Eye Openers for You

New York, 1895

SOME SCANDALOUS ASSESSMENTS OF CORPORATION PROPERTY.

Arverne Real Estate Worth Half a Million Dollars Assessed at $4,000 — Two Jamaica Corporations Not Assessed at all — $400,000 Worth of Bowery Bay Shore Front, Upland and Buildings On the Books for a Song.

There has been some discussion in the newspapers as to whether or not the Long Island railroad company is paying all the taxes that it should pay. Those who discussed the question did not answer it, because they were not sincere in what they said, and their statements were more catch straws to suit their purposes. Direct information on the point could only be adduced after considerable trouble, and not one of the newspapers devoted a minute's time to it. THE FARMER has gathered the information town by town, and the assessment rolls leave no doubt that the Long Island railroad company is assessed 30 to 50 per cent. higher than all the other corporations in the county. The Long Island railroad company pays over $70,000 a year in taxes, and puts up its money without doing any kicking. We quote here the amounts paid by the railroad company for state, county and town taxes this year:

Town of Newtown $12,543.95 Town of Oyster Bay 3,345.05 Town of Flushing 2,055.82 Town of Jamaica 9,681.23 Town of Hempstead 7,804.13 Long Island City 10,836.68 Town of North Hempstead 1,092.82

Total $47,359.68 School Taxes, all told 22,911.41

[Equals] $70,271.09

Some comparisons may not be out of place at this time. The Bowery Bay building and improvement company in Newtown holds property worth at least $400,000. It is assessed at $32,000 and pays a tax of $857.60.

The Sea Cliff company is assessed $2,000 on 15 acres of land and pays a tax of $34.40. The land is held at $45,000. The Flushing Bank is assessed $2,500 on $50,000 capital stock, and pays a tax of $41.50. The Jamaica gas light company, and the Jamaica electric light company, are not assessed at all. The Arverne company at Rockaway Beach has property actually worth half a million dollars, yet its assessment is but $4,000, and the tax but $75.20. The Cathedral of the Incarnation has half a million dollars invested, and $100,000 worth of real estate liable to taxation, yet its assessment is but $39,400, and its tax $740.72. The Royal land company owns 309 acres of land, which it values at $90,000. It is assessed at $10,850, and pays a tax of $203.98.

If the Long Island railroad company were to make a legal contest against the percentage of assessment standing against it it would bring about a reduction of at least 30 per cent. in its favor. We are not intimating that the railroad company is assessed too high for the value of its holdings, but it is assessed 30 to 50 per cent. too high compared with the assessments of other corporations. The case of the Arverne company is a gross outrage. The hotel property alone is worth $175,000, and the several cottages are worth $150,000 more, and there is almost a mile of land that is held at $8,000 an acre, and parcels of it have been sold at $1,000 a lot, and the aggregate assessment is $4,000, and the aggregate tax $75.20. There must be something corrupt about a case like this.

The law is that there must be an equality of values. We hope the railroad company will fight this wrong, not that we want to see its assessment reduced, but that the corporations so mightily favored may be compelled to bear an equitable share of the public burden. Not only the Long Island railroad company, but all owners of private property are wronged.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, March 8, 1895, p. 1.