The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-29
THE TAXLAW OF INDIANA
THEORY OF THE BOASTED STATUTE
NOT ALWAYS PUT IN PRACTICE.
Some Discoveries That Detroit In
VestiGatOr Has INSTRUMENTATION
with Michigan Law.

erty escape taxation, declared Governor
Pingree, after his recent talk with Tax Com
missioner Walker, of that State why.
they even tax the hog, or COW, in mans
back yard
The Governor was right, so far as the
theory of the Indiana law is concerned. 1t
is the purpose of the law of that State to tax
personal property to the last hairpin, but,
as in many other places, the practice of the
law falls far short of it's theory, as Assessor
Oakman and a Free Press representative
found on their visit of last week to Indian
apolis. The Governor may be assured that
there is many a razor"back Indiana hog that
does not yield bristle to the tax collector.
Nor is the letter of the law observed as to
many things much more valuable than hogs
and cows. The Indiana law declares that all
property shall be assessed at its true cash
value, but II the figures obtained in Indian
apolis may be taken as a basis for assess
ments in the rest of the State, property is
on the tax books for far less than it's real
value. When Assessor Oakman and City
Controller E. NJ Johnson, of Indianapolis,
compared figures as to assessments in the
two cities. they found that real property in
Detroit is on the tax books for a greater pro-
portion of its value than the same class of
property III lnuldHdpOllS. w men Tire tWO VI
ficials were sitting together in the con-
troller's office, the latter said to Oakman:
Now, 1 have a piece of property, the
ground being worth $500, and the house
having cost 5000, about three years ago.
How much would you value it at for taxa
ton in Detroit?"
I'VE would assess the ground at so per
cent, or about $1,000, and the house. consid
ering deterioration, about 20 per cent, which
would be $1,000"
well, my property is on the county tax
books for 81 200. said the controller. Your
real estate figures in Detroit are really
higher than they are in this city / believe
our assessments would average between 90
and 20 per cent.
Which made Oakman wink his weather
eye, as 1t was evidence that Governor Pin
gree did not know what he was talking
about when he declared that existing tax
laws were better enforced in indianapolis
than they are in Detroit.
PERSONAL PROPERTY.
When the officials got around to the ques-
ton of personal property, it appeared that
Indianapolis including the assessments of
railroad property, had fully much of this
class of wealth on her rolls as Detroit
though Indianapolis is probably less than
two-thirds the size of this city and Detroit
has probably more wealthy citizens, accord
ing to her size, than has the Indiana city.
One of the reasons for this is that under the
law there is no exemption whatever, while
in Detroit household furniture up to the
sum of $500 is exempt.
Why said Controller Johnson, ''if we
exempted personal property up to $500 we
shouldn't have any household furniture on
indianapolis tax books at all. There are not
more than twenty families in this city who
make out lists showing that they have more
than $500 worth of household furniture, car
rages. horses, etc.
poor people are taxed really for more than
their share on this class of property"
Yes" acknowledged the controller. 1.-THE
poorer people usually return $500 or $500
worth OF household property on their lists,
while the rich rarely admit that they have
1T seems to me that the Michigan law is
better on this point" said Oakman. 1t al
lows the mechanic with nothing but a few
hundred dollars worth of property to get
along without an additional burden, while
the man with thousands of dollars worth of
wealth in the shape of fine furniture, pianos,
horses and carriages is called upon to pay.
When we are out assessing property in the
districts where poor people live in Detroit,
we often walk miles without going into one
of their cottages to see what they have.
Even If there were a piano in some humble
home, we would not think of putting it on
the tax books.
The indianapolis official would not admit
that even on this point the Michigan law is
superior to that of Indiana. 1T is the theory
share the burden of taxation, no matter
how poor he may be.
Suppose" said Oakman, some peddler
has only the horse and wagon with which
he does business, worth, perhaps, $25. Would
1T might be placed on the tax books"
Suppose he did not pay; would you take
the horse and wagon away from him."
1T could be DONE but 1t is not likely that
the officers would take the trouble to look
him up, as the amount of the tax would be
so small that it would not pay to enforce
the law. You might say in fact, that those
having less than $100 are practically exempt,
if they desire to escape taxation. though
some of them are so honest that they will
come in with even the tax on such
amounts
MORTGAGES AND MONEY IN BANK.
Another reason for the fact that Indian
apolis has a greater proportion of personal
property on her books than Detroit is that
a stronger effort is made there to have
mortgages placed on the rolls than in De-
troit. and in Indianapolis money in bank is
taxed.
When this point was touched upon Oak
man said: ''In Detroit we have been telling
poor people with from $500 to $1,000 on mort
cages to escape the tax as the rich money
lOaner lodges it without any coaching and
the mortgages held by banks are exempt. /
can recall when poor widow came to our
office with tears in her eyes, telling how the
$1G0 she had on mortgage that was on our
books was all she had, and she could not
afford to pay the tax without making her
work just that much harder for bread.
told that woman to come back some other
time and tell one of the other assessors a
lie. in order that she might escape. She
lodged the law, and I'm proud of what L
did to make her dodge it..
The Michigan law allows the taxation of
money in banks, but effort has ever been
made to assess it. as the banks cannot be
made to show their books.
Every time there has been any talk
IA
I'VE have received letters of protest, de-
claring that it would simply place an addi-
tfonal burden on the poor, as most of the
savings deposits are those of working peo-
Pile"
Even with the big advantage Indianapolis
people have of taxing railroad, telegraph
telephone express and sleeping car com
panies, it does not appear that the people
of Indianapolis have much advantage over
1t is somewhat difficult to make an exact
comparison between the two cities because
in Indiana the municipality is not as indie
pendent of the county government as in
Michigan. For instance, the county treas
urer is also the city treasurer, and thus all
the expenses of tax collection go against
the county. But, including state, county
and city expenses, the rate of taxation in
Indianapolis is about ST per 81, OO0 while in
Detroit, including state, county and city
the taxes would be something less than SO
per 81 900. But in the item of water alone
the difference between the two cities on Or
binary taxation is much more than made
up in Detroit. For instance, the water sup
ply of an ordinary workmans five-room
house. with the privilege of sprinkling a
lawn, would cost the Indianapolis taxpayer
about gl7 year. while in Detroit the same
privilege could be had for less than So An
house told the Free Press representative
that his water tax was about $40 a year, his