The Portland daily press., 1898-07-14
THE STAMP TAX.
Troubles 1t Has Brought to the Good
People of Bangor.
(Bangor Commercial.

| Bangor men who are doing business
in real estate transfers and who frequent
| ~ have occasion to affix to the record
Of their transactions the familiar phrase
Con siderotion 81, are much annoyed
over the prospect afforded by the war
revenue stamp tax law that their bust
ness of the future will be exposed so OBJ
viously that he who runs into the office
of the register of deeds for Pen obscot
| county may read it.
| Under the old plan it was q simple
matter to conceal the price paid for par
eel Of land. 10 satisfy the constitutional
requirements it was necessary only to
name any small sum in the deed as the
consideration. According to long Gus
tom, this sum came to be 81. In many
| cases it was desirable for business reasons
to conceal the exact price paid for prop
| erty.
Under the revenue law now in force.
however, this plan can no longer be fol-
lowed. According to the law, every deed
in transfer of real estate must now bear
50-cent stamp for every $500 Of valua-
ton of the prope rty named within it.
Surprising, for instance, that Bangor
man transfers to another piece of prop.
erty valued at $780, According to the
law he must put ten 50-cent stamps on
the deed, or stamps equal to that amount
IN value. A glance at the stamps will
be sufficient to indicate in round numbers
the price of the property in question, and
there can be no secrecy regarding the
deal.
Some of the people in this city most in
terested in this bearing of the new law,
are hopeful that some construction OF it
may be found by which they will not be
made to follow out the strict plan as in
d1cated above. Attorneys, however do
not see any way out of the difficulty,
which in some cases will be real one
Bank officials in Bangor have called the
Commercials attention to the habit into
which their patrons are falling, in the
constant use of p ostage stamps on checks
and other valuable paper. 1t seems al
most unnecessary to explain that the Dos
tai service stamps are wholly unrelated to
those OF the revenue service, and that
for the latter IS uses the former are wholly
useless. Yet, SO many people have SUCK
the post stamps on checks in Bangor
banks within the past week, that the
officials are obliged to warn pair ons of
the danger and ask that they follow the
law and their common sense IN comply
ing with the revenue regulation. One
Bangor bank has been spending some
thing like q dollar q day for stamps
which had to be placed on checks which
came in with nothing but post stamps on
them. To be sure, the stamps were can
ceiled with the initials of the maker of
the check, and the letters l. r. had been
put across them in ink. That, however,
had nothing to do with the case, though,
by some misunderstanding, many people
thought so.
The only stamp of value OH checks is
confusion arises through the use by the
revenue service of postage stamps. sur
charged with the l. r., while the regular
stamps were being issued. These STAN Us
are still good, of course, and are in gen
eral use, but, in law, are wholly differ
ent from the two-cent post stamp with
the internal revenue initials scrawled
across the face in ink.