The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1878-03-16
BALTIMORE COUNTY TAX LAW.

Previous to 1876 the taxes of Baltimore county
were collected by thirteen cOlleetOrs-one for each
district-and the looseness of the system as then
prosecuted was the theme of discussion every
where, and complaints were heard on every hand
because of the losses the county was subjected to
onaecount of delinquente collectors worthless bonds
&c. The people grew so tired of the manner IN
which things were being conducted with reference
to this particular matter, that they determined
there should be a change, and hence the great
revolution in the politics of the county in the fall
of 1875. The gentlemen who were chosen mem
hers q the Legislature at that election were par
ticularly charged with the duty of making
change in the system of collecting taxes, and
among their first acts was to frame and have
passed the bill for the relief prayed.
Before the new law, which was known as the
"volunteet SYSTEM" went into effect, the amount
of uncollected taxes increased yearly until in 1875
it had grown to be an enormous sum, running
back from year to year through four or five years
In order to enforce the collection of the back taxes
and to compel defaulting tax gatherers to close
their accounts with the county, the law was passed
and the new system inaugurated.
On the 10th day of April, 1877, as required by
the act of 1876, all the accounts of dequent tax
payers-and there were thousands of them-were
passed over into the hands of the Sheriff, who pro
ceeded to collect them by distrant and otherwise,
and so well has the law worked that at this time
all the taxes-except those which were uneollect-
able-cmbracing the levies of 1872, '73, "a, 70
and 70, have been collected and paid over to the
Treasurer of the county, and to-day the only de-
Iinauents worth mentioning are those of 1877, so
that the taxes of the county are collected up to
within one year, when, had the old system still
been in vogue, the delinquents would have con-
tinued to multiply and the chances of collecting
from them would have lessened as the time length
ened.
The "vOlunteer system" or that inaugurated by
the law of 1885, has worked to the entire satisfac-
ton of the bulk of the taxpayers, and it is but
reasonable to suppose that as the people become
better acquainted with the provisions of the law
it will operate still satisfactorily. 1t is true
there are some provisions of the law which might
be palmer and others which might be re-enacted
to advantage, but the general meaning of the law
the gist of it's just what the people want, and
we, as well as all well informed people with whom
we have conversed on the subject, are entirely
satisfied with it, and think it far superior to the
old system, and in fact just what was needed to
remedy the difficulties under which we previously
labored
With this view of the law we were not little
surprised to see that a member of the Legislature
from this county had prepared a bill which he ex
poets to have passed, making number of radiea
changes in the law of IS76-in fact giving us al
approve Of. It is little with this question 0
tax collecting as it is in the matter of roads =
Nearly every man has pet scheme of his own an(
he is anxious to see how it will work, which may
be well enough, provided there is no doubt of its
being a success, but if it should prove a
failure, the people will have to bear with it for two
years and then try something else. This is nc
time for experiments. If the system under which
we are now working be a good one, let us give it
fair trial-at least for four years-and if at the
end of that time the taxpayers complain that it is
oppressive or that it does not satisfy the wants of
the people, then it will be time to give us some
thing different 1t has been too much the habit
ofpeople to fly from system to another with
out giving any fair trial, and the result is that
about the time the public generally is commencing
to become familiar with law, and thus better en-
abled to comply with its provisions, something
new is forced upon it, and as a very natural Sc
quenee, it never thoroughly understand anything
If the slight defects in the law of 1S76-with
which all are familiar who have read it-could be
remedied without destroying the usefulness and
efficiency of it, let such amendments be made. but
do not force something entirely new on the people
when they do not want it and which must fail If
giving dissatisfaction the present law has DONE