Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 April 1902 — New Rule In Assessing. [ARTICLE]

New Rule In Assessing.

One of the instructions given this year was that the property of every person should be listed by the assessor in the presence of the person assessed. It is positively against the law for an assessor to leave a blank for the taxpayer to fill out in his absence and then go around afterward for it or allow the taxpayers to take it to the auditor’s office to swear to it Heretofore persons owning a large amount of property have been given this privilege. When filling out the blanks alone they put each amount as low as they could make it, then if the total appeared too large they went over the list and pruned down the big figures. When the assessor supervises the business the taxpayer hates to kick on every item so there is a good chance that some item will be rated high enough.