Iron County Record | 1961-05-25 | Page 2 | Little Chats on Public Notice

Little Chats on Public Notice By James E. Pollard Copywrighted 1960 In times of prosperity, the de- linquent taxpayer is not much i of a problem. But in bad times such as the "Thirties," his num-i num-i ber was legion. Unpaid taxes on real estate in many major coun-i coun-i tries, for example, ran into mil- lions of dollars. In reliitively flourishing times there are comparatively few such delinquents. But even then there are always some for one reason or another. And the law has a way to deal with such folks, whether whe-ther few or many. This is to publicize the delinquency delin-quency through a form of public notice carried in a local newspaper news-paper of paid general circulation. In recent years these lists have been comparatively short. Rut in bad years they have run to page after page in the case of the lar j gest cities. ' j These lists carry the name of the taxpayer, in brief description of the property on which taxes are delinquent, and the amount of the tax due. The notice gives Information also as to when and under what conditions the tax must be paid. In many instances sympathetic legislature gave badly needed relief to hard pressed press-ed taxpayers in the worst years. The local newspaper is about the only effective means of publicizing pub-licizing such situations. This is a necessary but effective form of public service for which the bona fide newspaper is peculiarly fit-ted. fit-ted. Such publication also puts the taxpayer on what amounts! to final notice so that he can still protect his rights. j