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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 29, 1956)
FOUfctEEN MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE Thursday, March 29, 1956 Tax Findings, Recommendations. Given eport of Chamber Legislative Committee Following is the text of the tax study report of the legisla tive committee of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce. It was adopted by unanimous vote of the committee at a Tues day night meeting, and was to be submitted to the chamber board of directors at noon today. The report: To the Board of Directors: SCOPE OF INQUIRY Over a period of four months, your legislative committee has studied the assessment, fiscal and taxing procedures of the local units of government in Jackson county. It also gave careful consideration to the rela tive merits of" the present state taxing procedures, including the income tax and a sales tax as producers of state income. It considered the proposed amend ment to the state constitution which would permit the legisla ture to attach an emergency clause to a tax bill to prevent its being delayed through refer endum proceedings. It studied the practices and policies of local units of government to de termine needs for improvement and new legislation. The committee consulted with representatives from the princi pal taxing units in the county and many of the smaller ones, to become familier with their problems. State Tax Commis sioner Sam Stewart, Salem," ex plained the state's part in local assessment procedure. The committee is grateful to those who appeared for giving so much of their time to this public service. Reports and file material of the many local subdivisions of government were used as well as material issued by the state tax commission, the bureau of municipal research and service of the University of Oregon, and the legislative committee of the Portland, Oregon, Chamber of Commerce. GENERAL FINDINGS J 1. Some of the operational and taxing problems facing the local j subdivisions have arisen by rea- j son of rapid growth, the multi ; plicity of taxing units and de mand for more governmental ' services. Defective or outmoded laws have added to these prob I lems. 2. Jackson county school dis I tricts thus far have had little trouble in getting extra tax lev ies approved by the people, but cities often find their requests voted down. 3. The two new schools re cently opened in Medford gave School District 49 a "surplus" capacity, but ihis is expected to vanish by 1957-53 and by 1961-62 it is .estimated the school system will have 1,158 more students than it will be able to handle according to state stand ards unless further classrooms are built. This means continued increase in school costs. The Ashland school board finds that it must construct an average of three classrooms per year. The number of teachers of School District 6C of Central Point in creased from 29 in 1950-51 to 83 in 1955-56, and five more will be needed in 1956-57. 4. Subdivisions and fringe area developments are posing major problems to local govern ments as respects zoning, sanita tion and water supply. As an ex ample of the impact of such growth, the number of water users in the Medford Irrigation district has increased rapidly. The district's water assessments are now $14 per acre per year, the highest in the state. 5. To retain its maximum tax ing power under the 6 per cent tax limitation in the state con stitution, the county imposed a property tax in 1955-56 almost double that of the year before, although there is some doubt whether it was necessary to re sort to a tax levy at all, in view of the large balances on hand and the volume of O and C M mi Phcne 2-9200 HI'S MONTH END 915 W. McAndrews SPECIALS TREET 2 Cans ARMOUR'S snacks I VIENNA SAUSAGE AO I Good in so Qftt W JT many ways w Cans W 39 CHIFFON DINNER NAPKINS Giant Size for ZEE TISSUES The Bibbesi Bargain in Softness! ASSORTED COLORS, A Qf I C FAMILY PACK liULLO DENRISOH'S MEAT BALLS & GRAVY A QUICK, EASY DELICIOUS MEAL STALEY'S CORN STARCH Pound Package for NEW DR. ROSS TOASTED VITA-MEAL Energized With Fresh Beef Fat I I- . c I -.1. TLI -mm in d duppiy at i ins Mm P for M m& 29c SPECIAL PRICE. LB. BAG 64 HALEY'S BROWN GRAVY With SLICED BEEF A Complete Main Dish So Quick, So Easy to Prepare 13 oz 49e KURLY KATE Pot Cleaners QUICK ELASTIC STARCH BISQUICK, Large 40-ounce Size. PARTY TIME CHEESE - CANNED HAMS, Morrell's Pride Ready to Eat SPUDS - U. S. No. 1 KLAMATH CARROTS - Cello Bags -3 for 25c J2 for 29c .3 for 98c -2-lb. Box 69c GREEN ONIONS RADISHES -3-lb. Cans-Ea. $1.98 100-lb. Bag $2.98 2 for 19c 2 Bunches 9c For Your EASTER BREAKFAST! CASCADE HAMS, Center Slices CASCADE LINK SAUSAGE, Pure Pork CASCADE HAMS, Whole or Half ; CASCADE PICNIC HAMS Lb. 89e Lb. 49e r CASCADE BACON, Slab or Sliced A Good Supply of WHITE AA LARGE EGGS Fresh fr.om Dodson's Ranch PAAS Pure Food EGG COLORING OOD ASSORTMENT OF EASTER CANDY .Lb. .lb. Lb. 55c 35c 39e Jkg. 10c money anticipated. 6. There is inadequate public information provided regarding the source and purpose of mon ies handled, by the county through some of its independent funds, especially the sinking fund for improvements and equipment. 7. A careful analysis indicates ! that the sharp increase in real property taxes in Jackson coun ty for 1955-56 was due not only to an expansion in budgets of local taxing units, but also to an i inadvertent error in assessing j real property at 25 per cent of ; market value instead of 25 per cent of true cash value (70 per ; cent of market value). For ex- j ample, a $10,000 property (mar-1 ket value), instead of being as sessed at 25 per cent of 70 per cent of market value, or $1,750, was assessed at 25 per cent of $10,000, or $2,500. This resulted in real property carrying a dis proportionate share of the over all tax load. This error will ob viously not be repeated, and correction of the assessment ra tios in 1956-57 will prevent the error from being continued into that year. 8. There is considerable real and personal property in the county that is grossly over or under assessed, and some has been concealed from the asses sors which should be on the tax rolls. The personal property tax set-up is particularly involved and difficult to administer. The county assessor's office does not have adequate personnel to in sure careful and equitable as sessment. 9. The Oregon constitution lim its the tax imposed by cities, towns, counties and school dis tricts to the highest amount lev ied in any one of the preceding three years, plus 6 per cent ad ditional, except as approved by the voters. A limitation of this type has no relation whatever to the needs of a community, particularly if the region is ex hibiting growth of any signifi cance. As a result, Medford and its school district, as well as many other taxing units through out the state, are constantly com pelled to go to the trouble and expense of calling special elec tions to vote on extra levies. What is worse, those subdivi sions whose tax needs are below the 6 per cent limit feel it neces sary to levy more than they need at times in order to retain their maximum taxing power. Levies in excess of needs are not con ducive to economical operations. The purpose of a tax limit is to restrict levies to minimum needs, yet here is an instance where it has the opposite effect. A limitation based on property values would correct this situa tion and also allow an expan sion in tax revenues while a com munity is growing and require a contraction in case of a decline. RECOMMENDATIONS 1. We recommend the repeal of the 6 per cent constitutional limitation and the adoption of a limitation on tax levies based on a percentage of market val ues averaged over a period of years. 2. We recommend a change in I the law pertaining to publica- j tion of budgetary estimates to provide that comparisons with the tax levies and other reve nues of past years be included. The law as it stands requires year-by-year comparisons of ex penditures only, and consequent ly the taxpayer has no way of knowing to what extent the pro posed budget will call for higher or lower taxes. 3. We recommend an increase in the number of qualified per sonnel in the county assessor's office. Equitable distribution of the tax burden among all classes of property is one of the basic foundations of good local gov ernment and it cannot be achieved without an adequate force of well qualified, consci entious assessors. Proper field work should bring enough con cealed property onto the tax rolls to more than offset the added costs. 4. We recommend legislation to create a tax supervisory and conservation commission in counties of . more than 50,000 .population, to have authority over all taxing bodies within such counties! An active and alert commission of this type in Jackson county would prevent any sharp increases in tax lev ies by coordinating the needs of the overlapping units of gov ernment, and could have a re straining effect on undue expan sion of local budgets. 5. We recommend creation of a municipal finance bureau in the state tax commission to re ceive and keep on file periodic financial reports of all counties, cities, towns, school districts and other taxing units fort the pur pose of studying trends in local government and for other re search purposes. 6. We recommend a state sales tax with food and medicine 'ex empted,, the proceeds to go into the state general fund; repeal of the 45 per-' cent surtax on in comes; and consideration of the elimination of any tax on in comes of less than $5,000 per year. We recommend that cap ital gains ' and depreciation schedules conform to federal tax practices. 7. We recommend a law which would require the county to make a budget report on its sinking fund for improvements and equipment, showing the ex penditures for the previous three years, the expenditures for the first half of the current year, the budget for the current year, and the estimates of the bal ances in the funds as of the be ginning of the ensuing tax year. 8. We recommend that a broad and careful statewide study be undertaken of the advantages and disadvantages of eliminating the personal property tax, and of possible substitutes. 9. We recommend to Oregon's voters that they approve the proposed constitutional amend ment to permit an emergency clause to be attached to tax leg islation, to prevent its being de layed through referendum proceedings. Portland U.P.) A jury of six men and six women was chosen yesterday to hear the murder trial of Wey Him Fong, accused in the 1954 death of 16-year-old Diane Hank. Nation Warned To Repair Tax Structure Portland (U.R) The nation must repair its "unfair" tax structure or it will not be able to continue its growth and meet a demand for 20,000,000 new jobs by 1975, Cola G. Parker, the president of the National Association of Manufacturers, said yesterday. Parker, a native of Monroe, Wis., is on a tour of the West to tell of the NAM's plan for tax reform. It would establish a top tax rate of 35 per cent on in dividual and corporate taxes. Loss of Tevenue would be made up through increased business made possible by release of isk capital. Dead line Sunday Classified 1 at noon Saturday: 10 ajii Monday for Monday, other days 5:30 orevious day. JUST IN TIME FOR SENSATIONAL EASTER SAVINGS FOR HOME AND FAMILY MEDFORD ON SALE ST TTl J FRIDAY t jfflj- Li VV A MORNING ijlWOOTM V V J r mmmib mnimiii llll II Orders MieT ll foiF PoAcl! Msim! ! oa m m n mmmh imbmmhk SORRY! No Layaways' on E.O.M. Items Rock Bottom Prices on Selling Spring Drastically S Go Fast! 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