Compiled Laws, 1897. Property under mortgage or lessor, unless it is listed by the mortgagee, or lessee (sec. 4022).

New Mexico

Compiled Laws, 1897. Property under mortgage or lessor, unless it is listed by the mortgagee, or lessee (sec. 4022).

New York

History. In New York mortgages used to be taxed as personal property (Laws 1896, c. 908). In 1905 (c. 729) an annual tax of five mills was imposed on each dollar of the amount of the principal debt or obligation secured. After the necessary expenses were paid, the amount remaining was distributed equally between the county and the state. At the present time a recording tax of fifty cents on the one hun- dred dollars, or major fraction thereof, is levied. This law was passed in 1906 (c. 532) and amended in 1907 (c. 340).

Present Law. Laws, 1906, c. 532 and Laws, 1907, c. 340.

Laws, 1907, c. 340, sec. 290. Under the New York law the word mortgage is defined to include every mortgage on real property, mortgages where part of the security is personal or other property, exec- utory contracts, and contracts or agreements by which the indebtedness, secured is added to or increased.

Laws, 1907, c. 340, sec. 293 b. This definition does not include correction mortgages or mortgages in which additional security is given but the debt is not increased.

Laws, 1907, c. 340, sec. 293. The recording tax imposed amounts to fifty cents for each one hundred dollars, or major fraction of the principal- debt or obligation secured. The exemptions of the minor fraction does not hold for mortgages of less than one hundred dollars, all mortgages no matter how small must pay a recording tax of at least fifty cents.

Laws, 1907, c. 340, sec.: 293 a. As a rule holders of mortgages -made prior to July 1, 1906, may pay the recording tax and have their mortgages exempt from the personal property tax which they would otherwise be subject to.

. Laws, 1907, c. 340, sec. 293 c. Mortgages for in- definite amounts or for contract obligations are taxed as. if equal in amount to the property given as secur- ity, unless the owner files with the recording officer a sworn statement of the maximum amount secured or which, under any contingency, may be secured by the mortgage. If this is done, the amount given in the sworn statement is taken as the basis for assessment.

Laws, 1906, c. 532, sec. 294. When any mortgage is recorded, a receipt showing that the tax has been paid is recorded with the instrument.

Laws, 1907, c. 340, sec. 295. No mortgage of real property which is subject to taxation is to be released, discharged of record or received in evidence in any action or proceeding, no assignment of or agreement extending- any mortgage is to be recorded, and no mortgage is to be foreclosed unless the taxes have been paid as provided by law.

Laws, 1907, c. 340, sec. 296. Mortgages made by corporations in trust to secure the payment of bonds or obligations issued or to be issued thereafter, may contain a statement of the amount advanced, or ac- crued, or which is then secured by the mortgage; the tax payable on the recording of the mortgage is then computed on the basis of the amount stated to be se- cured. Whenever an additional amount is to be ad- vanced under the original mortgage, a statement must be filed and the additional taxes paid.

Laws, 1907, c. 340, sec. 297. When the property given as security is located in more than one county, or partly within and partly without the state, the state board of tax commissioners determines the propor- tion of the tax that should go to each county or to the state of New York.

Laws, 1907, c. 340, sec. 298. The first of each month the recording officer of the county pays to the county treasurer, after deducting the necessary ex- penses of his office as allowed by the act, all moneys received from taxes on mortgages. In the counties of New York, Kings, Queens, and Richmond, the money is paid to the chamberlain of the city of New York. The treasurers of the counties and the cham- berlain of the city of New York, after deducting the necessary expenses of their offices, transmit one-half of the net amount collected to the state treasurer. The remaining portion in the counties of New York, Kings, Queens, and Richmond, is to be paid into the general fund of the city of New York to be applied to the reduction of taxes, and in the other counties, the remaining portion is to be held by the respective county treasurer subject to the order of the board of supervisors. In the end this money is used for the payment of school taxes and for state, county, city, village, and town expenses.

Laws, 1906, c. 532, sec. 300. The state board of tax commissioners has general supervisory powers over all recording officers and may make such rules and regulations as it deems proper and the state comp- troller has general supervisory powers over all county treasurers and the chamberlain of the city of New York.

North Carolina

Constitution, 1876, art. 5, sec. 3. Laws shall be

passed taxing, by uniform rule, all moneys, credits, in-

vestments in bonds, stocks, joint stock companies, or

MORTGAGE TAXATION 47

otherwise ; and also all real and personal property, ac- cording to its true value in money.

Present Law. Laws, 1907, c. 258, sees. 14, 32.

Mortgages are taxable as personal property.

North Dakota

Constitution, 1889, sec. 176. Laws shall be passed taxing by uniform rule all property according to its true value in money.

Present Law. Rev. Codes, 1905. Mortgages are taxable as personal property in North Dakota. Both real and personal property are taxable (sec. 1481) and credits are defined to include all claims and demands secured by deeds or mortgages, due or to become due (sec. 1480). The amount of credits is an item in- cluded in the list which the tax payer is required to make out (sec. 1496).

Ohio

Constitution, 1851, art. 12, sec. 2. Laws shall be passed taxing by a uniform rule, all moneys, credits, investments in bonds, stocks, joint stock companies, or otherwise; and also all real and personal property according to its true value in money.

Present Law. Ann. St., 1906. Mortgages in Ohio are subject to taxation as personal prop- erty. Both real and personal property is taxable (sec. 2731) and tax payers are required to list all money loaned on pledge or mortgage of real estate, although a deed or other instrument may have been given, if the deed or other instrument is considered merely as security (sec. 2734).

If any person required to list property fails to do so or only returns a portion of his taxable property, the county auditor must ascertain as near as practic- able the true value of the property that ought to have been listed for a period not exceeding five years next preceding the year in which the inquiries and correc- tions were made. The amount for each year is multi- plied by the tax rate for that year and the owner taxed for the whole amount (sec. 2781a). A penalty of fifty per cent was added for omitted property (sec. 2781). The court held that that part of the law was invalid but maintained that it could be disregarded without affecting the validity of the statute in other respects (Gager Treas. v. Prout, et al., 48 O. S. 89, 1891).

Oklahoma J

Constitution, 1907, art. 10, sec. 5. The power of taxation shall never be surrendered, suspended, or con- tracted away. Taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of subjects.

Oregon

History. In 1882 a law was passed (p. 64) provid-

ing that the mortgage and the mortgage debt were, for

the purposes of assessment and taxation, to be treated

as land cr real property ; both the mortgage and the

debt were to be assessed and taxed to the mortgagee

1 1908 Laws not yet obtainable.

in the county, city, or district, in which the land or real property given . as security was situated. This law applied only to mortgages secured by property lo- cated within a single county, and not to mortgages secured by property partly within and partly without the county. All such mortgages were to be void.

A mortgage lawfully made was to be considered as an indebtedness and the mortgagor was entitled to the same deduction from his assessment as other debtors.

The circuit court of Oregon declared the law uncon- stitutional in the case of Dundee, etc. Co. v. School District (10 Sawyer 52, 1884). The court maintained that an act which provided for the taxation of mort- gages on land in no more than one county, there be- ing mortgages on land in more than one county was void for want of’uniformity required by sec. 1 of art. 9 of the constitution of the state. This law was amended (Laws, 1885, p. 9), so that mortgages issued by railroad corporations were to be legal, even if the land given as security was situated in more than one county. Later (Laws, 1889, p. 30) this same pro- vision was made applicable to mortgages given by cor- porations manufacturing iron or steel or working any iron, go d or silver mines.

During 1893 session of the legislature (Laws, 1893, p. 6) the entire mortgage tax law was repealed and no deduction of indebtedness from assessment was to be allowed in any case.

Many interesting cases have arisen under the law of 1882. In one case (Munford v. Sewell, 11 Ore- gon 67, 1883) the court held that the state had power to tax a mortgage as such, in the county where re- corded, irrespective of the residence of the owner of the mortgage, and that all law taxing mortgages owned by non-residents did not impair the obligation of con- tracts, whether the mortgage contracts were made be- fore or after the passage of the law. The court main- tained that the security could not be enforced in any other jurisdiction and that the question was wholly one of power, and, since the power of the state over the mortgage was as exclusive and complete as over the land mortgaged, the mortgage was subject to taxation by the state, unless there was a constitutional limita- tion to the contrary.

In the case of Savings and Loan Society v. Mult- nomah county (169 U. S. 421, 1898) the supreme court of the United States held that the statute of Oregon of 1882 taxing mortgages on land in that state to the mortgagees in the counties where the land lay, did not, as applied to mortgages owned by citizens of other states and in their possession outside of the state of Oregon, contravene the fourteenth amendment of the constitution of the United States. The court fur- ther held that the result of the law was that nothing was taxed but the real estate mortgaged, the interest of the mortgagee therein being taxed to him, and the rest to the mortgagor.

Constitution, 1859, art. 9, sec. 1. The legislative as- sembly shall provide by law for uniform and eqr rate of assessment and taxation ; and shall prescribe such regulations as shall secure a just valuation for taxation of all property, both real and personal, (ex- cepting such only as may be especially exempted by law).

Present Lazv. Laws, 1907, c. 268. In Oregon at the present time mortgages are taxable as personal property (sec. 1, 3).