Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1912-04-19
TAXATION IN MINNESOTA
TWELFTH ARTICLE BY CoM1GIx-
SION, TAXATION OF MONEY
AND CREDITS. 81.

subject to taxation in Minnesota. PriE
to 1911 the state attempted to tax such
property, on the same basis and at the
same rate as other classes of personal
property, but never succeeded in get
ting even q reasonable percentage Of IL
on the tax rolls. j. ~. r.
The nature Of the property is such
that it can be easily concealed. In 1919
the total amount of this class of prop
erty listed for taxation was less thar
fourteen million dollars, an amount
conservatively estimated to be less thar
three per cent Of the actual value Of
such property owned in the state
Realizing the impossibility of gat-
ting such property on the tax rolls
under existing laws, the legislature in
1911 passed law imposing a flat raG
Of three mills on the dollar, or thirtF
cents on each hundred dollars Of valus-
tion, such tax to be in lieu of all ofh-
er taxes on this class Of properly.
: The new law, known as Chapter 286,
Laws Of 1911, provides that such prop
erty shall be listed and. valued on q
separate listing blank and shall include
money and credits as defined il tho
Revised laws Of 1905. : ,!sEf.tts:i ~ .
tMoney" means all money owned bg
a person whether in hand or on dSposfk
in bank in this or some other stabo. =
"Credits - include al1 book accoun4a,
bills receivable, mortgages and land
contracts not recorded in this state,
promissory notes, bonds, rents, annul-
ties, and all other claims or demands foe
money. or other valuable things. H*
The assessment is to be made at th9
fair cash value of the property, and
not at a percentage of such valuGk
Debts cannot be deducted from credits.
The law requires each person sub
ject to the tax to makeea sworn return
of his money and credits on the listing
blank furnished him by the assessor.
Such return must be made on or b.
fore June !.
The assessor is required to accept th6
items Of such list as true unless fh1
person making the return refuses %
answer on oath all reasonable and
necessary inquiries as to the nature
and amount Of his property taxablo
under this law. The assessor may, how
ever, place his own valuation on IL
so listed when in his jude-
ment the valuation returned by tho
owner is not, the true and full value 6f
the property.
If any person subject to the tax re-
fuses or neglects to. make an arbitrary
against such person based
upon the best information he can OBJ
tain, and then add 50 per cent Of thS
velnA fion az penalty for such afaaasa
or neglect. $:54 -2ss<zE
In making an arbitrary assessment
khn Io,r, F1oou rorusps. Tho oeuooaAn
to have exact know:edse Of the value
make the assessment upon his best
and belief" and: in such
cases he must impose the penalty. H
the assessor should overvalue any Of
The items Of the property the person
against whom the assessment is made
is not entitled to any relief, unless the
aggregate Of such assessment is ex-
cessive. Il
class Of property last year and fails to
make a return this year, tie assessor is
required to make an arbitrary assess
ment and cannot fix the amount at less,
but may make it more, than the amount
legally assessed against such person
last year. ..::
Even though a person claims that he
does not own any of this class or prop
erty he should nevertheless: return h:s
list to the assessor setting out suck
fact duly sworn to.
The next article will deal: brieflf
with the reasons for changing the law,
and will give some comparative figures
of assessment and d:reyenue in 1910 un-
der the old law and in 1911 under the
new law .''~s .::~.