Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-01-26
HOUSE PASSES
CARNEY'S BILL
Taxpayer Benefited Under Pro.
visions of House Bill Num-
Der Z.

IL. ". OdIllcy VI
Willistcn yesterday afternoon had the
satisfaction Of seeing his pet measure,
II. B. No. Z, pass the house as amend
ed. This bill came up for a special
order of business yesterday afternoon
at three o'clock.
War has been Waged against this
bill by the county auditors and oun
ty treasurers of. the state, who claim.
ed that it would increase the work in
their offices and would increase the
collection cost of taxes.
The bill itself is an amendment to
Section 21S5, Compiled Laws of North
Dakota 1918, which provides for the
payment of real estate taxes. The bill
provides that the taxes shall become
due the first Of December and delin-
quent the first of March with the
usual penalties to attach thereafter
as now provided by law except that it
lowers the penalty two per cent. The
material part of the bill provides that
anyone has the privilege of paying
one-half of his taxes prior to Marcn
LIST and the other one4half any time
prior to November LIST, without en-.
atty. The object Of the law is to help
the average taxpayer who has trouble
raising sufficient funds with which to
pay his taxes.
Benefits Taxpayers.
The principle involved in this bill
is already incorporated into the laws
OF twelve states which include Mime
sofa, Iowa and South Dakota. House
Bill No. 7 is copied almost word for
word from the Minnesota statutes.
Mr.. Carney received very many let
ters from Iowa, Minnesota, South Da-
kota and Ohio where this law has
been in operation for many years. All
of which letters were favorable to
this semi-annual payment of taxes. 1t
is commended for this law that it is a
benefit to the taxpayers of North Da.
kota.
"The real estate taxes paid in North
Dakota for 1872 said the author OF
the bill, "were 1882, 522.S0; special
assessments, s~49S,061.17; total real
estate taxes paid $9,090,5S3.47. One
half of same become delinquent under
this law, or 81 545,291.74. The state
would lose the interest on this amount
from March list to November list at
an average of ~ per cent as paid by
the banks in North Dakota on county
deposits or $~42,612.11. On the other
hand many Of the taxpayers of North
Dakota borrow money in March with
which to pay their taxes at an aver
age of 9 per cent which on this
amount would be $255,672.6o. Thus
the difference lost to the state and the
gain to the taxpayers in the case OF
this money would leave a gain to
the taxpayer of $213,060.49 for we
must assume that the taxpayer is the
state.
at is estimated that the increase in
the cost to North Dakota to collect
the taxes if paid twice a year will be
probably $500 or $4,000, SO after
%deducting the additional cost it means
a net gain to the taxpayers Of North
| Dakota of nearly 100000. 1t has
| been argued that this law will help
the corporations as they will thus be
given the privilege tof holding the
| one.half of their tax from March to
November but this is not true as Sec
ton 2244, Revised Codes CASTLES
railroad taxes as personal property
taxes.
The vote on House Bill No. Z was
as follows:
Ayes: Allen, Burgett, blanchard,
Bollinger, Boyce, Carney, Converse,
Dickson of Dunn, Dickinson, Dixon OF
Rolette, Engle Fraser, Frietag, Grow,
Gunthorpe, Haraldson, Hedalen, Hen
Erickson, ItIjort, Homan, Husband,
Jahr, Knox, Lange, Leonard, List,
Maddox, Moeckel, Moore, Moses, NC
MILAN, Mcclellan, McClintock. Moves,
Odland, Peterson, Pitkin, Ployhar,
Purcell. Reimers, Ryan, Sinclair.
Siple, Smith of Ward, Thompson OF
Sargent. Tallack, Thorne, Thompson
of Ward, l.. l.. Twichell, Torson, Tur-
ner. T. Twichell Wanner, WesNdal
Wiley, Williams, Wolfer. =.
Nays: Aker, Axvig, Ba'sdon, Bald
win, BARLEY, Batter, Bixoy. Burnett,
Grey, Coaoper, Dean. Divet, Geisz!er,
Harry, Hickle. Hjelmstad, Jacobson,
Kelly, Kringen, Liudahl, Master. Mont
gomery, Morgan, Morrison, Myhre
McQuillan. Ness, O'Keefe, Jr., Guam
beck, Roble , Rott, Jr, sandbeck.
Stecnson, Torfin, Watt, Mr.. Speaker
Absent and not voting: Bass, Brat
ton, Erickson. Everson. Harris. HOS
haug, Isaac, Johnson, Kellogg, LANCE
dahl, Larson, LathrOp, Naramorem