The Rice belt journal., 1906-05-18
Where Reform Is Really Needed.

Harlequin is worthy the serious at
tention OF the legislature:
"One of the standing shames of thi
state is the rate of income paid ia,
collectors for simply warming office
chairs.
81 am going to show you in later
edition how much the people pay fol
this.
give per cent is a rate and it is
more on a similar bulk of business
than a business house would put Out
on bad debts.
SIT is to be remembered that these
taxes are not bad debts and that the
work involved in their collection no.
toriously consists for the most part in
warming an Office chair. receiving
the money and turning it over to the
state. 1t is the easiest sort of collec'
tion, backed by values as solid as the
gold in the United States treasury.
SIN New Orleans aloneth state pays
out approximately 1908, 900 for collect
ing its taxes. The city of New Or.
leans, for collecting taxes on the iden.
tical values, pays one salary OF 81,
600 per annum with some clerical hire.
mot year passes by but the state
pays out enough money to tax collec-
tors to educate an army of children.
1.-The over pay is so gross that il
amounts to looting of the public ex-
chequer.
The tax collectors Office in Calca-
sieu parish for many years has aver
aged its incumbent sl5, 900 a year and
is now worth not less than $4,000 a
year.
In addition, the incumbent is sheriff
of the parish, and that office pays as
large an income in fees as any sala-
ried position in the city pays.
That is to say: The tax collector of
Calcasieu parish gets for his services
almost the equivalent of the entire ex-
penditure of the city schools, teachers
and all. He draws in one year prac-
tically what the governor of the state
gets in four. His salary, on that side
of his Office only, exceeds the com
bined earnings of all the clergymen in
the city. His income would pay the
combined salaries of the district Judge,
district attorney, parish superinten-
dent, all the parish board, the parish
treasurer, the clerk of the police jury:
the mayor, city council. city clerk,
city tax collector. city attorney and all
the police officers of the city of Lake
Charles-and then would probably
leave enough to pay clerk hire.
To put it in the most striking and
dramatic way, we will say that the
ak collector is more expensive than
yellow fever quarantine.
The American is not blaming the
lucky official for taking what the law
allows him. Every tax collector we
have ever had has taken all the fees
allowed him and every tax collector
will, as long as the law stands.
Parish division has been suggested
as remedy, but it is no remedy.
Every dollar of these excessive fees
would be paid. The only change
would be to pay another man exces-
sively in the new parish, while still
paying a man excessively in this par
iSh.
Tax collecting is about as easy a
job as can be imagined. All the in
cumbent has to do is to take the mon
ey when it is brought to him.
On all collections. after reasonable
compensation has been paid, the per-
centage for collecting should be re-
duced so that it will yield enough for
additional clerk hire only.
We direct the attention of our rep
resentatives in the legislature to this
matter:-L. C. American.