Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1876-06-08

1 Ov the mortgage On pruF<ttv Wafc" u
rAouy witA;a Ais State, are exempt from
taxation. But il such notes or bonds
are secured by this mortgage Of proper.
~ which is in whole or in part withou,
the limits of this State, such notes oil
bonds are subject to assessment and
taxation in this State.
All bonds or stocks, except public Sc.
eurities and bonds of municipal bodies
issued or created hy the authority Of
another State, which are not, BY the re.
spective laws authorizing their creation
and issue, subjected rs entireties to tax.
alton by the State authorizing such ere.
alton and issue, must be regarded as To-
coated for purposes of taxation in the
State in which the owner Of such respec.
tive bonds or stocks NAV reside. aud can.
not lawfully be taxed by the State an.
thorizing their issue and creation. Such
State may properly tax the whole pro.
perty Of the corporation by which such
bonds or stocks are issued, but the pay.
ment Of such tax BY the corporation
will not relieve the stock or bonds Of
such corporation held by the residents
of this State from taxation by this
State.
Public securities, consisting Of State
bonds and bonds Of municipal bodies,
which are by the acts of such State au-
thorizing their creation and issue de-
clared to he exempt from all TAXATION,
are by usage snd upon principles of
comfy exempted from taxation by this
State. Ii the law authorizing the ere
alton and issue of such public security
does not exempt them from taxation,
they are. nevertheless, by. comfy and
usage, taxable by such State. whether
they belong to Residents or non-resi-
dents of such State; aud liz. this power
of taxation is exercised they ought not,
for reasons of comfy. to be taxed bv
this State. Blu. if such public securi-
tisAre not exempted from taxation bv
BE acts authorizing their creation and
lns1e, and are not taxed by the State in
which they had their origin, there is no
rule OF comfy or law which exemRts
them from assessment TO such owners
! thereof ~ may be residents Of this
The effect Of any. other construction
of the general rule Of county upon which
alone the claim Of such public securi-
ties to exemption rests, would be to en-
courage citizens of this State to invest
money in the securities Of other States
to the injury Of the eredit'of the secu-
rites Of this State.
Promissory notes, the property of
LII l.. tnt
er contracts for the payment of money
T. a person domiciled in this State, or
which have 4 money value to such per-
son Except notes taken by a merchant
in the ordinary course of trade, which
are governed by different rule, and
except notes secured by mortgage upon
property exclusively in this State,) are
sub ect to assessment and taxation in
this State.
All goods in this State which are not
merely in transit through il, but are
kept on sale IN this State, are taxable
i'll this State, whether they belong to
n resident or nonresident. But this
specific proposition ia not Of much i'm
portance III determining the rules by
which the assessment and valuation of
the property held by merchant for
the purposes of his trade. or business
eaeht TO be made, 1t is always diff
cult to define this rule, but l think il
may be fairly stated as follows:
- If merchant sees fit TO invest any
portion Of his capital in real estate,
stocks of INCORPORATED companies or in
e al
to be; sDsessed to him at their cash val
ne. Yhey are as liable to taxation in
the hands Of merchant as when in the
Possession Of any other person. But
the stock. of goods, the open accounts
and evidences Of debt in the possession
Of a merchant when an assessment is
made do not always represent his ac-
tual worth; nor do they afford any sat
isfactory Oraccurate means for ascertaiu-
ing the proportion of taxes, according
to his debts, which such merchant
oughttopa.v for the support of the State.
In such cases the average annual val
ue of his goods and of his remaining
capital, except his deposits in banks
or elsew here, not upon interest, wheth-
er evidenced by solvent promissory
notes or solvent open accounts, or other
wise, illfairly exhibit his taxable worth.
The return Of = merchant, therefore,
which embraces his real estate, stocks
and bonds as bis investments, and making
such average return of the value of the
goods in his possession, and of the val.
ne Of his remaining capital in trade, AS
has been indicated, 10 sufficient COM
pliance with the law, and will probably
exhibit his actual "worth" for purposes
OF taxation in form more satisfactory
than any other form would be.
do not know what rulings the APP
peal Tax Court Of Baltimore City may
have made upon kindred questions under
former assessment acts. Such rulings
can have no weight with the present
Assessors, nor with the Board of Control
and Review appointed under the new
assessment act. Such Assessors and
Boards must. under the terms of section
IL of that act, be governed by such in
structions in conformity with the pro-
visions Of the act as YOU may see prop
er to issue. A uniform assessment can
be secured in no other manner If you
commit an error in giving any iustruc-
tons your mistake can easily be correc-
ted by the Courts under the general
provisions contained in the act
have, / believe, answered all the
inquiries which you have submitted to
NE. If you agree with me in the con-
illusions which have reached, the sug.
gestions made, coupled with the plain