The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-05-16
DUPLICATE TAXES
Tax Collector Blocks New
System.
Large Sums of Money Paid Into
the Treasury Annually for Taxes
Already Liquidated.

Tax Collector Block will introduce new
feature in the publication Of the delinquent
tax-rOll, which will soon. be issued. He
proposes 90 include in the publication a
complete list of all the duplicate and over
paid taxes, which this year amounts to
about $4,000.
Strange as it may appear many people
pay taxes twice. There IS one case this
year where 1856 was paid twice once by
the owner of the property and another
time by the agent. Sometimes the mort
gagor and sometimes the mortgage both
pay sometimes a husband foots the bill
without notifying his wife. who also pays.
A case happened this year where two
brothers both paid the taxes on their
mothers property. They both paid on the
same day, and neither let the other know
of what had beer done. OF course all
these propeTty-o wners are entitled 10 their
money back but the ordinary way for
them to recover it has been through the
circumlocuton of the Board OF Super
vi-ors. This takes considerable time.
This year Tax Collector Block did what
was never done before in the Office
He sent out postal cards To all whose
add resses he could find, and notified then
Of the double payments. All they had 70
10 was 10 call at his Office, receive their
money and sign the necessary receipt.
This was easy in the cases Of personal
property, as the addresses Of the parties
were easy to obtain. But in the real
estate cases the addresses of most OF the
owners are not easy to obtain, and TO find
them would constitute a heavy job For
instance, there might be FIVE John :.
Smiths in the directory. Many other
owners are away. =
SO Tax Collector Block thought that the
best that could be done was TO publish the
names along with the delinquent list
which would be notification 10 all parties
having paid duplicate taxes. At one time
in the municipal history. OF San Francisco
the OveTpaymenIs and duplicate payments
of taxes was fat thing for the Tax
Collector. There never was any account
ing of these Overpayments, aid they. were
considered one OF the peTqulsites OF the
office.
In the squatter days. when there was a
great grab for lots and land. people who
wished to show title did so by paying the.
taxes on the property claim. There are on
record lots on which as many as eight diff
ferent people have paid taxes in the same
wear. During the administration of Tax
Collector Austin il IS said that as much
as 500 900 was paid in duplicate taxes.
But change was made IN all this when
in 1874 a law was introduced in the Legis-
lature requiring the Tax Collector to de-
post all overpayments in the public treas
ury, TO constitute what is known as tie
duplicate tax fund. Under no considera-
ton whatever could this fund lie touche
for any other purpose. There is money in
the fund now which has never been called
for, paid many years back, and awaiting
the dis position of the owner. All that. is
required to be done is for the taxpayer 10
produce duplicate receipts before the
Board of Supervisors and the money Will
be ordered refunded.
Tax Collector Blocks scheme is calcu-
lated 10 reduce the amount annually tied
up in duplicate taxes by giving taxpayers
prompt and early notification Of the mis-
takes made.
The extra expense of publishing the
duplicate taX-iist will not be great, as the
charge Will be at the same rate as the de-
linnnpnt La