The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1909-07-08
State Bankers Association
Two Hundred Bankers From all Paris Of the State 10 Conven
tion Interesting Addresses This Afternoon.
McVey's Notable Address,

aDle A00reSS.
much OF the personal property. in this
state is In tangible forms, but there
/, is, nevertheless, large amount as
shown in the statistics Of the banks,
and Of the ownership of stocks and
bonds (of such property The fu-
ture, therefore, will bring up the
question in this state, as it has in
, other states. of what to do regarding
its taxation. a..@ ger,, "a G,ss
There are three attitudes toward
the taxation of personal property.
One group OF persons call upon the
Legislature to pass laws with drastic
penalties and demand that the officers
shall enforce the present law. They
even go SO far as. to encourage the
creation of ferret system for the
purpose of ascertainiug by stealth the
facts regarding the possession of per-
sonal property. Experience In Iowa,
Ohio and elsewhere have clearly
shown that this method, instead OF
increasing the amount of personal
property on the tax roll, tends act
ually to lessen it. Ohio passed a
law so drastic in it's character that
little could be found in legislation,
even as far back as Roman times,
that was more energetic in it's PEN
alties and yet Ohioqissfamous5 for the
|ineficiency OF, her personal property
|tax. .., X a.'
A second group Of persons demand
the exemption of personal property
from all taxation, saying that the
taxes are paid indirectly and that I'M
der the present system tribe of
liars and perjurers are created. They
point to the fact that the taxation of
mortgages, moneys and credits in
crease interest rates wherever they
are levied and therefore ask for the
complete exemption of all personal
property. Reform, however, does not
proceed so rapidly. It is only by
gradual steps that the general prop
erty tax can be modified, and we,
therefore, turn with some relief to
what has been termed compro-
mise plan. This plan recognizes
some Of the elements of both of the
other groups. In the first place it
recognizes that personal property
ought to be taxed and in the second
place It recognizes that it ought to
be taxed in relation to its income
rather than its value
The efficiency Of the plan based
upon this policy has been we'll dem
'onstrated in Pennsylvania and Mary
land. In the first state more than
a billion dollars of personal property
in the form Of securities, stocks and
bonds have been added to the tax
lists. and in the city Of Baltimore in
the comparatively short period of
six years more than one hundred
fifty millions of dollars was placed
upon the personal tax lists that
would otherwise have excaped when
the rate of taxation was reduced. In
fact, the failure to tax successfully
personal property in the form Of
moneys invested has been largely
due to the heavy rate levied against
it rather than in the fact that 1t
was taxed at all, and recognition Of
this situation by the establishment Of
a small rate of three or four mills on
tie value Of the property results in
a feeling Of fairness on the cart Of
the owner of such securities. The
same idea has been carried still! fur
Their in the interests Of the taxation
of mortgages. In some of our states,
notably New York and Minnesota, the
mortgage registration tax has been
levied, a small fee being paid upon
each hundred dollars ofthe mortgage
when it is offered for registrat alton
upon the books of the county record
ers. In. both states the law has been
Ieminently successful and so far as
can be noticed a resultant decrease
in interest rates has followed. For
many years effort has been made to
tax bank depositors. No distinction,
however, has been drawn between
saving and commercial bank. The bur-
den of taxation in the case of the COM
mercial bank should be levied upon
the shares OF the bank rather than up
on the deposit. In the instance of the
saving bank is should be levied upon
the deposit since there is no stock
The Massachusett la~ levying a tax
of one-half of one per cent upon the
average deposit held IN the bank dur.
ing the year has not resulted in the
decrease Of deposits but has, on the