The Washington times., 1913-08-15
THE PROPERTY OWNERS RIGHTS.

1t would be interesting if the District CommiS
s;oners or the House District Committee now in
vestigang affairs of this city, would look carefully
into the conduct of sales of property for series
of years past.
There has been quite too much of the disposition
apparently to regard the tax sale an opportunity
tc soak" delinquentS for the profit of favored
buyer of tax certificates Whether or not any i'm
propriety has been committed by any official author
ty, it is fact that the mechanism of the tax sale
business has been organized TO the disadvantage OF
the property owner and the profit of the chief pur
chaser of these evidences of delinquency.
1t seems but the most ordinary and reasonable
presumption that when piece of property is sold
for taxes the owner should be notified of the fact
Being notified in the vast majority of cases. he would
soon redeem and save himself the expense of penal
ties running for an indefinite time. Yet it has de-
veloped that there is machinery and no rule for
giving this notice. Instead aged clerk in the
Assessors office who took upon himself the task Of
sending out such notices. in order that mig ght
protect themselves, had to do the work outside of
office hours and in the face of persistent objection
by his superors and by the interests dealing in tax
titles which seemed to have good deal of influ-
ence.
Not only this The chief dealer in tax certificates
has for a long time been Charles H. Wiltsie, of
Rochester, N. Y. Wiltsie given the privilege of
going the indexes and copying off the list of prop
erty subject to tax sale The District Com
mission has looked into this practice, decided that
Wiltsie had monopoly, and ordered that the prac
tice shall be discontinued.
Assuredly it is a strange state of affairs that
scaper in tax titles has access TO the books of the
assessment to make lists and inform himself as to
the desirability undesirabty of every specific
piece of property as taXtte investment, while the
property owner is not even given a notice that his
taxes are delinquent!
This is not all Cases have been brought to the
attention of The Times, in which property owner,
having omitted in year to pay his taxes,
through overs ght otherwise, and going back the
following year pay was given his current bill
and permitted to pay it, without being notified that
the books showed him one year in In other
words, the outstanding tax sale certificate would
continue running against him in the face of the fact
that he had appeared at the office ready to pay his
taxes, and presumably would have paid if he had
been notified.
The charges to this effect are made on the best
authority and with good deal of specification
The tax collecting authority certainly ought to owe
It's first duty and loyalty to tine property owners
whose contributions make up the revenues of the
CITY The taxpayer is not to be regarded as merely
good thing to be picked and plucked for the bene-
fit of an amiable speculator in penalties.
There has been much wonderment as to the rea-
son why an operator in Rochester should have pecu-
liar advantages in carrying this Sort of business
while the laws permit discrimination in his favor
and against both the property owner and the pos
sibIe rival buyer of tax titles. The situation needs
attention and good deal of it.