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.
At a popular meeting held in Olympia, the purpose was to open up the assessment question. There has been such an increase in values during the year that the present assessment is double its worth. Secretary Owings argued that putting the tax into the territorial treasury was equivalent to throwing it into the fire, as the territory gives little back to the county. Territorial Auditor Reed agreed, arguing that values should be reduced to actual cash value. Opponents, including Reverend D. Bagley, argued that assessors had done their duty and that reducing values would be an act of perjury for the assessor. Deputy Assessor Chilberg argued against the resolution, noting that property values had increased by 50 percent and that assessments were still often below actual selling prices. He noted that merchants who refused to show their books were assessed high, and they could find relief by proving their actual inventory to the commissioners.
“If, because the Clarke county Assessor had valued land at $10 which could not be bought for $100 an acre, and by so doing had perjured himself, would you have ours do the same?”
This debate over 'full cash value' versus artificial assessment reflects the perennial Seattle tension between the growth machine's desire for tax revenue and the homeowner's fear of assessment spikes. The mention of using high assessments to force speculators to sell land to 'permanent settlers' mirrors contemporary debates about land value taxes designed to curb hoarding in the current housing crisis.
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