Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-07-09

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 1t is only by gradual
steps that the general property tax
can be modified, and we, therefore,
turn with some relief to whoat has
been termed compromise plan.
This plan recognizes some of the ele-
ments 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 it's 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 q
billion dollars of personal properly
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 have otherwise escaped when
the rate of taxation reduced
In fact, the failure to tax successfully
personal property in the form of mon
eys invested has been largely due to
the heavy rate levied against it rather
than in the fact that it was taxed at
all, and recognition Of this situation
by the establishment of small rate
Of three or four mills on the value
of the property results in feeling
of fairness on the part of the owner
of such securities. The same idea
has been carried still further in the
instance Of the taxation of mortgages
In some Of our states, notably New
York and Minnesota, the mortgage
registry tax has been levied, small
fee being paid upon each hundred
dollars of the mortgage when it is
offered for regis ration upon the
books of the county recorders. In
both states the law has been emf
nently successful and so far as can be
noticed resultant decrease in in
terest rates has followed. For many
years an effort has been made to
tax bank deposits. No distinction,
however, has been drawn between,
savings and commercial banks. The
burden Of taxation in the case Of the
commercial bank should be levied up
on, the shares Of the hank rather than
!, upon the deposit. nj the instance Of
the savings bank it should be levied
upon the deposit since there is no
stock. The Massachusetts law levy
| ing a tax of one-ha1f of one per cent
upon the average deposit held in the
bank during the year, has not result
+ ed in the decrease OF deposits but
has, on the. other hand, placed the
savings banks unon the firm basis
where they actually know what is
! expected of them in the form of
taxes. :.
These are merely suggestions as
| to what can be done - intelligent
| way regarding the taxation of in
| tangible property. The problem in
this state is not, so pressing as it
Els in older states; yet intangible
| property in North Dakota is rapidly
increasing and in order that it may
! be properly taxed and fairly so, both
now time to study the problem and
to formulate legislation: The exper-
| fences, of other states with ferret
laws and drastic legislation distinct
ly point out that the way to success
is not in the direction of continuing
the present personal property tax
law but rather in following that which
has been successful in the instance
Of Maryland and Pennsylvania.