Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1907-06-13
THE. MORTGAGE TAX.

Inc Todd County Argus makes
the following comments en- the law
taxing real estate mortgages:
Under the new law which took
eHect May lst no mortgages can be
recorded in the office of the register
or deeds until a tax of one halfaof
ore per cent is paid, and after that
no further tax is charged against
mortgages. Under the old law, in
dlv1dual residents of the county,
were assessed on all mortgages on Re.
cord. being included in the. list Of
personal property. In order to get
the mortgages on the list.sxgthe re-
glster of deeds each year makes out a,
list OF mortgages on record. in the
name of resident mortgages and this
list is reported to the assessors in
the towns where the owners reside.
In this way no resident of the county
could escape paying the personal tax
on real estate mortgages But the
law proved a failure, because the
great bulk of the money loaned on
real estate was from individuals and
companies outside the county who
could not be reached, and men with
money to loan would find some
other way to put it out so as to
escape the tax. One of1the interest
ing features of the old laws on mort
cages and banking was that while
individual residents could not loan
money on real estate security with
out paying tax on the mortgages
all banks could loan money in this
way and escape the tax. The effect
of this feature of the law waseto in
duce individuals to deposit their
money in the banks at about four
per cent and the banks could loan it
at higher rate and escape the tax.
The new law changes this and mort
cages taken by banks must pay the
tax the same as individuals whether
residents or not. The new system of
mortgage taxation has been tried in
other states; and the result has been
large increase ingthe amount col
lected on mortgages. 1t seems to be
the general belief that men who hold
mortgages for money loaned should
pay taxes thereon as well as farmers
and Others pay on their personal pro.
perty, butt it has been the universal
experience that such a tax cannot
be collected. Even with the present
system Of collecting a registry tax
before the mortgage can be recorded,
it is asserted that the borrower will
be made to pay the tax SO that the
capitalist will still escape paying or
the mortgage. The question of. per.
sonal property taxation has been q
perplexing one to statesmen. anc
many experiments have been made
in order to get on a basis of equity
in assessing personal property, bEl
no system has ever been devised tina,
would secure the listing of Intangible
property like mortgages and othe1
credit paper. AS a rule, only such
property as can be seen can be as
sessed and the wealthiest men pay
comparatively little personal tax
In Todd county there is we'll on to ;
million dollars on deposit in tn,
banks but scarcely any of this is OF
the tax list, and in. large cities AM
places where milionaires are il
: evidence, there is regular system
of tax evasion. The assessor cal
never find where the rich mans pro
perty is located for taxation purposes
No one seems to have any defnit
remedy for this state of affairs excep
the single takers who would aboils
all personal property taxes an
; collect public revenues from res
estate alOne.'