Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-04-16

citation or corporation is located, upon
the oath of the president, secretary,
treasurer or other officer of such as
ISOLATION or corporation
In the light of this section the
only question is whether the item IN
dispute was a liability of the ap-
pellant company on the 3lst day of
December preceding the assessment.
We think that 1t was. The item rep
resents the amount assessed by the
city of Newark against the deferred
dividend fund of the Prudential com
pany for the year 1911.
THE company appealed to the Es-
sex County Board of Taxation and
that board in November. 1911 sus-
tanned the assessment. The COM
pany then appealed to the State
Board and in February, 1912, this
board decided that the fund was not
subject to taxation and by its judy
ment ordered the tax cancelled.
what Newark Contendcd.
1T is contendea On behalf of the
city that the item in question was
only an apparent liability on the
31st day of December preceding the
assessment We think it was not only
apparent but that 1t was real AS the
record stood on December 81 the
company owed to the taxing district
this disputed sum of s469, 314.69, just
as clearly legally and absolutely as
it owed any of the other items in It's
assessment The amount had been
regularly assessed by the proper Of
ficials of the taxing district. with
the presume ton in favor of the cor
rectness of their action Any finan-
cial statement of the company issued
as of December 81, which failed to
show this item as a liability would
have been incorrect and misleading.
The statute does not require that The
debts and liabilities in order to be
deducted must be admitted or undis-
puted ii only requires that they
shall actually exist on the 31st day
of December. The term all liabili-
ties covers a disputed claim. Hay
wood V. Shreve, A N. J. l.. "a. Where
a conditional sale of the property of
a corporation made on March % pro-
vided that it's 1iabilitiet should be
liqudated or provided for, a lien
for taxes fixed by statute as of Feb
liabilities though the amount was
not aseertained by the authorities
until the following September. Vicks-
burg Water Works Company VS..
Vicksburg Water Supply Company,
so Miss. 6S.
Statement Must Show Liabilities.
'It will be noted that the annual
statement called for in section 13 of
the tax act need not be made to the
assessor on December 81, but the
statement, when made. must show
the property, debts and liabilities of
the corporation as they existed on |
that date. The purpose of this state
ment Is to ascertain, tina. is. to fix or
the amount of the corpor- |
atoms property taxable. The prop
erty and the debts and liabilities of |
such corporation vary from day to |
day.
1.-THE Legislature might have pro-
vided that the average amount of |
such a corporations property and of |
its debts and liabilities for the pre-
ceding year should be used as a basis |
for assessment, or 1t might have left |
the matter entirely in the hands of
the assessor, to ascertain and deter
mine taxable values as best he could,
but 1t did neither of these things.
Instead 1t provided that each year a
sworn statement should be made by
life insurance companies of their
and their debts and liabili-
ties as they existed on December 81
next preceding, and that that state
rnent shnu1d furnish the basis for |
We find therefore that the |
item of $3.50. S14.69 was liability of |
the appellant company existing on |
the thirty first day of December next |
preceding the assessment and should |
be deducted from the taxable valua-
ton of its property