson 75 Abe Halleck •.. . 50 Dr Rainer 340 Geo Worden 60 Otto Schrader 300

This raise is more in harmony with the valuation placed on other personal property, and will meet with general approval. It has been found that automobiles are very damaging to improved highways, the suction of the rubbe*tires pulling out the particles of fine stone or gravel where it is carried off by the wind. One member of the board expressed himself to The Democrat as favoring, in addir tion to the regular property tax, a special road tax on automobiles because of their damaging effects on our improved roads. The board raised the assessment of cattle 10 per cent in Carpenter and Barkley, and horses 20 per cent in Carpenter. The board expects to finish its work today and adjourn, and a more complete report of its doings will be published after the record is written up.