The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1917-09-04
new TAX LAW
NOW IN EFFECT
Tax Law Passed at Special Session
of Legislature Went Into
Effect Saturday.

the making or the IyI1 state anu
county tax levy, which will deter
mine the amount of taxes every citi-
zen of Montgomery county will have
to paw have been received and As
SCISSOR james Barnes will start at
once to list property Gas of Septem-
Der first" The tax blanks are very
complicated ans. The work Ok Ok the the
Assessor win be very much harder
this year than it has been for many
years.
While the terms Of the new law
have been fairly well understood by
those interested in the subject, the
publiction of these assessment lists
have been waited with keen interest
by property owners in all parts Of
Kentucky, as the majority of people
who pay taxes desire to learn for
themselves the meaning of the law
by studying the assessment sche-
dulles. 1t was announced some time
ago by Chairman Logan, of the
State Tax Board, that these assess
ment lists would be the best guide
for understanding the law.
The most noteworthy fact in the
new tax law, as brought out in the
assessment lists and the portions of
the law quoted, is the heavy penalty
provided for failure to report prop
erty for assessment. Before the
new tax law was passed a man or a
woman who failed to report the own
ership of bonds or stocks in an out
side corporation or notes of hand
was. in danger at some time or an
other of being sued for back taxes,
when the full amount of taxes could
be collected, with per cent. inter-
est. All this is changed in the new
law, and a penalty of 100 per cent,
of the face of the tax bill is impos-
ed for failure to report, and penal
ties with interest may be collected
as far back as ten years. Because
of this heavy penalty and the rigor-
Gus powers given the county and
state assessing boards, the state Of
Gals believe that many millions of
dollars of property will be unearthed
for taxation upon which little, if
1 any, taxation have been paid in the
past
Another point of much Importance
in a proper understanding of the
law is brought out in these official
assessments, namely, that the gen.
eral property tax remains for pur-
poses Of state taxation, and is only
abolished for local and municipal
taxation. Everybody must pay
taxes on everything they have il
the state, exactly as under the OLD
general property tax system. The
only change is that bonds, stocks in
foreign corporations, accounts due
notes representing money loaned on
mortgages, etc, will hereafter pay
tares only to the state; these classes
of property, together with certain
amount of machinery used in manu-
faeture, are exempt from county
and city taxation, but taxes on ev-
erything must be paid to the state.
The schedules for the individual
citizen, man or woman, to make up
for his or her property are four
times the length of the assessment
schedules under the old law and are
so complicated, and inquisitory that
they cover every species Of property.
All real estate and improvements
are, Of course, included in this gen
eral property schedule, but the ex-
haustiveness of the schedule on this
subject indicates that real property
win bear higher tax next year.
Owners of lands will be required to
I'll up long schedule, showing how
many acres are in timebr, how many
acres are under cultivation, how
many acres are uDdsrluid with min