believes he will be compelled to pay on account of the inability of the principal debtor, and if there are other sureties able to contribute then so much only as he in whose behalf the list is made will be bound to contribute; but no person will be entitled to a deduction on account of an obligation of any kind given to an insurance company for the premium of insurance, nor on account of an unpaid subscription to any institution or society, nor on account of a subscription to, or instalment payable on, the capital stock of any company or incorporation. Sec. 15. Any person owing or having in his possession orcontrol within this state with authority to sell the same any personal property, purchased either in or out of this state with a view of being sold at an advanced price or profit, or which has been consigned to him from any place out of this state for the purpose of being sold within the same, shall be held to be a merchant for the purpose of this chapter. Such property shall be listed for taxation, and in estimating the value thereof the merchant shall take the average value of such property in his possession or control during the year next previous to the time of listing, and if he have not been engaged in that business so long then he shall take the average during such time as he may have been so engaged, and if he be commencing he shall take the value of the property at the time of the listing. SEC. 16. Any person who purchases, receives, or holds personal property of any description for the purpose of adding to the value thereof by any process of manufacturing, refining, purifying, or by the combination of different materials, with a view of making gain or profit by so doing and by selling the same, shall be held to be a manufacturer for the purposes of this chapter, and he shall list for taxation the average value of such property in his hands estimated as directed in the preceding section; but the value shall be estimated upon the materials only entering into the combination or manufacture. SEC. 17. The assessor of each county shall, on or before the first day of March of each year, leave with each person resident in his county of full age and of sound mind, or at the usual place of residence, or at the office or other place of business, of such person, a written notice requiring him to make out and return to the assessor by the twentieth day of the same month of March a statement, or list, of his property which by law is subject to taxation; and the assessor shall leave a blank form upon which such list may be made. If the statement be not returned to the assessor in due time he is to call for the same, but if the person is prepared to render his list at the time the notice is left it is the duty of the assessor to receive it at that time. SEC. 18. The list shall contain: FIRST-His lands, by township, range, section, and any division or part of a section, and where such part is not a congressional division or subdivision some other description sufficient to identify it; and his town lots, naming the town in which they are situated and their proper description by number and block, or otherwise according to the system of numbering in the town. SECOND-His personal property by the following particulars : Amount of capital employed in merchandise; Amount of capital employed in manufactures; Number of horses; Number of mules; Number of neat cattle; Number of sheep; Number of swine; Number of carriages and vehicles of every description; Amount of taxable household furniture; Amount in stock or shares in any corporation or company; SEC. 19. The above list of items may be diminished, or varied, or enlarged by the census board so as to obtain such facts as they deem advisable. SEC 20. Before the first of March on each year the census board is required to furnish the assessor with suitable blank forms for the assessments and such instructions so as to secure full and unirorm assessments and returns. SEC. 21. The list shall be signed and sworn to by the person making it, and the oath may be administered either by the assessor or by any other officer authorized to administer oaths and shall be certified by him, and the oath may be printed upon the blank forms and shall be in substance as follows: I, (A. B.), solemnly swear that I have listed above (or within) all the land and all the personal property, money, and credits, subject to taxation owned or held by me and which I am required by law to list [in the proper cases insert "as guardian, husband, parent, trustee, executor, administrator, receiver, accounting officer, partner, agent, or factor,"] according to the best of my knowledge. SEC. 22. When any person required to render the above statement fails so to do from absence or sickness, and when any such person refuses so to do or to take or subscribe the oath required, the assessor shall ascertain according to the best information he can obtain, the number and value of the several species of property required; and to that end he is hereby authorized to examine on oath any person whom he supposes to have knowledge in relation thereto, and if any person refuses so to testify he shall forfeit the sum of five dollars to be recovered by civil action in the name and to the use of the county. SEC. 23. The said statements shall be endorsed with the name of the person whose property is therein listed, and the assessor shall file them in alphabetical order and return them to the county office when he returns his assessment-roll to be there preserved. SEC. 24. All property is to be valued by the assessor except such as herein required to be valued by the owner. THE ASSESSMENT ROLL, THE CORRECTION THEREOF, AND THE TAX LIST. SEC. 25. On or before the first day of June annually the assessor shall make out, and deliver to the county judge, an assessment-roll containing, in tabular form and alphabeticel order, the names of the persons and bodies in whose names property has been listed in his county, with the several species of property and the value as hereinbefore indicated with the columns of numbers and values footed; and in a column to be provided for that purpose he shall write the words "by the assessor' when the list was made by himself together with the word "absent" or "sick" or the words "refused to list" or "refused to swear" or such other words as will express the cause why the person required to make the list did not make it; and a neglect shall be taken as a refusal. SEC 26. The assessor shall take and subscribe an oath to be certified by the officer administering it and attached to the assessment-roll, which oath is to be in substance as follows: I, (C. D.), assessor of - county, solemnly swear that the value of all property, money, and credits, of which a statement has been made and verified by the oath of the person required to list the same is herein truly returned as set forth in such statement; that in every case where I have been required to ascertain the amount or value of the property of any person or body I have diligently and by the best means in my power endeavored to ascertain the true amount and value, and that, as I verily believe, the full value thereof is set forth in the annexed return; and that in no case have I knowingly omitted to demand of any person of whom I was required to make it a statement of the amount and value of his property which he was required by law to list, nor in any way connived at any violation or evasion of any of the requirements of the law in relation to the assessment of property for taxation. SEC. 27. As soon as practicable after the assessment roll is filed the county clerk is required to make out an abstract thereof containing The whole number of acres of land listed in the county, The whole number of mules and asses and their total value, The whole number of swine and their total value, The gross amount of all other personal property with money and credits; which abstract the clerk is directed to transmit forthwith to the auditor of state; but the census board is authorized to diminish, or add to, the above list and to require such different or further matters to be returned as it deems advisable. SEC. 28. The census board constitutes a board for the equalization of taxes for the state, and is authorized and required to examine the various assessments so far as regards the state tax and equalize the rate of assessment on real estate in the different counties whenever they are satisfied that the scale of valuation has not been adjusted with reasonable uniformity by the different assessors. SEC. 29. Such equalization may be made either by changing any of the assessments or by varying the rate of taxation in any of the counties as may be found most convenient, but in either case the board is directed to preserve unchanged as far es practicable what would have been the aggregate amount of valuation had no such equalization been made. SEC. 30. Before the fourth Monday in July the auditor is required to transmit to the judge of each county a statement of the change (if any) which has been made in the assessment and the rate of state tax which is to be levied and collected within his county, which however shall not exceed three mills on a dollar of the valualion, and when the board fixes no different rate the rate first mentioned in this chapter shall be levied. SEC. 31. The county judge, clerk, and treasurer constitute a board for the correction of the assessment roll, and between the first day of June and the second Monday of July any person feeling aggrieved by any thing in the assessment roll may apply to this board for the correction of any supposed error, and if any person returned as refusing to render a list or to be sworn thereto can show good cause the penalty herein provided may be remitted. SEC. 32. On the fourth Monday of July the county court shall levy the requisite taxes for the then current year; and they may be levied at any time after the second Monday of July if the statement has been received from the census board. SEC. 33. As soon as practicable after the taxes are levied the clerk shall make out a tax list in tabular form and in alphabetical order having distinct colums for lands and for town lots and carrying out in a column by itself the amount of each different tax, and having one or more columns for delinquent taxes; but instead of a column for the amount of personal property the words "personalty" may be written across the colums after the name and the amount carried into the column of value. |