Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 September 1874 — High Taxes in Jasper County. [ARTICLE]

High Taxes in Jasper County.

Mr. Editor.—l wish to lay before your .readers a few statements relative to “high taxes” in Jasper county. I shall present facts and figures, the result of careful calculations and comparisons. Hoping your readers, irrespective of party, will give due consideration to the same, I will proceed at A* ce - ‘ .J. ’rhe average levy for local purposes in this county is $1.03 on the SIOO. The average in the State for local Durposes is 98 cents on the SIOO. There are nfty-eight counties taxed lower, and thirty-thfge higher than Jasper county. This would place Jasper a few cents above the average of the ninety-two Ifbunttes, yet that this is more apparent than real will follow from the next statements. 2. As a rule, thickly settled counties levy a much lower tax than these more thinly settled. For instance, Marion county, with a population of 190 to the square mile, levies only 41 cents on the SIOO, while Starke, with a populaton of 10 to the square mile, levies $2,29 on the SIOO. — These are, respectively, the thickest and thinnest settled, and the lowest and highest levies, in the State. This rule, of course, is modified and made to vary in some instances, for a few counties with a dense population have higher taxes than some others not so densely populated. This is caused principally by the railroad tax, township tax, county debt tax, &c. Let me illustrate farther. The six densest populated counties in the State average ninety-two cents on the SIOO, while the six thinnest settled, levy $1.23. A comparison of any equal number of the thickest and thinnest settled counties wi 1 favor the former with alo ver tax. Excepting Starke, Jasper is the most sparsely settled county in the State, and its tax is 15 cents lower than the a verage of the 12 most sparsely settled counties. n r e have the loxvest tax in the State according to the density of population. 3. I will now show that the people of this county really pay, in money, a lower tax than the average in the State. The average road tax in the State is nine cants, and Jasper countie’s road tax is seventeen cents. Deduct the nine cents from ninety-eight cents (average local in the State) and we have eighty-nine cents to be paid in money. Deduct the seventeen cents from $1.03 (the average in Jasper county) and we have only eighty-six cents to be paid in money—three cents below the average. True, you pay your road tax in work, but you could hire it done for from twenty-five to thirty per cent, less than the tax. There are a few more modifications of local taxes, but I will not state them now—l expect to in my next. U.