The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1890-09-26
OUR UNEQUAL ASSESSMENTS.


| Sec. 273O, Laws of Oregon, says
ga mortgage, whereby land OF
real property. in this state is
made security for the payment OF
la debt, together with such debt:
shall for the purposes Of assess
Iment and taxation, be deemed and
treated as land or real property
! Sec. 2735 states that such mort
gage shall be assessed and taxed
to its owner in the county where
the land lies.
According to the law as above
|stated the debt itself is treated as
land or real property, and is duly
assessed, as the records Of the sew
eral counties will show, usually at
its face yal~e.
The land itself, the actual soil
with it's appurtenants which is
made the security for the same
debt, is also treated uniformly as
land and therefore the same l@ad
and assessed at from one-third to
one.ftth Of ats actual ra5ue.
Wherever the county records in
Oregon will substantiate this state
ment it would seem that the taxa
ton in such county IS not equal
and uniform; therefore unconsti-
tutional and void and Of no effect
| in law. For if it be found uncon-
stitutional it is to be presumed
that no sale of land or real proper
| ty for delinquent taxes would be
held as valid when brought under
the microscope of justice as dis
pensed from any judicial bench
having jurisdiction in such cases.
The existence of such Il law
works an inestimable hardship on
the property owner who is unfor-
tunate enough to have a mortgage
on his land, or to put it facetious-
ly, in the language Of the above
statute, a Gland" upon his land,
and it also works great injury to
the progress of Oregon because it
keeps foreign capital out of the
state. IF these statements be true,
apart from the apparent unconsti-
nationality of the law, it ought to
be repealed, and it is probable that
it will be repealed at the coming
session of the legislature next Jan
uary. The press of Oregon, head
ed by the Oregonian, and the peo-
pie of the state generally are ava
kening to realization of the injus-
tice and absurdity Of the present
system which admits of an unequal
taxation. sustains an usurious law
and drives tickle foreign capital
into other localities fer investment.
To verify the statement that the
mortgage tax law works a hardship
on the poor property owner, let us
for illustration suppose that A
owns 100 acres of land assessed at
$40 per acre, total assessment,
$1,000. But the land yields 25 or
80 bushels of wheat per acre, ac-
cordlng to its location. A mort
cages the land for $4,000, which
mortgage is assessed at its face
value. A is obliged by the terms
of the mortgage to pay the taxes;
or else in order to obtain the loan
he has had to pay a bonus equal
to the amount of taxes. This is
the general rule. His indebted
ness wipes out the assessment on
his land, but the taxes he pays on
the mortgage, or the equivalent,
will be more than his taxes would
have been had his land not been
mortgaged. Therefore is not A
unJustly assessed? Obviously he
is. And who is A? He may be a
farmer OF merchant. or an owner
lof city property OF wild lands. In
short, any species of real property
which may become security for the
payment of a debt will, when
mortgaged, under the present laws
of Oregon, work just such a hard
ship on it's owner as is illustrated
by the case of "A and his land.
IT. is we'll known that money is