The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-05-31

You are required to place on the tax
list also all property which is exempt
from taxation. This is not required for
the purpose OF having exempt property
placed upon the tax duplicates and
having the taxes computed against IL.
but for the purpose OF gathering sta
tistics which the legislature, in its
wisdom, saw fit to require: and for the
further purpose Of having you to de-
eide. and no the tax payer, what prop
erty Is exempt from taxation by law.
You will be aided in this respect by
the blank which have been furnished
you by the state auditor. on which tax
Of property and polls, and the blanks
which the auditor has furnished on
which to make out your tax list You
should consider we'll both Of these
blanks in connection with the tax laws.
You have been relieved of the duty of
assessing any Of the property. except
the real property and tangible personal
property, OF almost all OF he corpor-
atoms In the state incorporated under
the laws OF North Carolina. The duty
of assessing these properties has been
given to the auditor, to the auditor
and treasurer. and to the North
DINA corporation commission. These
officers assess the capital stock and
shares OF stock in these corporations.
and you are not required to a them
list before you; but the land and tam
gible personal property owned by such
corporations must be listed before You.
Shares in Unconstitutional and state
and savings Observation-Disclosures in
this state. are required to be listed
with the auditor, who is required to as
sess the value thereof. Each share
holder in national and state banks and
savings institutions are also required
to list their shares with you for county
and school purposes, but at the valu-
alton fixed by the auditor.
Railroad companies, telegraph COM
panies, telephone companies, street
railway companies. canal and steam
boat companies. waterworks
les, electric light and power companies,
gas companies, ferry companies, bridge
companies. sleeping car companies, ex-
press companies, refrigerator and
freight car companies are required to
make returns to and be assessed by
the North Carolina corporation com
mission. All other corporations, except
in case of such corporations as are es-
pecially mentioned by name in other
sections of the revenu or machinery
acts, having capital stock, and every
joint-stock stock association or limited
partnership whatsoever, now or here
after organized or incorporated by or
under any law of this state, are to list
their property with the auditor and
state treasurer. These are the proper
ties which are not required to be listed
before you, and the shareholders in
them are not required to list their
shares.
Real property-The list filed by tax
payers must show all the real property
situated in the townships, whether be-
longing to corporations or individuals.
tract or lot should be given in
separately and by it's name, if it has
one, or number or such other desrip-
ton as will identify it. The umb of
acres should be given of each tract.
1t would seem that there ought to be
certainty in having this class
of property on the tax list. There are
few changes in the county boundaries
and the acreage is necessarily the same,
and yet the number of acres varies
greatly from year to year, as will ap-
pear from the auditors report.
y & .
Personal property-This includes all
personal property Of every nature
tangible and intangible. The taxpayer
in listing personal property should be
required to give the market" or true
as above defined, on the first
day Of June, 1901. You should see to it
that this list of personal property is
according to the blanks.
Money must be listed. Not only gold
and silver and other coin. but %circulat-
ing notes of national banking associa-
tions n United States legal tender
notes, and other notes and certificates
the United States payable on de-
mand and circulating or intended to
as currency, are subject to
as money on hand or on de-
post.
1t is not believed that this class of
property is fairly represented on the tax
duplicates. The total amount of money
on hand and on deposit, as shown by
the auditors report for 1900. was sf.-
3O9, 56S, while the amount on deposit
lion in state banks. savings institu-
tons, and private banks. for the same
as shown by official reports, was
f62, 1890; and money on deposit in
national banks for same period was
81, 096, SOC.
Your attention is also especially
called to the class of property known
as Intangible personal property, such
as credits, shares in incorporated com
panies, etc. The amount of credits on
the tax duplicates Of North Carolina,
as appears by the last auditors report,
was $21 1853 ,O56, less than one-fourth Of
the assessed value of other personal
property and about one-eighth of the
value Of the land. Shares of stock in
~ dtCO SoiIpdulcS, DIS appear lTOIl
auditors report, were $685., $50, |
while the value of shares of stock in
and state banks alone amount
to 1913, 687, as appears from official
for same year-not to mention
in all other corporations. There
to be something wrong and bad
~ wrong with the class of property
as credits and shares of stock
in incorporated companies.
II NOV ho o1airnaI ~, <La
his credits are not entirely SOL
vent, but the law requires tina all
credits be listed and that the taxpayer
may claim deductions. The statute
provides If any credit be not regarded
as entirely solvent, claim for deduction
may be made, and, if allowed by the
lister, shall be deducted from the
total listed in the same man
ner as provided for the deduction of
property exempt from taxation. (Ma-
chinery Act. Section 3d.
The statue further provides that all
fde Indebtedness owing by any
person may be deducted by tax lister
from amount of said PERSONS credits: