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 credit, 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 21. When any person required to render the above statement fails to do so 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 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. 22 The said statement 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 officer when he return his assessment roll, to be there preserved. SEC. 23. All property is to be valued by the assessor, except such as is herein required to be valued by the owner. SEC. 24 On or before the first day of July, annually, the assessor shall make out and deliver to the county clerk an assessment roll, containing in tabular form, and alphabetical 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 column 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 Lake the list did not make it, and a neglect shall be taken as a refusal. SEC. 25. 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. 26. Immediately after the assessment roll is corrected. the county clerk is required to make out an abstract thereof. containing the whole number of acres of land listed in the county; the total value of the town lots; the whole number of horses, and their total value; the whole number of mules and asses, and their total value; the whole number of cows, and their total value; the whole number of oxen, and their total value; the whole number of calves, and their total value; the whole number of sheep, and their total value; the whole number of swine, and their total value; the whole number of goats, and their total value; the whole number of musical instruments, and their total value; the total number and value of clocks, watches, jewelry, and gold and silver plate; the gross amount of all other property, with money and credits; which abstract the clerk is directed to transmit forthwith to the auditor of the Territory; but the census board is authorized to diminish or add to the above list, and to require such different and further matters to be returned as it deems advisable. SEC. 27. The census board constitutes a board for the equalization of taxes for the Territory, and is authorized and required to examine the various assessments, so far as regards the Territorial 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. 28. Such equalization may be made by changing any of the assessments, or by varying the rates 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 as practicable, what would have been the aggregate amount of valuation had no such equalization been made. SEC. 29. On or before the second Monday in July the Territorial auditor is required to transmit to the clerk of each county a statement of the changes, if any, which have been made in the assessment, and the rate of Territorial tax which is to be levied and collected within his county, which, however, shall not exceed three mills on a dollar of the valuation; and when the board fixes no different rate, the rate first mentioned in this chapter shall be levied. SEC. 30. The county clerk and treasurer shall constitute a board for the correction of the assessment roll, and between the fifteenth and twenty-fifth days of July public notice shall be given by the board of correction of the time and place the same shall be corrected, and any person feeling aggrieved by anything 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 31. On the fourth Monday of July the board of county commissioners shall levy the requisite taxes for the current year, and they may be levied at any time after the first day of July if the statement has been received from the census board. SEC. 32. As soon as practicable after the taxes are levied the clerk shall make out a tax-list, in the tabular form and in alphabetical order, having distinct columns for lands, and for town lots, and for 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 word "personality" may be written across the columns after the name, and the amount carried into the column of value. Such list may be in the following form: SEC. 33. An entry is required to be made upon the tax-list, showing what it is, and for what county and year it is; and the county clerk shall attach to the list his warrant, under his hand and official seal, in general terins, requiring the treasurer to collect the tax therein levied according to law, and no informality in the above requirements shall render any proceeding for the collection of taxes illegal. The clerk is required to cause the list to be delivered to the treasurer of the county by the fifteenth day of August, and take his receipt therefor, and such list is a full and sufficient authority for the collector to collect all taxes contained therein. SEC. 34. The treasurer, on receiving the tax-list and warrant, shall proceed to collect the taxes therein levied, and the list and warrant shall be his authority and justification against any illegality in the proceedings prior to receiving the list; and he is required to attend at his office during the month of August, after receiving the list; and the months of September, October, and November, to receive the taxes; and he is also authorized and required to collect as far as practicable the taxes remaining unpaid on the list of former years. It shall be the duty of the collector of taxes to visit each township or district in his county, to receive and receipt for taxes, and the taxes shall also be all collected and returned to the Territorial treasurer's office before the first day of October. SEC. 35. Auditor's warrants are receivable for the full amount of taxes payable into the Territorial treasury, and county warrants are receivable at the treasury of the proper county for the ordinary county tax, and any poor-tax or poor-house tax; but money only is receivable for the school tax. Road taxes may be discharged, and road warrants received for their payments, as provided in the chapter relating to roads. SEC. 36. When a Territorial, county, or road warrant is received by the treasurer, he is directed to endorse on it the amount for which it is received, and the date thereof, and from that date the warrant is to be regarded as cancelled, and cannot be reissued; but when the warrant amounts to more than is to be paid by the person presenting it, the treasurer will give him a certificate of the balance due him. SEC 37. If on the assessment roll, or on the tax-list, there be an error in the name of a person taxed, the name may be changed, and the tax collected from the person intended, if he be taxable and can be identified by the treasurer or assessor; and when the treasurer, after the tax list is committed to him, ascertain that any land or other property is omitted, he will report the fact to the assessor, who, upon being satisfied thereof, will enter it upon his assessment roll, and assess the value, and the treasurer will enter it upon the tax-list, and collect the tax as in other cases. SEC. 38. That no demand of taxes shall be necessary, but it is the duty of every person subject to taxation, to attend in such township or district, at the time and place appointed by the treasurer, between the first and twelfth days of August, and pay his or her taxes; and if any one neglect to pay it before the fifteenth day of September following the levy of the tax, the treasurer is directed to make the same by distress and sale of his personal property, except such as is exempt from taxation, and the list alone shall be a sufficient warrant for such distress. |