proportionate estimates is hardly commensurate with the opportunity for the display of good judgment in making the assessments, for it is certainly true that an appraisal made of a parcel of real estate which was in process of settlement by a Court of Probate, and, by reason of that fact, and a natural desire on the part of the persons making the inventory and estimate of value, to make such valuation at an amount as nearly approaching its actual value as the dictates of good judgment could approximate, and would of necessity imply that the value placed upon the estate by the appraisers, whose return to the Court must be made under oath, would more nearly approach its true market value than an assessment, which, as has been shown in the preceding chapter of this report, to have been made with many elements of uncertainty as to real value accompanying it. The number of estates examined, and which were situated in the town of Hartford, was seventy-eight. Of these, the assessment of one was found to be just equal to the amount at which it was appraised, and two were found to have been assessed at a higher amount than the appraised value.

The aggregate appraised value of all the estates in Hartford with which this computation has to do was $915,923.00, the identical property having been assessed the year previous to the date of the sworn appraisal at $599,909.00, or 65 per cent. of the valuation as returned by the Appraisers to the Probate Court.

The appraised value of the one hundred and fifteen estates located in the town of New Haven was $1,270, 193.00, and the assessed valuation $699,445.00, or 55 per cent. of the appraisal, there being one where the assessment equaled the appraisal, and three which were assessed at an amount in excess of the return made to the Probate Court.

Following the same method with the towns of Ansonia and Derby, the examination shows the peculiarities of the system by the use of which it is made possible for such glaring inequalities to exist, for, in the former town, where assessments for purposes of taxation are made on a basis of 40 per cent., the twenty-one estates examined, and having an aggregate appraised value of $80,250.00, were set in the tax list of the year next preceding at $34,650.00, or 43 per cent. of the inventoried valuation. While in Derby, an adjoining town, where the Assessors have evidently endeavored to list property liable to taxation in conformity with the Statutes, requiring all property to be assessed at full value,

the six estates examined showed an aggregate appraised value of $25,305.00, were assessed at $30, 180.00, being 19.3 per cent. in excess of the appraisal.

Comparing Meriden with Wallingford, it is found that the Assessors' estimate of the ratio at which property is listed is 55 per cent. in the former and 663 per cent. in the latter named town. The result of the examination of probated estates in these towns is in a measure corroborative of the contention often made, that returns of Appraisers are of infinite value for the ascertainment of the true value, for the aggregate assessed value of the twelve estates examined in Meriden was 50 per cent. of the appraisal of the same property, and in Wallingford the assessment of the eighteen estates situated there was 61 per cent. of the appraised value.

In New London, nineteen estates were examined, of the aggregate assessed value of $103,700.00. The same property, however, was appraised under oath at $201,750.00, thus showing that the assessment was 51 per cent. of appraisal, though there were two estates which were assessed on a basis of exact equality with the appraised value, and one listed in excess of appraisal.

There were twenty-two estates examined in Norwich, the appraised value of which was $85,860.00, and the assessed value of the same property was $61,138.00, or 71 per cent. of the appraisal. One estate only being found to have been assessed at a higher amount than the appraisal.

Reference to the tables, giving the per cent. of assessed valuations, will show that the town of Waterbury is stated to have followed the rule of valuing property for purposes of taxation at one-third of its actual or market value. The appraised value of the eleven estates examined there, which had been probated during the period of this investigation, was $215,613.00, the amount assessed against the same property, as was inventoried and appraised, was $63,230.00, or 29 per cent. of the appraised value.

New Britain, also, may be quoted as an example in proof of the accuracy of the estimated per cent. of true valuation at which property is listed in that town, for the eleven estates which were taken from the records there, and which were appraised at $87,550.00, were assessed the year previous at $44.900.00, or 51 per cent. of the appraisal. So it would appear that the Assessors' estimate of half valuation as being the rule in that town is fully

borne out by the facts brought out by comparisons made with probated estates, the appraised value of which is compared with the assessment.

What is true in the case of New Britain is also true in many of the other towns. As in Stonington, where the estimated per cent. of true value assessed is 66, the average assessment of the fifteen estates examined there was 64 per cent. of the appraised value, and, applying the same rule to Danbury, where 60 per cent. is the rate of valuation, the seventeen probated estates show 55 per cent., and, while these close relations do not prevail in all the towns, yet it would seem that the assumption that the percentages of true valuation at which property is assessed in the several towns of the State, as stated in the tables contained in this report, are approximately correct.

In summarizing the appraisals of and assessments against the property of estates which had gone through the process of settlement in the Probate Courts, and, dividing the summary into Counties, the following result is reached :

Assessors' estimate of valuation in Hartford County, 69.8 per cent. Assessed valuation of one hundred and eighty-eight probated estates, 63 per cent. of appraisal.

Assessors' estimate of valuation in New Haven County, 60.8 per cent. Assessed valuation of two hundred and fifty-seven probated estates, 53 per cent. of appraisal.

Assessors' estimate of valuation in New London County, 74. I per cent. Assessed valuation of fifty-six probated estates, 59 per cent. of appraisal.

Assessors' estimate of valuation in Fairfield County, 80.8 per cent. Assessed valuation of one hundred and one probated estates, 72 per cent. of appraisal.

Assessors' estimate of valuation in Windham County, 58.6 per cent. Assessed valuation of twenty-nine probated estates, 51 per cent. of appraisal.

Assessors' estimate of valuation in Litchfield County, 81.0 per cent. Assessed valuation of thirty probated estates, 70 per cent. of appraisal.

Assessors' estimate of valuation in Middlesex County, 80.4 per cent. Assessed valuation of thirty-eight probated estates, 89 per cent. of appraisal.

Assessors' estimate of valuation in Tolland County, 47.6 per cent. Assessed valuation of thirty-three probated estates, 43 per cent. of appraisal.

In the entire State, the rule of undervaluation, as applied to all the towns, would result in the assessment of all property at a ratio of 69.6 per cent. of true market value, and, comparing this result with the proportional assessment of the seven hundred and thirty-two probated estates of an appraised value of $5,626,212.00, it is found that the assessed valuation of those estates was $3,450,964.00, or 61 per cent. of the appraisal. It must be remembered, however, in making comparisons, that there were many estates examined which have been given no place in this computation, for the reason that the identity of the appraised property with the assessment thereon could not be established with absolute certainty, thus rendering the data as regards those particular estates of no value for purposes of statistics.

Thus, it is self-evident that the system of assessing property for purposes of taxation as it obtains in Connecticut can be improved upon, as inequalities are so clearly shown to be the rule, and not the exception, for consideration given to the facts adduced by the investigation and comparison made by the Bureau in this chapter is abundant evidence that the prevailing custom of undervaluation is one which ought in all fairness to be abolished by legislative enactment. And, while it has been asserted that there is sufficient law at this time, were it complied with, yet its evasion is so apparent that it may be said to be of no value.