The State Tries to Soften the Panic for Delinquent Taxpayers
The Senate passes a bill remitting penalties and interest on delinquent 1893–94 taxes, citing “great financial stringency” and declaring an emergency.
Passage by the Senate today of Senate Bill No. 75, regarding delinquent taxes, is of the utmost interest to the people. The bill was passed as reported by the committee, with the exception of a section which was added. The bill as it passed is:
Section 1. All of the penalty and accrued interest shall be remitted on all delinquent state, county and municipal taxes which became due and payable in the years 1893 and 1894, and which shall be paid on or before the first day of July, 1895, and the proper officer shall receive the net amount of such taxes in full satisfaction thereof.
Section 2. All of the penalty and one-half of the accrued interest shall be remitted on all delinquent state, county and municipal taxes which became due and payable in the years 1893 and 1894, and which shall be paid after the first day of July, 1895, and on or before the first day of December, 1895, and the proper officer shall receive in full satisfaction of such taxes the net amount thereof, together with interest thereon at the rate of 10 per cent per annum from the date when the same became delinquent to the date of the payment.
Section 3. One-half of the penalty and two-fifths of the accrued interest shall be remitted on all delinquent state, county and municipal taxes which became due and payable in the years 1893 and 1894, and which shall remain unpaid after the first day of December, 1895, and the proper officer shall receive in full satisfaction of such taxes the net amount thereof, together with a penalty of 5 per cent thereupon, and together with interest thereon at the rate of 12 per cent per annum from the date when the same became delinquent to the date of payment.
Section 4. The delinquent tax lists shall be published during the month of April, and where any contracts have been made for the publication of delinquent tax lists prior to such date under existing laws, said contracts shall be extended to cover the publication herein required.
Section 5. Whereas, great financial stringency exists and many citizens are unable to pay their taxes with the large penalty and interest accrued thereon under the existing laws, an emergency is declared to exist, and this act shall take effect and be in force immediately.
“Great financial stringency exists and many citizens are unable to pay their taxes with the large penalty and interest accrued thereon.”
Washington's 1890s taxpayers were reeling from a national depression, and the legislature responded with penalty relief rather than a fundamental fix. Modern debates over property-tax delinquency, penalties and relief for hard-hit homeowners echo the same question: who absorbs the cost when the economy turns? The emergency clause made the stakes explicit.
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