Omaha daily bee., 1911-01-22
Council Bluffs
Bluffs Official
Raps Ferret Law
Bill to Do Away with Measure Likely
to Have Strong Support Before
Legislature.

The Introduction Of a bill in the Iowa
legislature Thursday to repeal the tax fer
ret law, with the certainty that Il will
psss. has awakened considerable interest
around the county court house, where the
Jaw has been given a full try-out and
found undesirable. The Boards Of County
Supervisors have employed many tax fer
rets during the dozen or more years the
law has been in force, and with very I'M
satisfactory results in almost all cases.
The consequence is there is unanimity
Of sentiment among county officials favor
ing the repeal OF the law.
The principle of the law was repugnant
to the thinking members Of the county
board, and for several years at the begin
ming no appointment was made At the
start the law gave the collector about p
per cent OF the delinquent taxes collected,
and It appealed TO the local officials as
measure intended not only to punish delin-
quent taxpayers and strikers, but pri-
marily intended to make new and profit
able situation for political mendicants. For
this reason the board was wary about fill
ing the office. Demands Of place seekers
became too importunate and an appoint
ment was made. The results justified the
opinions of the supervisors. The tax ferret
got the big end of the bargain and the
members of the board we're rewarded with
rounds OF abuse from taxpayers who were
caught.
In subsequent contracts special agree
ments concerning compensation we're en-
tered into. with better satisfaction, until
the law was amended fixing the compensa-
ton at Is per cent. All of the ferrets were
outside parties and they carried away
thousands Of dollars
The Fo,tvva 90 .lo Tho,
1t makes widows and orphans the principal
and certain victims OF the ferrets for the
records show that the chief income came
from estates where filings became neces-
sary, and in many cases money was taken
from widows and orphans where the exac-
tions permitted by the law were like rob.
bling the grave.
For the last three years Ben Mccoy of
Oskaloosa has been the county ferret, and
he has administered the law in a way to
eliminate It's harsh features. In the en-
tire period he has collected SO, l54 and has
received as compensa ton 81, S23. IL as shown
by the books in the office OF County Treas.
urer Mitchell. The largest amount he col.
lected from any individual was in the
Thomas French estate, where taxes to the
amount Of 1895 were taken from the
widow and children, who were left farm
in Boomer township
II earnestly hope the legislature will re.
peal the law" said Treasurer Mitchell yes
terday afternoon. 1T is not profitable or
desirable in a civilized community. II
forces payment from people always least
able to pay. / would like to see enacted
! in Its stead measure that will return the
taxation of all mortgages and real estate
contracts at the time of filing. II a fee
of only one-half and quarters of J
| per cent of the amount involved were ex-
acted at the time OF filing It would turn
/ in more money than the ferret law does,
and then there would be no hardships and
evasions by shrewd fellows. For example,
one Omaha man has over 100000 invested
! in Pottawattamle county farm loans ana
never pays a cent OF taxes on his mort
cages. The mortgages are all made 20 d
trustee who is his agent The filing fee
would cover all such cases as this The
amount OF the fee should cover the entire
/ life OF the mortgage, and then nobody
could decently object TO paying even 1 per
cent for the whole period"
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I 25c can RraDea or blacLhe 1Bc, A nound s