The Nation: Tax Appeal

No pleasing some people. Prineville, Ore. (pop. 4,101), has a modest property tax of $1.35 per $1,000 of assessed value. The town happens to own its own 19-mile railway connection to the main line, and makes so much money from it that the city council thought they would give the citizens a break. They proposed a repeal of the property tax. For this benevolent gesture Mayor William P. Holtsclaw was roundly opposed at a Chamber of Commerce meeting and even upbraided on the street. Said the bewildered mayor: "Most of the folks thought that people ought to pay something for the...

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