Proceedings of the Annual Conference Under the Auspices of the National Tax Association Volume 5 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1912 edition. Excerpt: ...law for uniform and equal rate of assessment and taxation; and shall prescribe such regulations as shall secure a just valuation for taxation of all property, both real and personal, excepting such only for municipal, educational, literary, scientific, religious, or charitable purposes, as may be specially exempted by law." These constitutional requirements have imposed on our State a definite and primitive form of the general property tax; and during Oregon's fifty-two years of statehood we have experienced most of the abuses common to that system. In Oregon the county is the unit for assessments, and valuations of all property, both real and personal, are made annually. The county assessor is an elective officer, his term under the present law being four years. There are now thirty-four counties in Oregon; consequently the assessment districts are large, either in area or value, or in both. Each assessor has the task of placing valuations on many classes of real and personal property. As to the considerations of equality and uniformity in county assessments, the range has been all the way from deplorable to fair. Apportionment Of State Requirements To Counties Oregon has frequently been classed with the States that have gone a good distance toward separation of the sources of state and local revenues. This is not strictly correct. While the amount of state revenue derived from independent sources has been steadily increasing, it still represents but little more than one fifth of the total required for payment of the ordinary expenses of the state government. For the two years ending September 30, 1910, the total of receipts from such sources was $714,864.94; while the total of state taxes levied on the counties for the years 1909 and 1910 was...