state lands which may be in his judgment an unfair proportion to the remaining assessment of land within the town, and shall in other respects approve the assessment and communicate such approval to the assessors. No such assessment of state lands shall be valid for any purpose until the amount of assessment is approved by the comptroller, and such approval attached to and deposited with the assessment-roll of the town, and therewith delivered by the assessors of the town, to the supervisor thereof or other officer authorized to receive the same from the assessors. No tax for the erection of a schoolhouse or opening of a road shall be imposed on the state lands unless such erection or opening shall have first been approved in writing by the board of fisheries, game and forest.

[Revisers' Note.- Fisheries, Game and Forest Law, § 274, as amended by L. 1895, chap. 395,

without change of substance.]

§ 23. Banks to make report. The chief fiscal officer of every bank or banking association, organized under the authority of this state or of the United States, shall, on or before the first day of July, furnish the assessors of the tax district in which its principal office is located, and also the state board of tax commissioners, a statement, under oath, of the condition of such bank or banking association, on the first day of June next preceding, stating the amount of its authorized capital stock, the number of shares and the par value of the shares thereof, the amount of stock paid in, the date and rate per centum of each dividend declared by it during the year, the capital employed by it during the year, the amount of its surplus, if any, the amount, value and location of its real estate, a complete list of the names and residences of its stockholders, and the number of shares held by each, and such other data, information or matters as may be prescribed by the state board of tax commissioners, who shall furnish blanks upon which such reports shall be made, and prescribe the form of verification thereto, and such commissioners may, at any time, require a further and fuller report. In case of neglect or refusal on the part of any bank, corporation or association to report, as herein prescribed, or to make other or further reports as may be required by the commissioners of taxes, such

bank, corporation or association shall forfeit the sum of one hundred dollars for each failure, and the additional sum of ten dollars for each day such failure continues, and an action therefor shall be prosecuted by the state board of tax commissioners. There shall, in addition to such report, be kept in the office of every such bank or banking association a full and correct list of the names and residences of all the stockholders therein and of the number of shares held by each, and such list shall be subject to the inspection of the assessors and the board of commissioners of taxes at all times. The list of stockholders furnished by such bank, corporation or association shall be deemed to contain the names of the owners of such shares as are set opposite them respectively, for the purposes of assessment and taxation. [Revisers' Note.-L. 1882, chap. 409, § 313; R. S., 8th ed., 1580, as amended by L. 1892, chap. 714, § 1; R. S., 8th ed., 3285.

Section 23 fully covers the provisions of section 313. The requirement of a report is made mandatory throughout the State, whereas section 313 only requires a report, on request, except in New York. This section authorizes the assessors to require a further report at any time, in addition to the report as of the first of June. The date of making the report is changed from June first to July first. The penalty for failure to make report is new. The board of tax commissioners is given broader power than is now possessed by the State assessors.]

The form of report is to be prescribed by State board of tax commissioners.

§ 24. Bank shares, how assessed.- In assessing the shares of stock of banks or banking associations, organized under the authority of this state or the United States, each stockholder shall be allowed all the deductions and exceptions allowed by law in assessing the value of other taxable property owned by individual citizens of this state, and the assessment and taxation shall not be at a greater rate than is made or assessed upon other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens of this

In making such assessment, there shall also be deducted from the value of such shares a sum which bears the same proportion to such value as the assessed value of the real property of such bank or banking association bears to the capital stock thereof. This is not to be construed as an exemption of the real estate of banks or banking associations from taxation.

[Revisers' Note.-L. 1882, chap. 400, § 312; R. S., 8th ed., 1580, re-enacted in part without change.]

See § 13, and notes. The notes to section 13 fully cover this subject, and it is unnecessary to repeat them here.

An assessment not made upon the capital stock of a corporation, but upon the shares of stockholders appearing upon its books, which the company is required to pay, but is entitled to collect from the shareholders, is substantially a tax upon the corporation, where another clause authorizes a deduction from the amount of taxes so assessed to each share of its proportion of the direct taxes paid by the company as such, and of all exempt property belonging to the corporation. New Orleans v. Houston, 119 U. S. 265.

In assessing the stock of a New York national bank, owned by a foreign savings bank, the assessors took the total value of its assets, and from that deducted all its liabilties and ascertained it had a surplus exceeding the value of the bank stock, and from the amount of that surplus deducted the amount of all its property not taxable, and of all its property taxable elsewhere, and of all real estate and cash held by it, and obtained a final surplus in excess of the assessment made here. Held, that no error was committed. People ex rel. v. Coleman, 47 N. Y. St. Repr. 878; affirming 45 id. 136; S. C., 18 N. Y. Supp. 675 (1892).

A reassessment at a reduced rate of the surplus of a bank, held to be conclusive upon the relator who requested it. Also, held, that the individual stockholders, and not the bank itself, had the only pecuniary interest in the valuation. People ex rel. v. Button, 43 N. Y. St. Repr. 78; S. C., 17 N. Y. 319.

§ 25. Individual banker, how assessed.- Every individual banker doing business under the laws of this state, must report before the fifteenth day of June under oath to the assessors of the tax district in which any of the capital invested in such banking business is taxable, the amount of capital invested in such banking business in such tax district on the first day of June preceding. Such capital shall be assessed as personal property to the banker in whose name such business is carried on.

[Revisers' Note.-L. 1882, chap. 409, § 320; R. S., 8th ed., 1581,

without substantial change, except that the date of making the report is changed from June 1 to June 15, and of the condition of business on June 1, instead of May 1.]

See § 14, and cases cited.

§ 26. Notice of assessment to bank or banking association.The assessors of every tax district shall within ten days after they have completed the assessment of the stock of a bank or banking association, give written notice to such bank or banking association of such assessment of the shares of its respective

shareholders and no personal or other notice to such shareholders

of such assessment is required.

[Revisers' Note.-L. 1882, chap. 409, § 312; R. S., 8th ed., 1580, re-enacted in part without change.]

See Form, No. 6.

See § 13, and notes.

§ 27. Reports of corporations.-The president or other proper officer of every moneyed or stock corporation deriving an income or profit from its capital or otherwise shall, on or before June fifteenth, deliver to one of the assessors of the tax district in which the company is liable to be taxed and, if such tax district is in a county embracing a portion of the forest preserve, to the comptroller of the state, a written statement specifying:

1. The real property, if any, owned by such company, the tax district in which the same is situated and, unless a railroad corporation, the sums actually paid therefor.

2. The capital stock actually paid in and secured to be paid in excepting therefrom the sums paid for real property and the amount of such capital stock held by the state and by any incorporated literary or charitable institution, and

3. The tax district in which the principal office of the company is situated or in case it has no principal office, the tax district in which its operations are carried on.

Such statement shall be verified by the officer making the same to the effect that it is in all respects just and true. If such statement is not made within twenty days after the fifteenth day of June, or is insufficient, evasive or defective, the assessors may compel the corporation to make a proper statement by mandamus.

[Revisers' Note.-R. S., pt. I, chap. 13, tit. IV, §§ 1-3; 8th ed., 1149.

1

The date of making the report is changed from July 1 to June 15. From subdivision 3 is omitted the statement of the tax district in which it is liable to be taxed, for section 11 of the chapter provides if the corporation has no principal office, it is liable to be taxed in the district in which the operations of the company are carried on.]

See Form, No. 7.

Further changes were made by the committee of the senate. The provision of the first paragraph, requiring corporations to report to comptroller only where located in a county embracing a portion of the forest preserve, was inserted. So, also, was the provision of the first

subdivision relieving railroad corporations from a report of the sums paid for their real property. It was urged before the committee that this is now practically impossible. The committee also added the

mandamus clause at the end of the section.

The valuation of the capital stock made by the secretary of a company in the statement to the assessors, held sufficient evidence of value upon which to base the assessment, notwithstanding the company sought by certiorari to correct the assessment by deducting the amount of debts owed by it from the sum indicated in the statement, since the value of the franchises might make up the difference. People ex rel. Buffalo Mut. GasLight Co. v. Steele, 1 Buff. Super. Ct. 345 (1873).

Corporations may be assessed though no statement is made by them to the assessors as required by law. Such a statement when made is not conclusive upon the assessors. It is the judgment of the assessors that the law requires. People ex rel. Manhattan Fire Ins. Co. v. Commrs. of Taxes, 76 N. Y. 64 (1879).

The commissioners of assessment have jurisdiction to assess a corporation that omits to make a statement of its financial condition. If such a corporation omits to appear and demand a correction of the preliminary assessment, it can obtain no relief from overvaluation by certiorari. People ex rel. The Mutual Union Tel. Co. v. Commrs. of Taxes, 99 N. Y. 254.

Nor does the failure to file such a statement prevent a party aggrieved from appearing before the assessors. Id.

This case is distinguished from People ex rel. Mutual Un. Tel. Co. v. Commrs., 99 N. Y. 254, because in the latter case the relator did not appear before the commissioners on the grievance day, and hence was deemed to have waived any right of review. Id.

It is the duty of a company to make the statement required by sections 3 and 4 above; but the courts have no power to impose any other punishment than that prescribed by the statute, and a writ of certiorari will not be quashed on the ground that the return shows that no such statement has been made. People ex rel. West Shore R. R. Co. v. Pitman, 9 N. Y. St. Repr. 469 (1887), G. T.

§ 28. Penalty for omission to make statement.- In case of neglect to furnish such statements within thirty days after the time above provided, the company so neglecting shall forfeit to the people of this state for each statement so omitted to be furnished, the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars, and it shall be the duty of the attorney-general to prosecute for such penalty upon information which shall be furnished him by the comp troller. Upon such statement being furnished and the costs of the suit being paid, the comptroller, if he shall be satisfied that