Taxation shall be equal and uniform throughout the territorial limits

Louisiana

Constitution, 1 1898, art. 225. Taxation shall be equal and uniform throughout the territorial limits of the A constitutional amendment Is now pending, providing for the ex- emption of mortgages from taxation. authority levying the tax, and all property shall be taxed in proportion to its value, to be ascertained as directed by law.

Present Law. Rev. Laws, 1904, vol. 2, p. 1541, sec. 1 ; p. 1548, sec.10. In Louisiana mortgages are tax- able as personal property. Property subject to tax- ation includes money loaned at interest and the as- sessors are required to examine the records for such taxable property.

Mortgage notes, and indebtedness and all evidences of indebtedness are taxable only at the situs and domi- cile of the holder or owner. (Laws of 1908, act 170.)

Maine

Constitution, 1819, art. 9, sec. 8. “All taxes upon real and personal estate, assessed by authority of this state, shall be apportioned and assessed equally ac- cording to the just value thereof.”

Present Law. St., 1903, c. 9. In Maine mortgages are taxed as personal property. Personal estate for the purpose of taxation includes money at interest and all obligations for money (sec. 5).

Maryland

History. In 1874 (c. 483, sec. 2) Maryland passed a law exempting mortgages from assessment and tax- ation ; the law was repassed in 1880 (c. 122, sub. sec. 2, 3) and the exemption was made to apply only to mortgages on property wholly within the state. The law requiring all mortgages without exception to pay an eight per cent gross receipt tax was passed in 1896 (c. 120) and remained in force until 1904 (c. 405) when it was repealed in so far as it app-ied to certain enumerated counties and to Baltimore City and in the other counties where the law still remained in force all the revenue was to go to the county and not three- fourths to the county and one-fourth to the state, as formerly. Later (1906, c. 794) Dorchester was again placed in the list of counties where the income tax from mortgages was to be collected.

Constitution, 1867, as amended, Dec’aration of Rights, art. 15. Every person in the state, or person holding property therein ought to contribute his pro- portion of public taxes for the support of the govern- ment, according to his actual worth in real or personal property.

art. 3, sec. 51. The general assembly may by law provide for the taxation of mortgages upon the prop- erty in this state and the debts secured thereby in the county or city where such property is situated.

Present Law. St. 1904, vol. 2, art. 81, sec. 183. All mortgages in Worcester, Wicomico, Somerset, Carroll, Howard, Montgomery, Frederick, Washing- ton, 1 Garrett, 2 and Dorchester counties are required to pay annually a tax of eight per cent upon the gross

amount of interest covenanted to be paid each year on mortgages held by them. The tax is due and pay- able in the county where the mortgage is recorded and 1 Not included In law as passed In 1908.

The exact status of the law with regard to Garrett county Is doubtful (1908). all the taxes collected from this source are to be ap- plied exclusively for county purposes (Laws, 1906, c. 793, sec. 1). Mortgages recorded for only a part of the year pay taxes in proportion to the time recorded (sec. 184).

Any contract contained in a mortgage executed af- ter the passage of the law in which the mortgagor agrees to pay any or all taxes on the mortgage, debt, or the interest covenanted to be paid, is to be null and void (sec. 185), and mortgagees are required to take oath that they have not required and will not re- quire the mortgagor or any person for him to pay the tax as levied. This oath is to be repeated if the mortgage is assigned at any time (sec. 186). Any mortgagor paying the tax that should have been paid by the mortgagee, is entitled, upon satisfactory proof, to have the amount paid with interest at 6 per cent de- ducted from the mortgage debt (sec. 188).

The clerk of the circuit court in the counties where the law applies, is required to render to the board of county commissioners a list of all mortgages recorded, released, and assigned during each month ; this list to contain all the information necessary to enable the board to levy the tax. If the mortgagee refuses to pay the tax when due, his interest may be sold in the same manner as other property is sold for taxes (sec. 187).