St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-20
RAMSEY COUNTY,S BOARD OF
EQUALIZATION LISTENS TO
COMPLAINTS.
PRINCIPAL CASE UNDECIDED
TITLE INSURANCE AND TRUST
COMPANY ASKS A HEAVY
- REDUCTION.
For n Scaling Down of Assess
ments That Were Arbitrar-
/ lily Fixed.

: The board of equalization met
again yesterday and heard a num-
Der of protests against the valua-
ton placed on personal property.
Previous to the meeting of the
board the committee to which was
referred the protest of the st. Paul
Title Insurance and Trust company
held a session, and heard the opin-
ion of the county attorney on the
subject. The point in the affair is
that the company maintains that
1T is an insurance company, and
like all other insurance companies
doing business in the state, only
required to pay a 2 per cent tax to
the state on it's premiums in lieu of
all taxes. AS first organized, this
is true, for it was especially provid-
ed in the special law under which
the company was established. But
according to a decision of Judge
Brill when the question was raised a
year ago, the company lost this
privilege and made itself liable to
be taxed as other trust companies
are when it changed it's character
and adopted trust feature in 1885,
An appeal has been taken to the SUI
preme court from Judge Brill's de-
cision, but until finally decided by
that body, the decision stands as the
law.
But granting that it is the law,
the company maintains that the as
Of 40
stock is still too high; that the act
ual capital is 100000, and that in
this is included the bank, valued at
$4,000, real estate valued at $685.
coo, both of which pay taxes under
other valuations, and an offset of
$4,000 Indebtedness. This brings the
capital subject to assessment down
to $245,000, and on the. basis of a val
uation Of 70 per cent of the actual
value-which the officers of the COM
pany contend is the basis on which
the assessment of other trust COM
panieS is fXed-the maximum as
Sessment would not exceed $172, 900.
The county attorney also took this
view of it, but the committee did not
decide the question. Another meet
ing will be held at 10 o'clock this
morning to consider it further, and
also to pass upon the other cases re-
ferred to the same committee.
KICKING ALL AROUND.
AT the meeting of the full board,
Gen. Bishop protested against being
nSSaccad o,, q c7 nm ,,,ortoo oa 11yIioI,
he said had been foreclosed and the
property bid in. He did not want to
have to pay taxes on the property
and mortgage, too. The board
thought the mortgage could not be
exempt until the time for redemp-
tion had fully expired, and accord
ingly refused to abate the assess
ment.
Adam Schuster had something to
say about the valuation, 81 ,106, placed
upon his three barber shops. He said
he paid only $50, SIS and $40 respective
ly for them, and he thought it was an
outrage to place such a. valuation up
on them. The matter was referred to
a committee consisting of Kartak,
Copeland and Moritz.
William Damon objected to the as
sessment, $4,000, placed upon the
store of Bannon & Co. The valuation
returned by him was $1,000, but this
had been raised for some reason I'M
known to him. He admitted that he
should return $4,000 or $1,000 were he
reporting today. The firm had a stock
of $4,000, but he owed about SIT, 900.
The members of the board suggested