St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-01-05
First Session Of the Tax Re-
formers of the State Held
Yesterday.
City Assessor Plummer and
S. N. Gwen Read Two
Meaty Papers.
Applicants for ONCE Making
Lives OF City Hall Ten
ants Miserable.
Arrival Of a Boy From Kan
sas City in Search Of
Mother.

! Yesterday morning couple of score
| of men from ali parts OF the state. men
who have reform" written in every
/ line of their faces and on every fold OF
! their clothing, met i'll the New York
! Lille building and organized conyen-
! ton OF tax refOrmerS. G. Nj. Perkins,
| of HcLeod county. was elected chair
! man. and :. y. StOckWell. OF Minneap-
! oils. secretary. Committees were APP
( pointed as follows: On programme. o.
| T. Erickson. OF Minneapolis; H. e. Me
/ Carthv. of St. Paul: Frank \. Stacey,
| of MINNEAPOLIS. On resolutions. {. j.
/ Buell.. of ST. Anthony Park; Rev. 5. w.
! Sample. of Minneapolis: \. L. Merrill,
| of Altllin: B. Z. zimmerman. OF Nicol-
! let: H. b. Martin and A. {. Smith, or
Minneapolis; Ulysses Tanner, OF Good
/ hue: p. j. Johnson, Of ChiSagO; w. Nj.
/ Pendergast, OF Dodge.
/ The first paper read was by w. A.
/ Plummer Mr.. Plummer IS city asses
SCR OF Minneapolis, and his paper dealt
! with taxation and assessment from
practical standpoint without any mix
| lure OF reform ideas. This, his opening
statement, was the key to his paper:
plea for the Old"
"Wnh some notifications, chiefly as
relating TO personal property assess
ments, [ believe our present system,
honestly administered in all parts OF IT,
/ is a good one. equitable and Just; ana
before nakipe Is radical change. the
! questions winch -l To the different
, Barls Of our 81 @l,-a.. ..--.4 81 he carefully
( considered. The ~ -l'.u. ,- rs it Is.
is The result Of The W.odJ.n OF fentu-
ries"
As city assessor Mr.. Plummer finds
that the personal tax system works IN
euuitably. Human nature and the faclI-
ity with which certain kinds OF personal
PROPERTY can be concealed are TeSpOn-
sibe. Taxation of household furniture
is the most troublesome. 1t strikes
every one. and falls most heavily OH the
DOOR lie WOuld have the personal
/ property exemption raised from SlUO TO
$500 which the constitution would al
low. That would relieve 5000 poor
people, cancel that number Of personal
assessments that is, aud at the same
time be an economical measure, TOT II
would give the assessors more time 10
look after more important assessments.
lie SAID this about
taxing Credits:
'sThe assessment of credits under the
present system IS tTaVeStY on justice
and equity. The honest man or woman
makes a full return and is assessed one
hundred cents on the dollar The DIS
honest ones offset with Indebtedness or
doubtful existence or conceal them alto
gether: the great majority of mortgages
escape entirely. Mortgages owned by
nOn-residenJS are not taxed. Either re-
peal this section of the law, or so amend
it that it viii reach all credits.
IL am inclined TO think the California
law n good thing. under which all mort
0ageS are assessed. the mOrtgagOP being
required to pay the tax, the receipt for
winch is 4 payment on the mortgage,
the amount OF the mortgage being re-
duced from the valuation OF the prop
ertv mOrtgaged. | am aware tnat this
change will not meet favor with the
class OF foreign money lenders: that the
objection VIII be made that foreign cap
ital will be debarred. / believe Mime
sofa has OutgTown her swadding
[ clothes. and Is strong enough TO get
along on heroWn resources.
Elyas3ons and Exemptions.
Reform is needed in the manner of
taxing goods. merchandise. manufact-
ures. etc. the same articles, as In logs
and lumber. being taxed TWO OF more
wears in succession. In pennsylvania,
instead of taxing the goods on nand a
certain day. the gross amount or OuSI-
ness done in a year IS taxed. RUNNER
iudorses this. The law is often now
evaded by storing goods IN warehouses;
and swearing that they are merely
scored in transit. The Irvine trust has
been eyading taxation that way. Plum
mer would exempt new manufacturing
plants from local taxation Tor Il term OF
wears. ana encourage Industries that
way.
Recent decisions of the courts on
what constitutes an educational InStItu-
tion have opened the doors to abuse OF
exemption OF real estate. In Minneap-
Oils S20.OOl, 900 worth of property, eX-
elusive OF municipal property and plb-
lie schools. IS exempt. or railroad
property MINNEAPOLIS alone has over
SI2. ZOO. 600 worth which Is exempt, and
Plummer would tax railroad land.
Plummer finds that the present sys-
tenn OF assessment discriminates against
the cities for the country. Inc people
living jim Minneapolis. 81. Paul and Du-
luth are paving taxes on a valuation or
Sg53O6 per capita. while the rest or the
people of the state pay ON a valuation
of only @IS2.3l per capita. In Scno0l
tax Minneapolis pays into the state
school fund SlT4.S56 more than sac gets
out OF it in return. This =
PIunsnIerss * aInedy.
..The remedy that 1 would suggest is
this: That the law governing assess
neuts he required to be carried out in
letter ana spirit in all parts of the state
alike under penalties IOr Wlllful Viola
ton. and to enable the assessor to do
this require him to use the last transfer
in the vicinity of The land in question,
i'm Y
make this operative, prohibit, under
severe penalties. the executing or re-
cOrding of deeds with fictitious con-
sideratiOu. When you have done JiliS
YOU viii secure TdIr assessment and
at the same time remove very fruitful
source of fraud in real estate tranSac-
tons"
In conclusion, Plummer said the best
wav TO reduce taxes IS to reduce eX-
penditureS. Neither reduction or the
aggregate valuation, nor transfer OF the
tax from one class OF property to an
other. the Single-taXerS' theory, Will
bring relief; it will only transfer the
load from one to another. lie believes
i'm a return TO the poll-tdX system. the
tax receipt to be qualification Tor a
voter.
Mr. Plummer's paper was warmly dis
cussed. His suggestion TO raise the per
sOnal property exemption TO $3.50 was
commeuded but his plea for a stricter
taxation OF credits was denounced.
Some Thought stricteT taxation OF cred
its would only result IN raising interest.
Owen on MOnOpOIies.
: In the afternoon S. N. Owen read a
paper on Municipal Ownership of
/ Natural MOuODOliGS" plea for govern