The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-02-12


IN the aggregate with all the property in the
town or district;sbut The shall value each ar
.ticle sor description Of propertysby itself and
at such sum or price as he believes the same
TO be fairly worth in money. J, In assessing
any tract Or lot Of real property, the value
OF the lands; elusive Of improvements, shall
be determined. Also, the value Of all i'm
proyenent. and structures thereon, and the
aggregate value Of the property, including all
structures and other improvements, exclud-
ing the value of crops growing upon culti-
waited land =
The same section is equally. explicit in re-.
gard to assessing personal property at its
full Value,
The above seems simple, and is certainly
ample as far as law governing assessments
Is concerned. II property is assessed too low,
the fault lies with the assessor The town
board OF review, the county and state boards
OF equalization, are equally culpable with the
assessor.
This being true it is not,a new CODE but
set OF officials who regard their oaths as sery-
ants of the people, that are needed
Now, let us see what the proposed code of
the tax commission suggests
Section 20 says Of the assessor: "He shall
actually view and determine as nearly as
practicable the true and full value in money
of each lot or tract Of land listed for taxa
ton, and shall enter the value thereof, In !
GLIDING the value of all improvements and
structures thereon, opposite each. description
OF property; he shall also note on the assess.
ment books, opposite each description of prop
erty, the condition Of the surface, thereof,
using the words level rolling broken, ;
'h1lly' or rocky; also the quality of the
soil, using the words 1oam,' .clay,' sand, ;
gravel stony; also, whether 1t is; prairie,
timber wet or dry" Comparison is useless
1t does say some things that may escape
a nf fo,,
practical operation in the levying and collect
Ing Of taxes. It says, HE shall enter it in
book opposite each description of property. y
Great Scott! Where else would he enter it.?
This has always always been done.
Theresis one thing in the new code not in
the old--naraely, the assessor must note bad
ger knobs and other objects of interest, and
whether it be prairie or timber This last
requirement is for the benefit of the boom
ing land agents, who want to get a full de-
scription Of each piece of land at public ex-
pense. t+a
SO much for the first topic Now let us
consider the second, 'tThe Tax Dodger" This
term means the man who swears that he has
no. property, while his neighbors think he
has. or course. he has some property in
sight, such as horses, cattle, household goods
and 50 on, but neither money nor notes or
any other thing of value. II he swears that
he has none of these things how are you
going to catch him with a, new law? If he
has them. the present law reaches him all
right, but poor pauper: such as he is as
independent under the new as, under the old
There are some sections of the statutes gov
ernlng tax sales,'' etc., that ought to be
made palmer as to their operation, but these
points are not within the scope of this article
AS one having had long experience in the
working machinery of assessments, levy and
collection of taxes, IFwould simply call atten-
ton to one or two items that I think ought
to be noted. St5
s Sections 1874 and 155 provide that any tax
payer shall call upon the county auditor for
q statement, accompanied by an unsigned tax
receipt, which he can take to the treasurer,
or he eau take it home. as he Dleases Our
experience shows that the majority of tax
payers call 20 find the amount of their taxes
before they are ready to pay them. If they
choose not to pay them the auditor is re-
qured to cancel the statements. 1 presume
the lawyers who thought out 4ths plan had
the idea that county treasurers would in
some mysterious way conceal the amount OF
receipts and thus defraud the county AS
there are but few sources from which money
is received into the county treasury, there is
no possible way for the treasurer to steal
1t is not like a merchant or banker where
there are hundreds of different ways of re-
ceiyIng money.
are from taxes, redemDtions, school lands
and fines from justices of the peace, and from
each of these sources a duplicate receipt is
made, so. that the treasurer must account fol
each receipt made. These receipts are made
in duplicate, using a carbon sheet, making il
absolutely impossible for the treasurer t.
receive money without "a record. Each day
! the auditorAor his clerk takes off the number
| and amount of each Of these receipts and en-.
| tiers them on his journal for the day. and o.
course the treasurer must enter the same or
I, his collection register. And right here
want to assert. and T can be sustained il
this assertion by Deputy Public Examiner
Gunders, that there has only been discrep
| ancy of 9 cents between the auditors ant
| treasurer,s tax collection accounts; and tina
| last August Mr.. Gunder himself corrected tn,
books by error SO as to make them agree
/ This amount had been on the books for severa
years, both auditor and treasurer believing i
best to let them stand her for a balance.
There is but one more item that I wish tt
! note in this connection.
! :: Section 156 provides that a person may pa.
| a tax under protest, and in that case the take
| could not be distributed to the several fund
! entitled. to them until after the expiration o
J thirty days. This would mean that tn
! March, June and November settlements coult
notabe distributed until a month later. Their
1 is no call for such a provision, for the mean
of correcting all error are ample withou
! tying up all these funds for thirty days
-! r: w. Richards.