ASSESSMENTS AND EXEMPTIONS The total assessed value of property within the State for the year 1915 is as follows: Real property (exclusive of special franchise Special franchise property. Personal property (other than bank stock... Bank stock.. Making a total real and personal property assess ment of. The increase in assessed value of real property over 1914 is The increase in assessed value of personal property (other than bank stock) over 1914 is... Making a total increase in assessed value of.... $10,832,565,661 503,073,145 454,989,997 483,812,950 12,274,441,753 189,367,794 16,737,021 206,104,815 Total assessed value of property exempt from taxation, and reported to this department under section 15 of the Tax Law is as follows: For the year 1915. For the year 1914.... Increase for the year 1915.. $2,521,705,003 2,377,156,232 $144,548,771 SPECIAL FRANCHISE TAX ADMINISTRATION The Special Franchise Bureau is charged with the duty of gathering and collating data for the appraisal of the values of special franchises. Prior to the present year, that part of the work of the department relating to special franchises had not been segregated but was conducted in conjunction with the general administrative work of the department. On April 20, 1915, the Bureau of Special Franchises was created. The segregation of this work from the general work of the department made possible a complete nature of the property to be assessed for special franchises and to avoid confusion, the work of the bureau has been continued under the former three general divisions: A-Water, Gas and Electric Division. C Steam Railroad Division. A competent expert appraiser certified by the Civil Service Commission is in charge of each division, and all the special agents are taken from the competitive civil service lists. At the time of the establishment of this bureau, the special franchise work was in a deplorable condition. There having been no responsible head, the separate divisions had followed different methods, and had made different interpretations of the Tax Law and the court decisions under it. The result was that the work of the appraisers was self-condemned by the inconsistencies, absurdities and contradictions which the records and conditions of the department revealed. The effort of the Deputy Commissioner in charge has been to correct the most glaring errors and improper and inconsistent valuations which had not as yet passed beyond the jurisdiction of the department. No uniform nor scientific method of valuation had been employed. A large number of valuations, which had been made and proposed, were the products of erroneously conceived and improperly applied methods of valuation. Cancellations and reductions in assessments, amounting to millions of dollars, had been made without apparent justification. New forms, record sheets and estimate blanks have been prepared, approved methods of computation and principles of valua tion have been introduced, and a card system permanently records and makes immediately available all information, covering every step in the progress of making appraisals, from the reception of reports and data to the final determination of the valuation. These changes have greatly increased the efficiency of the special franchise work of the department. In addition to the work of organization, the activities of the Special Franchise Bureau during the eight months since it was established, may be summarized as follows: Investigations of special franchises (office).. 349 882 .... 2,074 Valuations reviewed in cases in litigation.. 400 10,000 10,000 Number of special franchise valuations made.. (The last four items are approximate.) Number of companies investigated and tentative valuations made in advance for the year 1916. 800 462 Included in the last item of the above statement are the tentative special franchise valuations for the year 1916 for the cities of Buffalo and New York, as follows: City of Buffalo, $34,539,700, an increase over the previous year of $6,446,910. City of New York, $480,151,250, an increase over the previous year of $62,386,900. Incidental to the new methods, the bureau has been able to render very material aid to the Attorney-General in his effort to dispose of the special franchise cases in litigation. The bureau has devised a method for the valuation of steam railroad occupancies and street crossings, the underlying factor in which is the railroad's use of the crossing or occupation to the exclusion of the consideration of the public, and general interference in the streets and highways. The information necessary to apply this new method is readily obtained, whereas it is practically impossible to estimate the factor of public use, which formed the most important element in the superseded method; and which is unreliable, uncertain and far removed at best from the accepted theory of basing intangible values upon earnings. This new method has been experimentally applied to the preceding year's valuations as a test, which demonstrated it to be practical, moré uniform, capable of more reasonable application and more nearly approaching scientific valuation. It has also met the new situation created, and the embarrassment occasioned, by the recent Every effort has been made to establish the 1916 valuation of special franchises on a scientifically accurate foundation. MORTGAGE TAX ADMINISTRATION The Mortgage Tax Bureau is charged with the administration of article XI of the Tax Law, commonly known as the Mortgage Recording Tax Law. Under article XI of the Tax Law, this Commission has supervisory power over all recording officers whose duty it is to record mortgages and collect taxes thereon. The Commission is also given authority to make such rules and regulations for the guidance of recording officers, as shall be deemed necessary for the collection of all mortgage taxes, and for the accurate accounting for the same. APPORTIONMENTS Under the provisions of section 260 of the Tax Law it is the duty of the State Tax Commission to determine the proportionate amount taxable of all mortgages covering real property situated partly within and partly without the state. Such mortgages are taxed upon the proportion which the value of the mortgaged property within the state bears to the entire value of the mortgaged property situated both within and without the state. On April 19th when this Commission assumed office, seventeen cases of mortgages covering real property within and without the state were pending in respect to which little or nothing had been done for more than a year. The aggregate amount of the principal indebtedness secured by these mortgages is $149,999,900 on which an aggregate tax of $131,540.95 had been paid and was being held by the respective recording officers awaiting determination and apportionment. Of these cases, twelve have since been disposed of which involved a total principal indebtedness of $145,423,500 and a total tax thereon of $125,596.27 made available for distribution to state and local subdivisions thereof, leaving five cases in which the total principal indebtedness is $4,576,400 and a total tax thereon of $5,944.68. Where a mortgage covers real property situated wholly within this state, but in two or more tax districts, it is the duty of the Commission to apportion the taxes paid thereon between the several tax districts entitled to share therein. This apportionment should be made on the basis of the last preceding assessments. Of such cases, more than 200, which have since been disposed of, were awaiting decision when the present Commission assumed office. As a result, the amount of taxes which should have been available for distribution in November, 1914, but which by reason of this delay were being withheld from the state and local subdivisions thereof, was approximately $200,000. This amount was made available in November, 1915. Between the date when it entered upon its duties and January 1, 1916, this Commission has disposed of 660 cases of mortgage tax apportionment, and the total tax released for distribution has amounted to $239,820.88. COUNTY EXAMINATIONS Under the general supervisory power conferred by Section 263 of the Mortgage Tax Law, the State Board of Tax Commissioners was authorized to examine the records of the several recording officers of the state. The object of this examination was to ascertain if all taxes collected had been accounted for; if the tax had been collected on all the instruments subject to taxation; if computations of taxes were correctly made, and, in general, to ascertain if all of the provisions of the Mortgage Tax Law had been complied with. During the period between July 1. 1914, and May 1, 1915, seven auditors were employed by the State Board of Tax Commissioners to make these examinations. Reports made by some of these auditors were found to be of no value for the purposes for which they were intended. During that period. a complete and detailed examination was made in Washington county only. From the passage of the Mortgage Tax Law, July 1, 1906, to July 1, 1914, the mortgage tax records of the following counties had never been examined: Allegany Cayuga, Chemung, Clinton, Cortland, Delaware, Dutchess, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lewis, |