The record-union., 1896-12-24

lax COLLECTOR TO adVeWlSe and sell Sucn
property TO the highest bidder, pro-
vided the bid shall be for not less than
the amount of taxes and accrued inter-
est, costs, penalties and expenses
A section of the new law provided
that Gin all cases where land has here
tofore been sold to the State for delin-
quent taxes, the deed therefor shall be
made to the State within one year after
this Act takes effect; provided, five
years shall have elapsed after the date
of such sale" Said section further pro-
vided that the State Controller should
provide uniform blank deeds upon
which all conveyances to the State for
property sold at delinquent tax sales
should be made.
The duties imposed upon the Con-
troller by the new law have been faith
fully carried out The blank deeds were
prepared, and after approval by the At
torneyGeneral were forwarded to the
several Tax Collectors. About dozen
Tax Collectors have complied with the
law by executing deeds, and after re-
cording have forwarded them to be
filed in this office The remaining Tax
Collectors have either neglected or re-
there is no penalty attached to the nom
performance of this duty, it is impossi-
BILE to enforce it. 1t must be said, how
ever in defense of many of these OFF,
GERS, that to compel a compliance with
this law would work an extreme hard
ship. It must be borne in mind that
the law provided for the execution OF
deeds, not covering a period of one or
two years, but for more than twenty
years-in fact, from the advent OF the
law authorizing property to be struck
off TO the State for delinquent taxes,
The Supervisors refused to aid the of1l-
GERS charged with the execution and re-
Cording of deeds, by appointment OF
extra clerical assistance, or any pecunl-
ary aid whatever. The salaries of such
officials were totally inadequate out OF
which to pay such clerical assistance,
and the law therefore became almost
a dead letter.
The disposition of property after the
State has acquired title by deed,
through delinquency, is a grave queS-
ton. In most instances property struck
off to the State for non payment OF
taxes is of no value whatever, and il
offered for sale at auction, as contem-
plated by law, a purchaser could not be
found to bid the amount of tax and ac-
Crued penalties for which the property
was sold. Again, the advertising of such
property is a source of great expense to
the county, particularly where no pur-
chaser can be found. For these reasons
1 have deferred all sales. l did, how
ever, direct the Tax Collector of Los
- o,,1 ~rf1
for sale a few lots or parcels Of land to
which the State had acquired title, but
after the advertisement had commenced
to run, and before the day fixed for the
sale, the owners of the several tracts or
parcels redeemed the same, and thus
put a stop to the sale. ] also issued an
order directing sale of certain property
in the city and county of San Francisco,
but 1 became officially aware that 1t
would entail a useless expense upon the
municipality to advertise the same,
first, because the property was value
less, and second, it was patent that
purchaser could not be found. / there
fore Cancelled the order.
Since directing the advertisement and
sale of the Los Angeles property, it has
occurred to me that the law Is not suf-
ficiently explicit on this point-as to the
authority of the Controller to diScrtm-
mate in Offering such property for SALE
and 1 have therefore prepared an
amendment to the section, which, If
adopted, will permit me to advertise and
sell such property as in my judgment
will obtain purchaser. The remaining
property to which the State secures
a MT
until such time as the original owner
sees fit to redeem. There is no other
method I can suggest for disposing of
it.
The penalties provided by the revised
laws for redemption of property sold
to the State for delinquent taxes are
extremely severe. They are, 10 per cent
If the property is redeemed within six
months after sale, 20 per cent If with
in two years. so per cent. If within
three years, 50 per cent. If within four
years, and 100 per cent. If within five
or any greater number of years. The
law was intended, I presume, as an in
ducement to the delinquent for the
early redemption of the property, and
as such would act in a favorable light,
but when such law is applied to sales
made several years ago extreme hard
ship IS entailed on the redemptioner.
An appeal is now pending in the Su-
preme Court to test the legality of such
redemptiap law as applied to sales of
property made prior to the approval
thereof. The suit was brought in the
Superior Court of San Diego County by
the Teralta Land and Water Company
against the Auditor of said county, and
a decision given against the State.
A new section (3S31) was added to
the code, the effect Of which is to make
1t mandatory on the part Of the As
SCISSORS to enforce the collection of all
taxes where there is not sufficient real
property to secure payment of same,
and falling in this the Auditor must
state an account of the uncollected por-
ton and make demand on the Assessor
for it's payment INTO the County Treas
ury. If at the expiration Of fifteen days
from the date of the demand the
amount thereof has not been paid, the
District Attorney must commence AN
action for the recovery thereof. The
wisdom of this provision is shown in
the fact that all personal property
taxes coming within the puIEiew of the
section have been collected excepting in
eigh, or ten counties.
INDIAN WAR BONDS.
The Attorney General. in his report.
has succinctly stated the condition Of
the suits against the state for recov-
cry on the outstanding bonds and
coupons issued under the Act Of May
=. 1852, and but little can be added