The Opelousas courier., 1884-07-05
The Right Of Redemption.
N. O. CITY Item.

poor man neglects to pay his taxes or
licenses on his mule and dray, or
poor woman on her COW, chickens or
any other description of personal or
movable property, the tax collector
can swoop down upon it and seize and
sell it ont of hand irrevocably and
without the right of redemption. Not
so, however, with the investor in lands,
whether it he in the shape of large
tracts in the country, held partly for
cultivation, partly for speculation
and partly for the grandeur of the
thing, or the owner of large blocks of
city real estate, on which prompt ten
ants pay handsome rents. The law
has thus created privileged class of
property which is exempt, so far as
State and city taxes are concerned,
from the summary process to which
/ movable property in daily use by the
people, and necessary for their support
and convenience, is subject.
/ There is no good reason for this dis
tinction that we are able to perceive,
and the system costs the State great
many thousands a year without any
corresponding advantage to tax payers
who mean to pay and have to pay
eventually. The ore-knowledge that
the tax collector is required to be
lenient and treat delinquents, real es
tate property gingerly begets careless
ness, puts the State to trouble aud de-
lay, in getting its own, and sometimes
mulcts the tardy or slow paying tax
payer in unnecessary costs. The
worst effects, however, are seen in the
unsatisfactory tax sales. A tax title,
given as it professedIy is by the sover
eign authority of the State, ought to
be of the very highest rank, beyond
which no search ever ought to be ne
cessary Instead of this, it is regarded
as one of the poorest titles a man can
have, on account of the uncertainty
as to it's validity The carelessness
of tax collectors clerk, when exhib-
tied to martinez on the bench. throws
everything into confusion. The own
er of property should be presumed to
| know whether he has paid his taxes
) or not, aud is scarcely entitled to SO
much ceremony in the matter of mo
I tice'' as he now can demand. If he
: neglects to pay for a series of years,
: the State should have the right to as
sumo that he either cannot raise the
D nGhey or does not intend to, and it
seem to US that the highest consider
: ations of the public good demand a
: change of ownership.
). The practice, however, is quite diff
5 ferent. After the tax collector has
d taken all the money offered by the
prompt paying people, seized and
sold by summary process all delinquent
movable property, he has to prepase
: for grand struggle with the dilatory
: owners of privileged property. After
: u good deal of necessary work he Ii
ready to open the farce of offering i
!, for sale. The bidding is always tame
the price offered below all proportion
of the real value, and when sale is a
last effected it very frequently hap
pens that the purchaser buys only
g vexation. The system was, however
: retained in the constitution of 1879, fol
delinquents prior to 1880. And ever
: the wise and heroic treatment pres
: cribed for that class of the States debt
: ors has been confounded 10 the min,
! of good many people-including w
T suspect, one of our .judges-with th
+ leniency allowed by the same instru
+. ment to current delinquents.
5. The best way is to require all per
sons to come up on pay day and settle
d Those who fail to do this from an
rs course should be treated exactly alike
l. whether their indebtness arises fror
the possession and use of real or pei
sonal property, We are aware tina
the question involves an amendmen
~ of the constitution. But patchin
oi that very imperfect instrument seem
=. to be one of the exigent duties of tb
~ legislature, and it is as we'll to includ
VI the reform above suggested IN the ne'
: batch. It might be proper to exemE
~ the reality and moyables of a home
~ stead, such as is now defined by I'll
~ ~ constitution, from Immediate and irr
a. vocable sale but all property he
for profit or speculation should b
summarily dealt with The State al
he city should be accorded the priyileg
of of private creditors as to a very larI
he amount of property that now virtual
N escape taxation s
n