Evening star., 1937-12-12
Taxes
Continued From First Pare !

quantities in Thomas G.. Young, who
became city collector in 1881 when
Mayor Howard w. jackson was re-
turned to office. Mr.. Young was no
stranger to municipal government. for
he had been chairman Of the Civil
Service Commission in a previous
Jackson administration. He took the
tax job as a hobby, for he had, and
still has business of his own-auto-
mobile ccessories-although admit
ting with laugh that the latter DOES
not get much personal attention any
more.
The city collectors office here is the
clearing house for all taxes, State as
we'll as local, and the first thing tha,
Impressed Mr.. Young when he took
hold was the number of people who
came in and urged they be allowed to
pay something on account on tax bills.
This, as he points out, was a by
product of the depression, and time
after time he was forced to turn
away men and women who, with
money getting scarcer and scarcer,
sought to make partial settlement of
Indebtedness to protect their hold
ings.
Lew Prevented Action,
i hated to see those hundred dol
lars, and two hundred dollars-or
sometimes less-go out the door," he
chuckles, but there was nothing else
to do. All I could say to them was
I'm sorry, but there is no law that
allows me to take your money this
way. You'll have to come back when
you have all of it,"
Then came the bank holiday of
1888, and thoroughly exercised be-
cause Of the situation that developed,
Young went into action.
Here We were." he explains, I'VE
had told people to save their money
until they had enough to pay their
taxes, and they put it in banks and
building associations which closed. If
that wouldn't cause them to lose con-
fidence in their Government"
So he got Mayor Jackson and r. E.
Lee Marshall, the city solicitor, to-
gether, and broached the idea of re-
ceiving installment payments.
There is no law to permit you to
take taxes on installments," the CITY
solicitor said.
mo. and there's no law that saws
I can't either" Mr.. Young responded
Tell you what. You let me alone
and III do it. Then, If I get in
trouble, you get me out"
Mayor Mods Agreement.
That proposition had a one-sided
sound to Mr. Marshall, but Mr.. Young
has a persuasive manner, and the
Mayor nodded agreement, and the
plan was on its way. That was in
May, 1888, and since then, more than
$12,o00,000 has cleared through Mr..
Young's Office in this manner. This
volume looms larger when it is ex-
planned that there now are about $50
tnstallment transactions daily, the
payments running anywhere from the
81 allowable minimum, up.
In inaugurating his venture, Young
realized at the very outset that the
mechanics would have to be as sim
pie as possible or it would defeat its
own end, and he planned accordingly.
First Of all, it was decided that only
those accounts above $40 would be ac-
cepted. This would take care of the
ordinary tax on tangibles and in
tangibles; assessments for paving and
street opening, and water rent, where
the charge is on a fiat basis rather
than metered. All license taxes were
excluded, being payable in advance
Next came the question Of admin
istration. Obviously, it would be both
expensive and lnwieldly to have every
body dropping in week after week,
with q dollar or so, If these thou
sands of adjustments had to be made
on the tax ledgers.
New Unit Set Up.
So Young set up q new unit. and
here it becomes apparent that the
phrase "installment tax-paying" is
not quite accurate, for actually, under
this plan, the taxpayers simply open
an installment savings account with
which the collector pays their tax
when they have accumulated funds
sufficient to discharge indebtedness in
its entirety.
Any taxpayer desiring to 60 on the
installment plan. comes to the bill