The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-01-05

weekly GazeIle. he purchased this
newspaper plant some time ago, and
will leave here Monday to edit his
paper. Years ago Mr.. Knapp pub
lished tho Leoti Standard in Wichita
county. He came to Topeka as an
employee in the Office of the United
states marshal and served there for
several years. He was chief clerk of
the house during the last Hoch admin
istration and gave up that place to go
with the board of control He made
good record as secretary The board
has no one in view at this time to take
Mr.. Knapp's place.
George w. Kanaval who retires
from the state railroad board next
week, has some important suggestions
to make in regard to the future ac-
uvities of the board. He would have
the board appointed by the governor
and give the board authority to ap-
point its own attorney. He would also
have cases appealed from the judg-
ment of the board go direct to the
Kanaval will embody his suggestions
into bill and have it presented to the
next legislature.
The western Kansas members have
agreed to the number of q score or
more to support an amen dment to the
mortgage taxation law that will do
away with the present system of
double taxation. They would have a
recording fee instead. George Finnup.
Garden City real estate man of
prominence, who has studied this
question at length, gives out a state
ment on the subject as follows:
Under the old tax law before it
was changed a few years ago only
about 1 per cent of the mortgages in
the state paid taxes. Would it not
have been better If there had been no
tax on them at all?
Under the new law they aim to
catch every mortgage and they report
any mortgages in one county belonging
to a man in another county, so that in
this way they get between 10 per cent
and 20 per cent of the real estate
mortgages of the state. and they who
have mortgages on record have to pay
the same rate of tax as any other class
of property. Many will say that this
| is right, and that mortgage can af-
ford to pay tax as well or better than
most any other class of property; but
| like a good many things the law is not
a just one, and it does not deal equally
or fairly with a large class of people
as you will see by the following cases
"In case a person seHs a piece of
real estate and in many cases. in fact
in the majority of the cases, the party
selling takes mortgage back on the
property as part payment for the
same, and under the law If he holds
the mortgage in his own name, he has
| TO pay LAX OIL IL anu Ills IIldk0S d
! double taxation as the real estate still
| pays while there Is a fictitious value
created for taxation in the mortgage
This is one injustice IN the law.
"Great discrimination is made in tax
| ing home people on mortgages. Yet
any company or individual from out of
the state making loans in the state, or
any man owning land in the state who
lives out Oh the state and takes a
mortgage when he sells the land, or
any man in the state who sells his
mortgages outside of the state or as
signs them to parties outside of the
state, or any person who takes a mort
gage after March I, which is paid off
before March 1, the next year-an q:
| these pay no tax on all Of these mort
cages. The various counties of the
state get no benefit in the way oi
taxes from them. The consequence Is
those that do pay, pay entirely toe
much; SO that loaning money gets to be
unpopular and causes millions of dol
lars every year to be drained out of the
state into all kinds of propositions and
investments in places like Kansas City
| and other localities and states instead
of keeping the money at home to bui!6
up our various localities and our OWE
| state.
"It would be much better not to tax
real estate mortgages at all and keeT
the money at home; but a fair an6
equitable way would be to have E
graduated scale which would be very
| reasonable for the length of time tn:
mortgage ran, and make every mort
gage pay, which would bring in fouI
or five times as much money into the
general fund of the counties as is pail
under the present laws"