TAXATION AND REVENUE SYSTEMS—IOWA. 
79 
delay was unavoidable, in which case interest at the rate of 6 per 
cent shall be charged from the accrual thereof until the cause of 
such delay is removed, after which 10 per cent shall be charged. 
All taxes levied and collected under this act, less any expenses 
of collection, shall be paid into the treasury of the state and shall be 
applicable to the expenses of the state government and to such 
other purposes as the legislature may by law direct. 
Further enactments were, that in cities of the first class a tax is to 
be levied annually of 1 mill for the purposes of the city board of 
health; money-lenders pay an annual license of $50; private de 
tective firms or corporations pay an annual license of $150; indi 
vidual private detectives, $100; the license and registration of 
motor vehicles was changed so that the rate is from $5 to $20, accord 
ing to horsepower. 
IOWA. 1 
Iowa depends almost entirely upon the general 
property tax for state, county, and municipal reve 
nues. There is an inheritance tax, but no special cor 
poration taxes, except on foreign insurance comp a 
nies. Corporations generally are assessed by local 
assessors. A few are assessed on their property by 
the state executive council. Changes of late years 
have been from taxes on gross revenue to those on 
propert}*. 
CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS. 
ARTICLE m. 
Sec. 30. The general assembly shall not pass local or special laws 
for the assessment and collection of taxes for state, county, or road 
purposes. 
article vm. 
Sec. 2. The property of all corporations for pecuniary profit shall 
be subject to taxation the same as that of individuals. 
OFFICERS. 
The officers most directly concerned with taxation 
are: 
(1) The township and city assessors, elected biennially, one in 
each township and city. 
(2) The township trustees and city councils, which act as boards 
of review. 
(3) The county boards of supervisors, which act as county boards 
of review and equalization. 
(4) The county treasurers, who are the tax collectors. 
(5) The state executive council, composed of the governor, sec 
retary, auditor, and treasurer of state, which constitutes the state 
board of review, and acts as a state board of equalization, and also 
as an assessment board for certain classes of property. 
State Revenues. 
A. GENERAL PROPERTY TAXES. 
1. Base— 
a. The property included and exempt.—All real and 
personal property not specifically exempt is subject to 
this tax. 
(1) and (2) There are no special definitions of real and personal 
property for purposes of taxation. Ferry franchises and toll bridges 
are defined as real estate. 
Mortgages are taxable, and no deduction is allowed on that 
account from the assessed value of the land. 
1 This compilation is derived mainly from the following sources: 
Revenue Laws of the State of Iowa, compiled in pursuance of 
section 1369 of the Code, by B. F. Carroll, auditor of state. Des 
Moines, B. Murphy, state printer, 1904. 
Revenue Laws of the State of Iowa, by John L. Bleakly, auditor 
of state. Des Moines, Emory H. English, state printer, 1909. 
The Code and its Supplements, and the Session Laws to 1913. 
Credits, moneys, annuities, bank notes, and shares of stock, in 
corporations not otherwise taxed, are all taxable. 
Debts may be deducted from the total of moneys and credits. 
(3) The exemptions, in addition to public property, are: Ceme 
teries, crematoriums, so long as no profits are derived therefrom, 
with land not to exceed 1 acre; fire engines, etc., with houses and 
grounds; grounds and buildings for public libraries, for literary, 
scientific, charitable, benevolent, agricultural, and religious insti 
tutions and societies, real estate owned by any educational institu 
tion as a part of its endowment fund, not exceeding 160 acres, not 
leased or otherwise used with a view to pecuniary gain, together 
with books, papers and apparatus, and like property of students; 
personal property and investments of such institutions; farm prod 
uce and wool of the harvest or shearing of previous year; all poultry, 
10 stands of bees, all swine and sheep under 6 months of age and all. 
other domestic animals under 1 year; obligations for rent not yet 
due, in hands of original payees; private libraries and professional 
libraries up to $300; family pictures; household furniture to $300, 
and kitchen furniture; family beds and bedding; all wearing apparel 
in use; all food provided for the family; estates of persons who, by 
reason of age or infirmity are unable to contribute; farming utensils 
of the farmer, the team, wagon, and harness of teamsters and dray 
men, and tools of a mechanic, all up to $300; motor vehicles; mort 
gages held by nonresidents; Government land entered and pur 
chased, for the year in which entered; unless waiver thereof is 
voluntarily made, $1,200 of the property of any honorably discharged 
Union soldier or sailor of the Mexican War, or of the War of the 
Rebellion, or the widow thereof remaining unmarried; any portion 
of the capital of a bank which is invested in United States bonds; 
funds held by fraternal beneficiary associations. 
Until 1917 sugar mills manufacturing sugar from beets raised in 
Iowa, with machinery, tools, and appliances, and not to exceed 10 
acres of land are to be exempt. 
In the assessment of farm lands a reduction that is called an 
exemption is made from the valuation of the farms equal and 
proportionate to the area of roads adjacent to such lands. 
h. Assessment.—All property subject to taxation is 
required to be listed at its actual value, which is 
defined as “the value in the market in the ordinary 
course of trade.” The property is then assessed for 
taxation at 25 per cent of such actual value except 
that: 
Moneys, credits and corporation shares or stocks, except as other 
wise provided, cash, circulating notes of national banking associa 
tions, and United States legal tender notes, and other notes, and 
certificates of the United States payable on demand, and circulating, 
or intended to circulate as currency, notes, including those secured 
by mortgage, accounts, contracts for cash or labor, bills of exchange, 
judgments, choses in action, liens of any kind, securities, debentures, 
bonds other than those of the United States, annuities, and corpora 
tion shares or stocks not otherwise taxed in kind shall be entered 
and assessed at the actual value thereof and taxed upon the uniform 
basis throughout the state of five (5) mills on the dollar of actual 
valuation, same to be assessed and collected where the owner resides, 
and except that: 
State, savings, and national bank stock and loans, and trust com- 
I pany stock and moneyed capital used in competition with bank