New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-09-08
WHOLE NUMBER 44O.


mode of proceeding, approved March Is,
lSoo, being under consideration sf
Mr. Blackman: Mr.. President, / propose
~ ~ the tnlrd section OF the bill to add, sfthat
the PROVISIONS OF the foregoing section
shall be extended to tax sales.s / hone the
gentlemen OF the Senate will give their at.
tention to this matter because IL is verv i'm.
portant. Now, that am in favor of mo.
n1t1on law Is very true, as much as the
papers OF the city are opposed to it and as
much as they have spoken against it. wish
no man to buy property and then deprive
him OF remedy to perfect his title. But
at the same time I wish to protect an nm
fortunate class of people throughout the
state VINO are unable to pay their taxes
upon their land. Now, sir, the bill before
the senate proposes to reenact section
eleven OF the law upon tax sales. Section
eleven in the monition law says that the
provisions OF the foregoing sections shall
extend to tax sales, provided such sales
shall have been made ten years previous TO
the application of the monition. Now, sir,
that is what / wish inserted in this bill in
section third. Then the law will stand ex,
actly as it did before in reference to these
tax sales. AZ
If you sell piece of property to-day for
taxes 1t makes no difference how irregular
tAS tLCtSSNAASof VI AOH EMAIL but GDlOuuN
for which it is sold, or whether the assess
ment Is correct or not; 1t makes no differ
ence If you sell a piece of property worth
two hundred thousand dollars for six and
half dollars. For this small and insignigcant
sum, by the aid of this law, the purchaser
gets perfect and complete title to the
property, and you can't overturn.
As the law stands now if there is a wrong
assessment, or if the Sheriff does not dis
charge his duty in accordance with law in
advertising the property, it prevents you if
you take out monition twelve months or
two years afterward from recovering your
property. zso
Now the proviso I wish to insert in the
third section of this bill is this, that when
the property is sold at tax sales the party
can not serve out a monition within ten
years. '.
Mr.. Ray: The Senator is in error in one
| view that he takes the matter. Suppose the
tax sale is made to-day. The party is given
by law two years to redeem the land. 1t is
true he might take out this monition to-
morrow or at any time, and that would
show whether the legal formalities had
all been observed or not. But still the
party has two years to redeem. The
| object of the monition upon the one
| hand is to secure the effects Of tax
| sales, to enable purchasers at such sales
within q reasonable time to perfect their
| titles, while upon the other it is gives par
| ties whose lands are sold reasonable time
and timely notice to redeem them. Therefore,
this act now before the Senate provides
that party may take out a monition at any
time after the sale, but the party whose
land is sold has two years in which to re-
deem.
Now, the object we have in view by this
act is to induce people to buy land when it
is offered for sale for taxes.
4 Recansn If nrODprfv ia aOl6 for fayoa nnh
| the purchaser has to wait ten years before
he can take out a monition, there Is but
| little property that will sell for taxes
| where the amount of tax is any considera.
Bile amount. Every piece of property will
| be taxed pretty high, and those who do not
/ pay their taxes, generally speaking, are
! those who live out OF the parish, or are
large property holders. Now, the object o.
this bill is to provide a means that will en-
| able purchasers at tax sales to perfect theii
title within a reasonable time. As the Law
| now stands there are so many tecbnicalities
| in the law upon the subject of tax sales that
they are hardly ever all complied with, and
| the time given parties to take advantage o.
these technicalities is so long that very few
| people care about making such investment:
| and the practical result is that large
amounts of property escape taxation with
| practical impunity. There is so much un.
| certainty about tax titles under the present
law that never knew but one or two oi
them to be maintained in my life; and few
men will, or can. afford to buy land upon
which they may desire to go on and make
| improvements, and wait ten years to know
whether they will be safe in making such
| improvements or not.
As the law now stands man who pur.
| chates at tax sale must wait ten long years
before he can make title-before he car
| sell the property, and before he can safely
I lro arv iFnTN 70 . Aa-
such q condition of the law nobody will
bother with tax titles. And there are thou
sands of acres of land in the State upol
| which the taxes are delinquent that will no
sell at all, and the State is deprived of tn,
revenue to which it is entitled from them.
The public revenue is, therefore, inter
ested to very large extent in this matter
To my personal knowledge very large
amount of property in my section of thl
State will not sell for taxes for the very rea
sons | have stated-there is SO much unceT
tainty about the tite, and the period re-
quired to make it certain is so long.
If the law were altered, as proposed b,
this bill, so thai purchasers could see thai
they could perfect their title to such prop
erty within the reasonable period of two
years different men would be induced to
buy it for the purpose of paying the taxes
| but If they have to wait ten years before
they can sell it, or mortgage it, or improve
I it, they will have nothing to do with 1t. II
is very important, therefore, for the reve-
nue. of this State that this bill should be
passed. We ask nothing except to place
tax sales upon the same foundation as all
other forced sales, SO that purchasers can
perfect their titles Under ordinary forced
sales the purchaser can take out monition
the next day. and perfect his title. see nc
reason why he may not be permitted to dc
so in tax sale particularly if the owner O
the land is allowed two years within which
| to redeem it This law don't really prevent
the party whose land is sold from redeemins
it within year, ne more than if no moni-
tion were served. No means of curing-de
| fects in tax sales is provided By any present
law. That, then, is the difference between
| a sale made under an execution and under /
/ law to pay taxes. Now, if this clause which
the Senator desires is inserted, would
not give straw for the bill. This CLAUSE
would practically continue the very
thing we want to cure. II is mos
desirable to cure this defect, SO thai
men will be willing to buy property at tas
sales. As the law now stands, thousand
acres of land in any section, owned by mar
living in New York, is put up for sale, ant
nobody viii buy it in and pay the taxes. Il
that way the revenues of the State will b,
defrauded out of a very large amount, ant
when we see the taxes of the State runnip.
| up 1t will become crying evil.
Ifyou give the property holder ten years
| to come back and show that there is some
informality in the sale, and thus allow him
him to recover the property, nobody will
buy land at tax sales. Just as soon as the
| time for redeeming the land has expired, If
the buyer is not satisfied, the title is perfect
in consequence of the non-observance Of the
| forms, let him sue out bis monition and per-
feet it. That is what this bill is intended to
accomplish.
MIR. Blackman: Mr.. President, the inten-
| tion of the bill is not confined to tax sales.