Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1867-05-28
Shall Greenhacks be Taxad.

Shall Greeabacks be Taxed.
Under instructions Of the legisla~
ture Of 1867, the Secretary Of State,
aided by the Attorney General, has
published certain instructions 70 as
ieessors-giving such Interpretation OF
the laws as they plainly warrant and
must bear before the courts.
lie has given the following to be
borne n rind By the assessors asthe
special iesign Of the laws.
lst.-ALL PROPERTY, oe whatever
nature, unless exempt BY law, should
be listed. To discover this property,
whetherin land, money, credits bonds
and mortgages, stock, or goods and
chattels, is the first duty Of the rs
SCISSOR.
2d.-THE TRUE VALVE Of all such
property should be cscertained.-
This is 10 be done by the assessor.
upon his oath, so far as property is ex
hibited to him, and not By the per-
son enumerating the various articles
OF which bis property consists, as ap
pears from sec. s and see. II Of the
law Of 1865. 1t is not the fault ofthc
law that property in this stote is as
sessed at cne>half or one third OF its
value, but Of its inefficient executions
by those elected and sworn to admin
lister it according to its true intent.
PERSONAL PROPERTY SUBJECT TO TAX>
TIoN.
The term ''parsonal property is
clearly defined in sec. 2 of the law Of
1865, as including call property other
than real property" the sreal prop
erty" consisting Of ''tho land itself
and all buildings, fixtures, improve
ments, rights and privileges apper-
tanning thereto.i
Section provides for a sworn
statement of the number of eight
enumerated articles" concerning
which no doubt can arise. The re.
naming items Of personal property
consists
qth-Of "Nonoq8" which "shall IN
clude gold and silver coin ard bank
notes, whether in possession or on
deposit" and subject to draft, ard by
inference, circulating United States
notes, from which is allowed no ex
emption or deduction for iEdoh ted
ness.
l0th-0f Creals, which inclndo
every demand for money, labor or
other valuable thing, whether due or
to become dao, but not secured by
lien on real estate" From these crd
its each person is allowed to deduct
his bona ida Indebtedness. This in
deb edness must consist of debts
founded upon ''actual consideration"
or debts which srch person is justly
or legally bound to pay.
11th.-Of "Id.c Certificates, .Jtdq-
meatS, Notes, Bonds and 1I0rtgages,
and all other evidences Of debt secur-
ed by lien on veal estate, all Of which
must be assessed at their cash value;
bonds of the United States being only
exempt.
The foregoing, in defining the du
ties Qf assessors, comes in clear cons
Gict with their practice in fixing val
ues at the bottom cfthe scale-thus
hoaping the taxes on to lands.
1t will also be seen that the money
known as "Greenbacks, " is to be as
sessed. Hitherto the farm lands Of
Grant County have been assessed
thousands Of dollars because ola false
Interpretation of the laws eXcusing
"C'reenbacks' from paying any taxes.
So it will appear that assessors will
show better in the eyes of all good
and true men by doing their duty
leaving to the dogs this practice of
pandering 10 those vanishing piles Of
'Greenbacks' which are tossed by
the winds.
NorE-Since the foregoing was
put in type we learn assessors unan-
imously agreed to assess greepbac1s,
but we guess were rather ashamed to
acknowledge their error in assessing
them last year.
---------@s- <zz1y--~------