The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-02-28
TAX-DODGERS ROB
THE TAXPAYERS
Half Of Utah's Property Es-
capes Taxation.
LAW Is RESPONSIBLE
FOR THIS CONDITION
Situation Described by PreSi-
dent of State Board.

r. G. Lund, president of the state
board Of equalization, believes that il
all mortgages and money on deposit in
this state could De assessed, the total
assessed valuation of property would
be doubled. In other words, taxable
property to the amount of $100, 600 900
now escapes taxation. This means that
if all the taxable property in the state
could. be assessed, the rate of assess
ment on property would be One-half of
what it now is. The law is such at
present that the assessor cannot get at
deposits, and in this one instance the
rich man is free from taxation and the
property of others has to be assessed
at a rate high enough to cover the loss
of property unassessed.
Il am aware" said Mr.. Lund, that
there are on deposit in this city mil
lions of dollars that are never assessed.
but 1T cannot be helped. We can only
assess the banks for what they actual
ly own, and not for the deposits they
have on hand. And we cannot compel
the banks to furnish the assessor with
list of their depOsitOrs. The only
way that one can get at the amount
of mans deposit sin any bank is to
make an arbitrary assessment of, say,
100000, or some such figure, against
him, and then make him appear and
make sworn statement as to the real
amount of his deposit. But even this
is impracticable, and in some cases
where it has been tried it failed.
Fake Mortgage Law.
THE mortgage law in this state is a
rake, II there ever was one. The very
thing it seeks to do it fails in. Ac-
cOrding to the law of the state, mort
cages are claSsed as personal property
and are assessabIe but if a man lives
IN another state and lends his money
mere, taking as security a mortgage,
ne cannot be assessed because he is
not resident of this state So. to
avoid the taxation of their mortgages,
men move away to another state, or
employ an agent in another state and
through their agents transact business,
take advantage of the high rate of
interest and do not have to pay a cent
of taxation. There is where the poor
man has to bear the burden that should
be carried by the rich. If the mort
cages and the money on deposit in this
state could be assessed, the valuation
of assessable property would be dou-
bled.
Work of Assessors.
This much is the result of the law.
We cannot do anything but recommend
a change, so that these things can be
gotten at There are some classes of
property, however, that are not as
sessed at the full value, and where this
can be charged it must be laid at the
doors of the county assessors. It is a
very hard matter to get at the exact
cash value of a piece of real estate
and that class of personal property
which is assessed at its cash value.
| The assessors do the best they can and
make the valuation as near equal as
/ possible. Now, what the cash value
Cf piece of property is is hard to de-
termine. The law defines it as that
figure which it viii bring if it were
used to pay off a solvent debt to a
solvent creditor. The other day the
| board had a talk with some of the
county assessors and urged upon them
the necessity of assessing property at
its cash value. This we have always
done, and the fact that it came up in
that meeting does not imply that there
are some classes not assessed at cash
value In speaking thus refer to real
property.
There is one thing, however, that
! the board has had TO watch very close
/ ly- That is the differentiation of prop
erty in various counties to escape the
state tax. There mas been a tendency
on the part of some county commits
SiOners to cut down the valuation so
| that the per cent which goes to the
state would be small, and in order to
make up the deficiency they levy a
high county tax.
Livestock Escapes Taxation.
THE one class that escapes taxa
ton more than any other, with the ex-
ceptiOn of mortgages and deposits, is
! livestock. Here the county assessors
have been at fault. It is estimated
that nearly one-fourth Of the livestock
in the state has succeeded in evading
taxation. This is very simple. There
is rate on sheep and range cattle.
and all that is necessary is to know
the number. In the past assessors
have failed to get the correct number
| Of the sheep and range cattle taxed.
! Some of them will go to the owner of
a bunch of sheep and ask how many
ne has. He tells such and such a
number, and that is the last of it: he
is assessed with having that number.
! Where the assessor does that he is LA
bic to be cheated. You know taxes
are what we all try to evade; it has
been that way since Adam. In assess
ing sheep and range cattle the assessors
should know the exact number, no
matter if in getting it they have to go
and count them"
The rate for range cattle this year
has been fixed at SIS per head, an adj
vance of 81 over the rate of last year.
The rate for sheep is $3.50 per head,
the same as last year. Horses. mich
COWS and bloOded cattle will be as
sessed at their cash value.
The state board meets with the coun-
ty commissioners of Box Elder county
at Brigham City today, and tomorrow
goes to Logan, where it will meet the
commissioners Of Cache county.