The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1915-11-09
Collections In Ohio Are Un-
satisfactory
10000 Dogs Escaped Tax
alton Says Auditor OF State

(6y A. v. Donahey, Auditor Of state)
The dog tax collections in Ohio are
treated as OF minor consideration, and
in some counties both listing and col
lecting are incomplete and unsatis-
factory. That the tax on dogs Is an i'm. |
portant source of revenue is shown by |
the reports from the eighty-eight coun-
ties, just received by the Auditor of |
State. The total collections Of dog |
tax in Ohio the past year was $233, ,790.
"a, or an increase of $13,786.78 over
the previous year. This Is q larger
sum than the total collections of taxes
for all purposes in any one of the fol-
lowing counties: Adams, Brown, Car
roll, Gallia, Geauga, Hooking, Holmes,
Jackson, Morgan, Noble, Pike or Vim.
ton.
The total damages paid in the eighty.
eight counties for sheep killed and in.
jured, including witness fees, was $685.
10000. AS there was balance in this
fund at the beginning of the year Of
$270, ,56S.88, which, with the s233, ,79O.24
collected, made a total of 504,359.12
available to pay damages, 1t can be
seen that this would pay all damages
for five years without collecting anoth-
err cent. Some of the surplus is trans
ferred to other funds, chiefly the school
f,,nd Tho total fro =, cfo IN oil f,,rdo
wa $12S, 1850. Some counties make
allowances to humane societies from
the dog tax fund, few being rather
lavish In such transfers.
The most striking phase of this tax
on dogs is that the largest collections
are In counties having few sheep.
Hamilton with 1916 sheep collected
$1O,S5s.74 and paid sS54.sO damages.
Franklin with 8013 sheep collected ST..
553.70 and paid s2,163.55 damages. Guy
ahoga with 2128 sheep collected &c..
559.32 and paid $939.SO damages. Stark
with 1850 sheep collected $6,04S.0O and
paid $953.55 damages. Lucas with
1864 sheep collected $4,181.41 and paid
$363.35 damages. Montgomery with
1881 sheep collected $4,111.99 and paid
| $641.15 damages. Summit with 2449
sheep collected $4,245.15 and paid
$590.93 damages. Here is the record
in the leading sheep counties: Knox
with S5,5S7 sheep collected $2,324.67
and paid $707.65 damages. Licking with
| 79,204 sheep collected s3,740.4S and
paid $1,571.2S damages. Harrison with
81, ,922 sheep collected but 81 ,446.40 and
paid 81 ,264S5 damages Muskingum
with 1926 sheep collected S3,153.S7
and paid $3,542.51 damages. Coshoc
ton with 7S,091 sheep collected S2,.
790.99 and paid S1,S75.56 damages.
Many sheep raising counties collect
barely enough to pay damages. Mus
kingum paid out more than she collect
ed and had only SO cents remaining in
the fund. Morgan had balance or
$66.10. The largest collection was $10,-
S5S.74 in Hamilton and the smallest
$947.69 in Vinton. Tho largest dam.
ages paid were $3,542.51 in Muskingum.
Belmont was second with $3,32485.
The smallest was $131.SO in scioto.
That the damage to sheep is caused
largely by the worthless ours In cities
Is shown by statistics. Hamilton with
but 1916 sheep paid $S54.S0 damages.
while Knox with S5,5S7 sheep only paid
$707.66 damages. Harrison with more
sheep than Muskingum paid only about
one third as much for damages.
Vast as are the total collections Of
dog tax, only about half the dogs in
Ohio are at present paid for Every
one familiar with the present methods
OF listing dogs knows that there are
many thousands of dogs that are not
listed. Not only this, but the past year
$62,25S.76 listed was not paid. Under
the present laws 1t is waste OF time
to list at least one third of the dogs in
the state. If every dog In Ohio were
paid for as provided by law, the re-
ceipts the past year would have been
four hundred thouand dollars instead
of $233,790.24. Hamilton County col
lected only $10,S5S.74 of the total of
sl3,15S.OO reported for collection.
Franklin County collected S7,553.70 of
the $11,352.00 listed and Cuyahoga col
lected only s6.559.S2 of the $13,9S7.O 90
listed. In the rural counties the per-
centage Of collections Is much higher.
Knox collected $2,324.67 of the $2,6S6
on the duplicate. The old law making
the tax on dogs lien on the property,
which was declared unconstitutional
in 1908. prevented the enormous loss.
es from unpaid dog tax now so com.