Exemption of Foreign Marine Insurance.

Section 22, of the Insurance Law, chap. 690, of the Laws of 1892, operates to allow all insurance corporations authorized to do business in this State, to deduct as debts the premiums paid by it for reinsurance in companies authorized to issue policies in this State.

The act is not retroactive and does not apply to premiums paid for reinsurance prior to October 1, 1892, the date when the Insurance Law took effect. So held in respect to a foreign marine insurance company in People v. Reliance Marine Insurance Co., 70 Hun, 554.

A foreign marine insurance company is not entitled to the exemption from taxes provided by Laws 1885, chap. 276, on premiums of reinsurance made by fire insurance companies before October 1, 1892, although it is exempted therefrom for reinsurance after that date by Laws 1892, chap. 690. People v. Insurance Co., 70 Hun, 554; S. C.,

53 N. Y. St. Repr. 602; 24 N. Y. Supp. 190 (1893).

Exemption of Village Firemen.

L. 1873, chap. 397, § 11.

The members of any fire company organized under the provisions of chapter 397 of the Laws of 1873, as amended by Laws of 1879, chapter 250, and situated within any incorporated village, may be exempted from taxation to the amount of five hundred dollars on any village assessment for village purposes, and from highway poll-tax in addition to the exemptions now enumer ated by law, and the real and personal property of any such company may be exempted from like village taxation, by vote at any general election, or at any special election, called for that purpose, held in the same manner and by the same officers as at a general election in said village.

Exemption of Hospital Corporation.

L. 1889, chap. 95, § 4.

4. The property of said corporation, both real and personal, shall be exempt from taxation, to the extent that, and so long as, the same shall be used lusively for the care, reception, maintenance, medical and surgical advice, aid and treatment of persons needing such medical and surgical advice, aid and treatment, or the care and maintenance of infirm, aged and indigent

persons, and provided that it shall and do actually render medical and surgical aid, advice and treatment to poor persons in need of such treatment without charge therefor, or care for and maintain infirm, aged and indigent persons without charge.

The exemption provided by this section is probably covered by the language of Tax Law, section 4, subdivision 7.

The charge made by a hospital for treating some patients, the sum so received being applied to the use of other poor patients, held, not to be income within Laws 1889, chap. 462, so as to deprive the institution from exemption from taxation. People ex rel. Society, etc., v. Purdy, 58 Hun, 386; S. C., 34 N. Y. St. Repr. 893; 12 N. Y. Supp. 307; affirmed, 126 N. Y. 679 (1890).

Exemption of Cemeteries.

L. 1847, chap. 133, § 10.

§ 10. The cemetery lands and property of any association formed pursuant to this act, and any property held in trust by it for any of the purposes mentioned in section 9 of that act, are exempted from all public taxes, rates and assessments, and are not liable to be sold on execution, or be applied in payment of debts due from any individual proprietor. But the proprietors of lots or plots in such cemeteries, their heirs or devisees, may hold the same exempt therefrom, so long as the same shall remain dedicated to the purposes of a cemetery, and during that time no street, road, avenue or thoroughfare shall be laid out through such cemetery, or any part of the lands held by such association, or any part of the lands held by such association for the purposes aforesaid, without consent of the trustees of such association, except by special permission of the legislature of the State.

See Tax Law, § 4, subd. 7.

L. 1879, chap. 310.

§ 1. No land actually used and occupied for cemetery purposes shall be sold under execution or for any tax or assessment, nor shall such tax or assessment be levied, collected or imposed, nor shall it be lawful to mortgage such land, nor to apply it in payment of debts, so long as it shall be continued to be used for such cemetery purposes.

§ 2. Whenever any such land shall cease to be used for cemetery purposes, any judgment, tax or assessment, which, but for the provisions of this act, would have been levied, collected or imposed, shall thereupon forthwith, together with interest thereon, become and be a lien and charge upon such land and collectible out of the same.

§3. The provisions of this act shall not apply to any lands held by the city of Rochester.

This act does not apply to a municipal assessment to defray the expenses of a local improvement. Buffalo City Cemetery v. Buffalo, 46

N. Y. 503.

Lands within the terms of Laws 1847, chap. 133, section 10, are exempt from the moment of acquisition, although no dead are buried therein and such burial is forbidden by municipal ordinance. People ex rel. Oak Hill Cemetery v. Pratt, 129 N. Y. 68.

The exemption of cemetery lands under Laws 1847, chap. 133, section 10, continued, although a city ordinance prevents burials therein. People ex rel. Oak Hill Cemetery Association v. Pratt, 129 N. Y. 68; S. C., 41 N. Y. St. Repr. 244 (1891).

The exemption extends to cemetery lands not yet laid out into lots. Id. The act of 1879, chap. 310, relates to cemeteries other than those established under the act of 1847. Id.

The consent of the supervisors is not essential to secure exemption from taxation where the cemetery lands were acquired under special statutes. People ex rel. Trustees of Cathedral v. Davren, 41 N. Y. St. Repr. 779; S. C., 16 N. Y. Supp. 794; affirmed, 131 N. Y. 601 (1891).

Exemption of Plank-road or Turnpike Corporations.
Transportation Corporation Law, § 140.

§ 140. Toll-houses and other fixtures, and all property belonging to any plank-road or turnpike corporation shall be exempt from assessment and taxation for any purpose until the surplus annual receipts of tolls on its road, over necessary repairs and a suitable reserve fund for repairs or relaying of plank, shall exceed seven per cent. per annum on the first cost of the road. If the assessors of any town, village or city and the corporation disagree concerning any exemption claim, the corporation may appeal to the county judge of the county in which such assessment is proposed to be made, who shall, after due notice to both. parties, examine the books and vouchers of the corporation, and

take such further proof as he shall deem proper, and decide whether such corporation is liable to taxation under this section, and his decision shall be final.

The remedy of a turnpike company, which has been taxed in violation of its right from exemption from Laws 1854, chap. 87, section 4, as amended by Laws 1855, chap. 546, is by appeal to the county judge as provided in that act, and that remedy is exclusive; and where it has not been taken, an action will not lie for equitable relief from the tax, on the ground of such exemption and a notice thereof to the assessors. Jamaica, etc., Road Co. v. Brooklyn, 123 N. Y. 375; S. C., 33 N. Y. St. Repr. 692 (1890).

Exemption of Soldiers' Monument Associations.

L. 1866, chap. 273, as am'd by L. 1888, chap. 299.

The property of any soldier's monument association formed pursuant to this act, chapter 273 of Laws of 1866, is exempted by section 5 of that chapter, as amended by chapter 299 of Laws of 1888, from levy and sale on execution, and from all public taxes, rates and assessments. By section 6 of that chapter, as amended by chapter 299 of Laws of 1888, a tax may be imposed, levied and collected on the taxable property in any town or city in which such monument or monuments may be erected for the purpose of repairing or improving the same and the grounds thereof; such tax shall be imposed in the manner prescribed by law for imposing general taxes in such town or city as are now authorized to be imposed.

See Tax Law, § 4, subd. 7.

Exemption of Poorhouses, Almshouses.

R. S., part 1, chap. 20, title 1, § 72.

§ 72. Every poorhouse, almshouse or other place provided by any city, town or county, for the reception and support of the poor, and all real and personal property whatever, belonging to or connected with the same, shall be exempt from all assessment and taxation, levied either by the State, or by any county, city, town or village; and the keeper of every poorhouse, almshouse or other place provided as aforesaid, shall be exempt from all

service in the militia, from serving on juries, and from all assessments for labor on the highways.

. This section is repealed by the Poor Law of 1896 (chap. 225), taking effect October 1, 1896.

Exemption of Securities of the United States.

The following are cases which have arisen affecting questions connected with the exemption from taxation of United States bonds, including the premiums on their par value, United States currency, United States notes, treasury notes, fractional currency notes, checks for money of authorized officers of the United States, certificates of indebtedness of United States, certificates of deposit of United States, whether belonging to individuals or corporations:

International Life Ass. Soc. v. Commrs. of Taxes, 28 Barb. 319 (1858); People ex rel. Bank of Commerce v. Commrs. of Taxes, 26 N. Y. 163 (1863); People ex rel. Raplee v. Reddy, 43 Barb. 539 (1865); People ex rel. Kennedy v. Commrs., 35 N. Y. 423 (1866); S. C., 4 Wall. 244 (1866); People ex rel. Lockport City Bank v. Board of Education, 46 Barb. 588 (1866); People ex rel. Exchange Bank v. Board of Education, 46 id. 598 (1866); Monroe Savings Bank v. City of Rochester, 37 N. Y. 365 (1867); Williams v. Weaver, 75 id. 30 (1878); S. C., 100 U. S. 547 (1879); Ulster County Sayings Bank, Matter of, 20 Hun, 481 (1880); Savings Bank v. Archbold, 104 U. S. 708 (1881).

Stock of the United States cannot be taxed by a State, either by itself or as a part of the aggregate of the taxpayers' property. People ex rel. Bank of Commonwealth v. Commrs. of Taxes of New York, 2 Black, 620, reversing 23 N. Y. 192.

A State law laying a tax on banks, "on a valuation equal to the amount of their capital stock paid in or secured to be paid in," is a tax on their property, and where such property consists of stocks of the United States, it is void. Bank Tax Case, 2 Wall. 200; reversing S. C. as People ex rel. Bank of Commerce v. Commrs. of Taxes of New York, 40 Barb. 334.

The exemption of United States bonds covers the excess of their market price over their par value. People ex rel. Leonard v. Commrs. of Taxes, 90 N. Y. 63 (1882).

This last-mentioned case limits, and practically overrules, People ex rel. Manhattan Fire Ins. Co. v. Commrs. of Taxes, 76 N. Y. 64 (1879).

That the act of Congress of February 25, 1862, exempting stocks of the United States from taxation is not retroactive, and that in the absence of such statute a State has the right to tax. See People ex rel. Hanover Bank v. Commrs. of Taxes of New York, 37 Barb. 635 (1862). United States bonds are exempt. People ex rel. Lincoln v. Barton, 44 Barb. 148 (1865).