Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1892-03-03

text Of the Law, have heretofore been
operative BY virtue of custom.
Thus, Notwithstanding the penal
clause in the code, ii has been found
impossible in practice to tax the
bonds Of corporations secured BY
mortgage upon their property where
the property itself Is taxed to its
full value; and such bonds are, in
the new bill, expressly declared ex-
empt from taxation. The new pro-
vision will have the effect of putting
mortgages made BY corporations
upon the same footing as regards
taxes with mortgages made by in
dividuals, which in the bill remain
untaxed, Notwithstanding the peri
odical clamor raised on that subject.
A new exemption in the interest of
the mercantile classes is that of
bills receivable and book accounts
"owned by persons or corporations
engaged in trade which have been
taken or charged for goods sold"
when "such traders are assessed for
the average value of their stock in
trade" This would relieve mer-
chants of their present liability,
which we believe is seldom or never
enforced, for taxes on the amount
Of debt due to them. These debts
are y6f course very often nearly
equaled BY their own debts to other
persons, for which, by. the existing
law, they are allowed no credit, and
consequently they are now taxable
on an amount far in excess of their
actual worth. The opposition to
the collection of taxes upon these
debts has been SO strong that the
collectors of taxes, it is understood,
have not generally felt able to en-
force the law as it now stands, and
the formal exemption of these debts
will make the statute law conform
to the general practice, which has
been to tax merchants on the average
value of the stocks they carry.
Some of the exemptions granted
are entirely new. Among these is
that of stocks of goods held on
consignment and unsold. Com
mission merchants have complained
that the liability to taxation of such
goods operates to prevent large con-
signment to Baltimore houses and
tends to drive buyers to other cities,
notably, Philadelphia, where larger
stocks are said TO be carried because
there such goods are not taxed.
Goods in the hands of manufac-
turers are also exempted under the
new bill. This seems to be a con-
siderable extension of the policy
begun some years ago of encourag-
ing local manufacturing interests
by the exemption of manufacturing
plant and of oysters and fish in
process of packing. This new ex-
emption would include canned veg
etables in the hand of packers and
stocks of clothing held by manu-
featuring clothiers, as well as -four
in mills and many other classes of
property now taxable.
The valuation of property under
the bill is entrusted to assessors to
be appointed by the Governor, but
one exception is made in the case
of the shares of stock of corpora
tions. These are to be taxed, not
at the assessors valuation, but at
that fixed for the year 1892 by the
State tax commissioner. This pro-
vision insures uniformity in the
valuation, which would be impossi-
BILE if, for example, the twenty-five
different boards of assessors to be
appointed in this city were per-
mitted to place their individual es-
Inmates upon such property.
AS indicated above, the valuation
of property for assessment is en-
trusted to sworn boards of three
assessors each, one board for every
district. OF these districts there
are twenty-five in Baltimore city,
and each county makes up one or,
in some cases, more districts. These
assessors are to be appointed by the
Governor and confirmed by the
Senate If in session. They are paid