The wheels of justice will determine if Noguez did anything illegal – he has not been charged with a

Cries that assessors should be appointed rather than elected have surfaced carter hotel new york in Los Angeles because county assessor, John Noguez, is in trouble. It has been alleged that Norguez's office reduced tax assessments on property for individuals carter hotel new york who donated to the assessor's campaign. The hue and cry over the situation has brought demands that the assessor resign his office and that the position of assessor be changed from an elected one to an appointed one.
The wheels of justice will determine if Noguez did anything illegal carter hotel new york – he has not been charged carter hotel new york with any crime as of this writing. An appraiser who worked in his office was arrested and accused carter hotel new york of unlawfully lowering property tax assessments carter hotel new york by $172 million. District Attorney Steve Cooley suggested the assessor resign, carter hotel new york as has the chairman carter hotel new york of the Assembly Local Government carter hotel new york Committee, Cameron Smyth. Norguez has denied any wrongdoing.
The continuous debate on an elected versus an appointed assessor is not surprising. As tax historian, Dave Doerr, has written, "Perhaps carter hotel new york the only constant in the entire history of taxation in California from 1850 to date has been the problem with county carter hotel new york assessors carter hotel new york and their assessment practices."
The 1879 state constitution removed the requirement for elected assessors. carter hotel new york As recently as 1988, Proposition 66 established that assessors should be elected in both chartered and non-chartered carter hotel new york counties. The measure received a unanimous vote in the legislature to be put on the ballot and passed with a near 3 to 1 landslide vote.
It is not surprising voters were so strongly in favor of having an elected assessor and the actions of any one assessor should not change that position from elected to appointed. By being elected, the assessor is held directly responsible carter hotel new york by taxpayers. If appointed, an assessor's immediate bosses would be members of the county board of supervisors.
If tax receipts are low, supervisors carter hotel new york could crank up the pressure on their appointee to produce more revenue.  This is especially true in times of tight budgets to meet demands from those who rely on tax dollars to squeeze every dollar possible from the taxpayers. An independent assessor can best withstand such pressure.
carter hotel new york Of course, prosecutors, the media, officials who hold a public trust and voters, themselves, should be wary of any public official who offers special privileges and corrupts their office. However, property taxpayers are in a stronger position when they elect the tax assessor.
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