Constitution, art. 13, sec. 4. A mortgage, deed of trust, contract

Constitution, art. 13, sec. 4. A mortgage, deed of trust, contract, or other obligation by which a debt is secured, shall, for the purposes of assessment and tax- ation, be deemed and treated as an interest in the property affected thereby. Except as to railroad and other quasi-public corporations, in case of debt so se- cured, the value of the property affected by such mort- gage, deed of trust, contract, or obligation, less the value of such security, shall be assessed and taxed to the owner of the property, and the value of such se- curity shall be assessed and taxed to the owner there- of, in the county, city, or district in which ,the prop- erty affected thereby is situate. The taxes so levied shall be a lien upon the property and security, and may be paid by either party to such security; if paid by the owner of the security, the tax so levied upon the property affected thereby shall become a part of the debt so secured ; if the owner of the property shall pay the tax so levied on such security, it shall consti- tute a payment thereon, and to the extent of such pay- ment, a full discharge thereof; provided, that if any such security or indebtedness shall be paid by any such debtor or debtors, after assessment and before the tax levy, the amount of such levy may likewise be retained by such debtor or debtors, and shall be com- puted according to the tax levy for the preceding year. Present Law. Sec. 4, art. 13, of the constitution still remains in force, but sec. 5 has been repealed.

Statutes, 1907, c. 368, sec. 1. With minor changes- in the punctuation and wording, sec. 4 of the consti- tution is reproduced in the statutes, but that part of the statutes that formerly corresponded to sec. 5 of art. 13 of the constitution has been materially changed since the repeal of that section in 1906. Now the par- ties to any mortgage are given the right to provide by contract that the debtor shall pay all or any taxes or assessments on the money loaned, or on the mortgage, deed of trust, or other lien, or on the property covered or the obligation secured. Such contracts are to be valid and constitute a waiver by the debtor of all rights to treat the payment of such tax or assessment as a payment on the amount loaned or secured.

sec. 7. To assist in the work of assessment, the re- corder is required to transmit annually to the assessor a complete abstract of all mortgages remaining un- satisfied on the records of his office; this abstract to embrace all information requisite for the assessor. If partial payment has been made, the owner is author- ized to make the proper deductions. This information would be of use to the assessor only in cases where no agreement had been entered into between the debtor and creditor as to the payment of the taxes.