The Sauk Centre Herald

Taxes Soar Higher and Higher
State Auditor Stafford King announced Wednesday that the 1934 state tax levy has been set at 11.95 mills, the highest rate in the history of the state.
The levy this year is 0.89 mills higher than last year and has more than doubled the 5.70 mill rate of 1930.
The outlook for lower taxes during the next few years is not very favorable, and unless drastic reductions in expenditures of the state are made, there is a possibility that the rate will exceed 12.00 mills.
Drastic reductions in expenditures in Stearns County, it would seem, should tend to reduce the taxes somewhat—however, according to County Auditor Nick Thomey, that will not be a fact. A $5,000,000 drop in valuation will drive our mill rate considerably higher, which is not pleasant news to the taxpayer.
The state tax in 1930 for this county was $176,587; in 1933 it was $273,166—an increase in state taxes in three years of $96,593.
The total county, city and village, township and school tax in 1930 was $1,660,905. In 1933 the total tax from these same sources was $1,215,164—a saving in local taxes of $445,741.
The St. Cloud Times says: "While the taxes of the county, cities and villages, townships and school districts were less by nearly half a million dollars in three years, the state tax increased by nearly one hundred thousand dollars."
It is said that in some parts of the state thousands of dollars remain unpaid on the tax list. If this situation continues, the burden will become more and more unbearable and thousands of people, who now pay their taxes, will also find their names on the delinquent tax list. No one denies the right of taxation, and no one denies that he should not pay to the support of government, but it has reached a point where every voter should protest against the lavish spending of his money.