The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-04-13
TIE COLLECTION OF TAXES By PER.
SONAL DEMAND.

In making her COLLECTIONS OF taxes anu
licenses the city will always succeed best by
employing personal application. The tax
debtor who delays settlement, as often hap
pens, from sheer neglect, will not be moved to
action by having his name inserted in list OF
delinquents in newspaper which he very
seldom sees, or by having mortgage recorded
against his property in the books Of the State
officer, or by knowing that his bill has been
put into the hands of the Sheriff, or even by
a brief and formal call from one of the latter'e
deputies.
Where there is disposition to delay pay.
ment, the expense of advertising delinquency,
Of having the tax mortgage erased and can.
celled, of paying the expense of advertising
his property for sale to satisfy the tax judg.
ment, of further paying interest on the origi'
nal debt and sheriff's fees, will never act as a
sufficient stimulant Those who can pay
taxes without inconvenience are often such
as find it profitable to put off payment to the
last hour, even when few months delay is
gained at the cost of large addition to the
original tax debt. Tax debtors Of this class
require respectful but attentive dunning.
They should be called upon time and again
by the city's collectors, men chosen for their
sagacity as well as for their industry and in
tegrity, to make payment, or give good and
ample reasons for further delay. Official
and professional collectors, each combining his
attention to q specified section of the city.
will soon gather and carry up to headquarters
full statistics as to the condition of tax debt
ors. They will readily learn who can pay at
once without inconvenience, who require tenn
porary respite in order to obtain money, who
have property untenanted and yielding no
income, whose tenants are dilatory and fail to
put money into the hands Of the landlord, who
ought to be INDUCED and who ought to be
sued. It is easy for one collector to become
known to thousand tax debtors in certain
number Of designated squares, and to call On
each one of them if necessary every fifteen
days, until they settle, or until their bills are
put in suit for collection. Thirty capable
men could canvass the entire city in sub
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quainted with his section.
Whether paid by commission or BY salary,
it is highly probable that enough more would
be collected by this than by the usual plan to
compensate for the pay Of collectors, and
leave to the city very considerable gain.
Tax debtors, if reasonable, will not take
umbrage at demand of payment made by
an authorized agent. With few exceptions,
they will prefer repeated solicitations by col
lectors to the summary and costly demands
of the sheriff and his deputies Prudent men
of business, in friendly spirit and re-
spectful terms ask settlement from delin-
quent creditors in person, and many times
over, before going to law. The city
government represents debtors and cred
itors alike, and ought not to be harsh to
the former nor cringing to the latter. Debts
due to the city ought to be demanded and
collected in an amicable spirit, as one good
cltizenIcoliec.s money owing to him by others.
The tax-col.ector should not be an imperti-
nent, rude and importunate fellow, but gen
tleman who, though persistent and some
times urgent, never loses his temper or gives
needless Offonse.