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PART I.

LOCAL TAXATION

CHAPTER I.

DEVELOPMENT OF CORPORATE TAXATION FOR LOCAL PURPOSES.

PRIOR to the year 1823 there was no regular system in New York for the taxation of corporations for either state or local purposes. Corporations were few, principally banking, insurance and manufacturing companies, and the corporate property was assessed in the name of the individual owner of the stock with the remainder of his personal property. (Revised Statutes of 1813.) Beginning with the year 1823, "all incorporated companies receiving a regular income from the employment of capital" were considered as persons and taxed in the same manner as individuals. Cashiers of banks, secretaries of insurance companies and of manufacturing companies were required to deliver to the assessors in the town or ward where the principal office of the company was located a list of the capital stock paid in or secured to be paid in. Such tax was paid to the state treasurer, based upon the capital stock after making certain deductions, and apportioned among the several counties of the state in proportion to the amount of stock held by the stockholders residing in such counties.

It was not, however, until the year 1827 that we find the beginning of the present system of taxing corporations for local purposes. In 1853, and again in 1857, the laws affecting the local taxation of corporations were amended, assuming in the latter year substantially the form in which they appear in the present Tax Law.

By Chapter 37 of the Laws of 1855, taxing the capital of nonresidents invested in business in the state, foreign corporations were brought within the jurisdiction of the local assessors to the extent of the capital invested here.

In 1896 the Tax Law of the state was again revised by the Commissioners of Statutory Revision, and, as revised, was adopted with minor changes, by the Legislature, becoming Chapter 908 of the Laws of 1896.

In 1909, the Legislature adopted a revision and consolidation of all the general laws of the state by the Board of Statutory Consolidation, in which was included the Tax Law of 1896, with some slight changes and amendments. That part of the work of the Board, which included the Tax Law, became known as Chapter 60 of the Consolidated Laws, the entire body of laws being enacted in Chapter 62 of the Laws of 1909.

The taxation of corporations for local purposes is, therefore, neither in its historical development, nor in its present condition, a separate and distinct system, but is part of the general system of local taxation, and with the exception of the basis of the tax and some of the forms of the assessment, the general provisions as to the assessment, the remedial procedure and the collection of personal property taxes, in the case of individuals, apply, with equal force, to corporations.

CHAPTER II.

PROPERTY OF CORPORATIONS EXEMPT FROM TAXATION.

What corporations exempt.—All corporations are liable to taxation, except such as have been expressly exempted by statute. Taxation is the rule, and exemption the exception. People ex rel. Manhattan Fire Ins. Co. v. Com'rs, 76 N. Y. 64 (1879). Nor will the intent to exempt property be presumed. People ex rel. 23rd St. R. R. v. Com'rs, 95 N. Y. 554 (1884). On the other hand there is a presumption that all property within the territorial limits of a state is subject to its taxing power. People ex rel. Metropolitan St. Ry. Co. v. State Board of Tax Com'rs. (Special Franchise Tax cases) 199 U. S. 1 (1905); aff❜g 174 N. Y. 425.

Corporations are exempt from taxation on their property.

I. By virtue of the laws of the state of New York; II. By virtue of the federal laws or constitution; III. Or there may be no express exemption from taxation, but the property of the corporation may escape taxation, because it does not come within the definition of either real or personal property under the Tax Law.

I. PROPERTY OF STOCK CORPORATIONS EXEMPT
BY THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
A-PROPERTY EXEMPT BECAUSE OF THE NATURE OF
THE PROPERTY

State and municipal bonds.-Bonds of this state to be hereafter issued by the comptroller to carry out the provisions of Chapter 79 of the Laws of 1895, and bonds of a municipal corporation heretofore issued for the purpose of paying up or retiring the bonded indebtedness of such corporation. (Subd. 6, sec. 4, Tax Law, same subd. and sec. of ch. 908, L. 1896 [former Tax Law], as am'd by ch. 80, L. 1897.

Chapter 147 of the Laws of 1903, Chapter 469 of the Laws of 1906,
Chapter 718 of the Laws of 1907.)

Source: Ch. 685, L. 1892, sec. 7.

The exemptions of the bond issues under the Laws of 1903, 1906 and 1907 were added by the Board of Statutory Consolidation.

Domestic vessels registered in the state.-All vessels registered at any port in this state and owned by an American citizen, or association, or by any corporation, incorporated under the laws of the state of New York, engaged in ocean commerce between any port in the United States and any foreign port, are exempted from all taxation in this state, for state and local purposes; and all such corporations, all of whose vessels are employed between foreign ports and ports in the United States, are exempted from all taxation in this state, for state and local purposes, upon their capital stock, franchises and earnings, until and including December 31, 1922. (Subd. 12, sec. 4, of present and former Tax Law.)

Source: Ch. 433, L. 1881, as am'd. by L. 1892, ch. 661.

Prior to the passage of Chapter 433, L. 1881, vessels registered at a port in this state were taxable here. People ex rel. Pacific Mail S.S. Co. v. Com'rs, 58 N. Y. 245 (1874).

Bonds, mortgages, notes, moneys and goods sent from without or deposited within the state, and belonging to a non-resident.A bond, mortgage, note, contract, account or other demand, belonging to any person not a resident of this state, sent to or deposited in this state for collection; the products of another state, owned by a nonresident of this state and consigned to his agent in this state for sale on commission for the benefit of the owner; moneys of a non-resident of this state, under the control or in the possession of his agent in this state, when transmitted to such agent for the purpose of investment or otherwise. (Subd. 13, sec. 4, of present and former Tax Law.)

Source: L. 1851, ch. 176, sec. 2, amending 1 R. S., ch. XIII, title II, sec. 5.

Neither bonds nor mortgages, sent by a non-resident for collection, are taxable, nor are the proceeds in the hands of a nonresident agent for re-investment, taxable. Williams v. Supervisors of Wayne, 78 N. Y. 561 (1879), rev'g 14 Hun, 343.

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