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106 stories matching assessor
- Tacoma Assessor Fires Deputy With a Yard-Long Wooden Knife
After Joe Egermeyer opposed his boss's nomination, County Assessor Doherty staged a mock execution with a butcher knife.
- The Taxing of the Gypsies
A local attorney critiques the county assessor's aggressive collection of taxes from an encampment of travelers.
- The Tax Collector’s Hostile Expulsion
Kennewick’s county assessor leverages tax law to force a nomadic group out of town.
- Assessors Defy Convention to Raise Railroad Taxes
Washington state assessors vote to increase tax rates on first-class railway lines despite a lack of consensus in the main convention.
- The Tax Assessors' Cold Shoulder
Washington's county assessors struggle to find a warm place to meet, eventually retreating to the State Auditor's office to set property valuation standards.
- The Tax Man’s Efficiency Drive
Assessor A. H. Wheaton attempts to modernize property tax record-keeping to save the county thousands.
- The Battle for the Assessor’s Office
A Seattle taxpayer challenges the hiring of a deputy, sparking a tense public exchange in the press over bureaucratic authority and civic competence.
- The Politics of the Per Diem
A spat between county officials over travel expenses exposes the partisan friction simmering beneath local administrative life.
- The Bust After the Boom in Whatcom County
A local assessor grapples with the fallout of a real-estate bubble, lowering property valuations to match actual economic conditions.
- The Tax Bill That Landed on Stevens County Property Owners
A fight between the county assessor and prosecuting attorney over taxing money and mortgages ends in a court-ordered reassessment—and a bill for the people.
- A County Assessor, a Restaurant Keeper’s Wife, and a $10,000 Scandal
Mount Vernon’s county assessor is accused of stealing the affections of a restaurant keeper’s wife—who has reportedly fled to Seattle.
- County Officials Face Off Against Railroads in Olympia
Benton County leaders head to the state capital to defend tax valuations against railroad corporations seeking lower assessments.
- City Assessors Under Fire Over Bank Tax Evasion
A legislative loophole, allegedly 'smuggled' into law by bankers, has sparked a battle over local tax revenue in Walla Walla.
- Flooded Out, Then Taxed: Assessor Asks Relief for the Calispel Farmers
High water wiped out the grain fields of the Calispel valley this spring. The county assessor says the survivors should not have to pay for land that gave them nothing.
- The Paper Trail That Went Up in Smoke
A King County tax assessor admitted that sworn property records were routinely burned, sparking a public outcry over local fiscal transparency.
- The Great Tax Assessment Revolt
Citizens and officials clash in Olympia over whether property should be assessed at 'full cash value' or kept artificially low to protect against Territorial overreach.
- The Unwelcome Tax Man
A Seattle poll tax assessor describes the frustration and absurdity of tracking down residents in a city where the transient population and the immigrant community resisted his rounds.
- The Paperwork Revolution
Whitman County updates its land records to end a legacy of confusion and 'egregious errors' in tax assessment.
- The Economic Pulse of Benton County
Assessor A. H. Wheaton reports a quarter-million-dollar surge in personal property valuation and a steady rise in population, noting a sharp uptick in Ford ownership.
- The Fight Over Who Owns the Reservation
A legal battle over assessing Puyallup Indian lands triggers a debate on citizenship and taxation in the Superior Court.
- The Railroad Tax Fight in Benton County
A Superior Court judge rejects the Northern Pacific Railway’s attempt to slash its tax bill on 160,000 acres of land, upholding the assessor's valuations.
- The Unintended Cost of Taxing Mortgages
A Spokane assessor's push to tax mortgages sparks a debate over whether the burden of public revenue falls unfairly on the borrower.
- The Price of Building a City: 1877 Tax Defaults
As Seattle began to rapidly expand, a long list of property owners faced the loss of their land for unpaid taxes—revealing the precarious nature of early urban ownership.
- Everett's First Election Is a Four-Ticket Free-for-All
Barely incorporated, the town fields citizens', nonpartisan, firemen's and bolter tickets—all with Thomas Dwyer at the top.
- The Tax Case That Could Save Seattle’s Wallet
Attorney M. H. Sachs challenges the county treasurer in a high-stakes legal battle over property assessments that could force a massive refund to taxpayers.
Also about this, in other words
- The Great Assessment Scam: How King County Taxpayers Were Fooled by 'Blunders'
A local reporter exposes the absurdity of county tax assessments, where landowners receive notices for huge back-taxes on property they already paid off, forcing them to chase down exhausted commissioners in a cycle of bureaucratic error.
- A Taxpayer Fights the Assessor for Six Years — and Loses
William Craswell petitions the county board to strike fraudulent assessments from the rolls and demands back the money already taken; the commissioners refuse, then set the rates for everyone else.
- The Great Tax Assessment Mess of 1887
Seattle and King County property owners find their tax rolls hopelessly entangled in errors, leaving public officials to question if the entire assessment should be scrapped.
- The Tax Collector’s Quiet Heist in Thurston County
Assessments against “unknown owners,” doubled fees and $9,000 in illegal exactions left property titles tangled and taxpayers furious.
- The Great Tax Assessment Debacle of 1887
King County taxpayers find themselves in an uproar as a bungled property assessment, based on a worthless abstract, threatens the city’s financial stability.