Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1904-02-03
TAXATION AND OFFICIAL GINGER.
The District Attorney Replies to City Attorney on
Mortgage Taxation.

Mortgage Taxation.
An article appeared in the CENSOR
last week over the signature Of n. p.
Proctor, City Attorney, " containing Ger.
tain ponderous but misleading state
me ats, which may be summarized as
fonows:-
That the new mortgage taxation law Is
| imperative except to exempt mortgages from
"a xatiop as personal property, and thar,
| taxes
2. That whether the mortgagor or mortga-
gee snaII pay the taxes on mortgaged"land al
ways mas been and always viii be reguiated
4 by contract" Ia the following form; And the
| SAID mortgagor does further covf aant and
agree that ne viii pay all taxes tIat may be
| ises, etc.
3. That all mortgages in 1905 we're assessed
| TO the mortgage as an interest in the land
and the land own, pays the taxes BY virtue
| or the above mentioned contract the same
| as before; that the land owner always has
and always will pay The taxes on the mort
| 4 That taxes III this city are 10 per cent
| hlSher because less mortgages have been as
| erty
Keeping in view these propositions of
n. P. Proctor, City Attorney" let us
discuss them in the oder mentioned
| In the first plaes, The new mortgage
taxation lawis not Imperative upon the
contrary it is very much operative.
That is why it annoys II. p Proctor,
Oity Attorney, as will subs quently
| appear. With great amount q pom
posity we are informed that the law
exempts mortgages from taxation as
| personal property. Sure, Mike! But 1t
| expressly provides that the mortgage
4 hun fan An
| owns IL as an interest in the land in
the assessment district where the land
Is situated. The law provides, as stated
in my former article, that the interest
| of the mo-tgagor (land owner and the
interest of the mortgage towner Of the
mortgage) shall be separately assessed
to the respective owners unless the land
owner shall otherwise direct The tax
commission has so instructed assessors
| The tax commission has also instructed
tax collectors to execute their tax war
rant by levy. il necessary, or other ap-
| propriate steps, to collect from the
| owner of the mortgage his share of the
tax. Pardon me for sing the same IL
lustration / used two weeks ago Sup
pose that own property worth g. 900
i upon which there is mortgage to Jones
| for 81, 900. Under the former law / was
assessed at the full value of my property
/ So, 600, while Jones was also assessed on
his mortgage 81, 000 making fictitious
valuation of $1,000, on my property
The equitable way Is, that l should pay
taxes on my interest in the property
| 81, 600, and that Jones should pay taxes
on his mortgage interest of 81 000-the
total valuation being 81, 0O1, and that
1 each of us pay taxeG on our respective
| interests in the property. This Is pre-
| cisely what the new law aims to accom-
plish. The assessor, when he calls on
me to assess my property, inquiries IL it
| is mortgaged l inform him that Mr.
Jones holds a mortgage and that de-
| sire the mortgage assessed to Jones
4 The assessor then assesses my interest
| in the real property at 81 600 and under
meath the same description assesses the
mortgage interest 81, 900 to Jones, and
thus we are each assessed TO the full ex-
tent of our interest in the property.
Very well, the tax collector is later on
armed with ajax warrant directing him
to collect from the pelscus named, the
amount Of the tax which includes the
| taxes on my interest in the property,
| which was assessed at 81 coo, end also
| the interest of Mr.. Jones, which isS /, 900
He should collect a portion from me
and the balance from Jones, providing
Jones has any property upon which the
collector may levy. Should Jones re-
fuse TO pay, the tax is returned as delin.
quent and may then pay the tax, and
It shall be legal offset against the
mortgage debt. Whatever may be the
legal effect of any contract between the
parties, remains for our supreme court
TO pass upon. Primarily, however, the
property must be assessed and the tax
collected as stated Whether the land
Iowner, having signed a contract similar
in form to the one 50 cheet fully fur.
nished us last week by ii. z Proctor
City Attorney, may eventually be com
PEELED to pay the tax assessed against
both interests, remains to bs seen. NonC
of us can presume to be any wiser thar
the law. This statute has been adopted
substantially in Massachusetts,, Idaho
Oregon, California and other states, ana
| while the Massachusetts court has made
one holding the Oregon court hold,
practically to the contrary. When tht
clause referred to WAS inserted in ths
mortgage blank whereby the land ownel
agreed TO pay all taxes assessed agains'
the land, it was not in the contempla
tion Of the parties that the land owner
| should pay the tax on the money loan
er's mortgage. When the contract wa.
| made, it was only contemplated tina
the land owner should pay the taxei
| then assessed, or thereafter to be assess
ed against the land OF A LIKE MA
ITURE, the mortgage then being sub
iect to taxation az personal property
and the owner Of the same pay
ing taxes thereon. While th It contrac
was in force. the law was changed anC
the mortgage which heretofore haG
been assessed as personal property, wa
required be assessed 30 It's owner AS
: AN INTERES = IN THE LAND Mort
cages have never been exempt hereto
fore. They are not exempt now. Here
tofore they were assessed TO the person
. who owned them as personal property
Now they are assessed to the person
who owns them as an interest in thl
land. do not believe that our suprem,
court will so construe the statute, as Il
exempt from taxation MORTGAGES, which
were executed prior to the time the Law
went into effect Should our suprem,
court 30 construe the statute, I will no
turn Stalwart and declare that "thi
owner of the land always has and al
ways win pay the tax" by virtue Of {
little tax clause which we are
told, will forever be contained in mort
cages. Upon the contrary / will, witt
courage face the future In an attempt
TO carry ont the voice and will OF tht
people and to procure legislation, which
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