P. L. 497.

by or in pursuance of any law of this commonwealth, or of any other state or 29 April 1844 § 32. government; and on all shares of stock or weekly deposits in any unincorporated saving-fund institution, and all public loans or stocks whatsoever, except those issued by this commonwealth, and all money loaned or invested in any other state; also all household furniture, (0) including gold and silver plate, owned by any person or persons, corporation or corporations, when the value thereof shall exceed the sum of three hundred dollars; also all pleasure carriages both of two and four wheels; salaries(p) and emoluments of office, all offices and posts of profit, professions, trades and occupations, except the occupation of farmers, together with all other things now taxable by the laws of this commonwealth, shall be valued and assessed and subject to taxation for the purposes in this act mentioned and for all state and county purposes whatsoever. (1)

391. The select and common councils of the city of Philadelphia shall have the 25 August 1864 § 1. power to levy a tax for municipal purposes on all subjects(r) of taxation specified P. L. 1030. by the thirty-second section of the act of April twenty-ninth, one thousand eight Power of councils. hundred and forty-four, and to provide, by ordinance, a system for the assessment thereof, and for the collection of taxes thereon.

392. The offices, depots, car-houses and other real property of railroad corporations situated in said city, the superstructure of the road and water-stations only excepted, are and hereafter shall be subject to taxation, by ordinances, for city purposes.

21 April 1858 § 1. P. L. 395.

Railroad property to be subject to

taxation for city purposes.

2 Feb. 1854 § 39.

P. L. 42.

393. The city councils shall fix the rate and levy all the taxes now authorized by law within the limits of said city and county, except the state tax, and direct the amount to be applied and paid by the city treasurer to health, school, poor, city Councils to fix and other purposes, according to law. The said taxes shall be voted so as to show rates. how much is raised for said objects respectively; they shall be collected and accounted for to the treasurer as one city and county tax. The said tax, and all state taxes accruing within said city limits, shall be paid to the receiver of taxes, and all allowance made by law for the collection and prompt payment of the state tax shall accrue to the city treasury for the use of the city.

P. L. 180.

certained.

394. It shall be the duty of the said councils to levy and fix a tax-rate on or be- 11 June 1879 § 1. fore the first day of October in each and every year for the year next ensuing; the When rate to be amount of tax moneys collectible during the year for which such tax shall have fixed. been levied shall be ascertained by deducting from the gross amount yielded by How amount of said tax-rate, the average of such proportion of the annual tax levy for each of the collectible tax five years immediately preceding, as shall have remained uncollected at the end of moneys to be aseach of the said years; and the tax-moneys collectible during the current year shall, with the average income from sources other than from current tax-moneys, exclusive of sinking-fund receipts (such average of income to be determined by ascertaining the average income during the five years immediately preceding), be set apart for the extinguishment of the floating indebtedness, other than that which may be outstanding at the passage of this act, which the city controller may estimate to be outstanding upon the first of January following, for the payment of all lawful obligations due by the city during the fiscal year commencing January first next ensuing, and for such expenses of the municipal government as may be authorized by the councils of said cities.

Ibid.

395. In default of said councils fixing the tax-rate on or before the first day of October in each and every year, then and in that case the rate of the preceding Default in fixing year shall be the rate for the current year, and all appropriations shall be made in rate. conformity therewith, as if councils had themselves established such rate.

(2.) Board of revision.

P. L. 320.

Powers.

396. The court of common pleas of Philadelphia county shall, once in every three 14 March 1865 § 1. years, before the time of the revision of the taxes for the succeeding year, and as often as vacancies shall occur, appoint [three] (s) persons deemed the most compe- To be appointed tent, who shall compose the board of the revision of taxes of the county; a major- by the court of ity of whom shall be a quorum; who shall have the power to revise and equalize common pleas. the assessments, by raising or lowering the valuations, either in individual cases, or by wards, to rectify all errors, to make valuations where they have been omitted, and to require the attendance of the assessors or other citizens, before them, for examination, on oath or affirmation, either singly or together, with power to forfeit the pay of assessors, ratable to their annual compensation, for each day's absence when their attendance is required; and the said board of revision shall hear all the appeals and applications of the taxpayers, subject to an appeal from their decision

(0) This does not include pictures and works of art kept as such. Lea's Appeal, 15 W. N. C. 61. See West's Op. 1883, 17.

(p) The act 2 June 1871, § 1, P. L. 281, repealed the state tax on incomes. Offices, posts of profit and occupations may be included as assessed taxable property under art 9, sec. 8, of the constitution. Brown's Appeal, 43 L. I. 239.

(9) Since the passage of the acts 16 April 1850 and

27 April 1852, P. L. 443, shares of bank-stock are not taxable for county purposes. Allegheny County v. Shoenberger, 1 Gr. 35.

(r) Councils cannot exempt a corporation from future municipal taxation. War. Op. 1884, 129.

(s) By act 2 February 1867, P. L. 137. The act of 11 February 1859, P. L. 37, prescribes that the oath of office may be taken before the prothonotary.

P. L. 320.

Appeals.

14 March 1865 § 1. to the court of common pleas of the county, whose decision shall be final,(t) and if the appeal to the court shall be groundless, the appellants shall pay their costs of court; the board of revision shall hear the taxpayers of their respective wards in succession, of which notice shall be given, as now required by law; and the said board of revision shall alone, by a majority of them, exercise all the powers heretofore vested in the county board of revision, but shall not, in any instance, lower the aggregate valuation of the county; they shall meet as often, but not oftener, than is necessary to despatch the business which their duties require of them, and shall hold stated meetings on the first Saturday of each month.

2 Feb. 1867 § 2. P. L. 137.

to assessors, assessment and collection of taxes.

397. The board of revision, established by the act to which this is a supplement, approved the fourteenth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, Powers in relation and this supplement, shall have and exercise all and singular the powers heretofore by law conferred upon the commissioners of the city of Philadelphia, and the county commissioners of the different counties of this commonwealth, in relation to the assessors, and the assessment and collection of taxes within the city and county of Philadelphia, and the correction of all valuation and return therefor; and they shall issue the precepts to, and receive the returns of, the assessors, procure the assessment books, and cause the duplicates to be made out and issued to the receiver of taxes, make the returns required by law to the state revenue board, and have the exclusive custody and control of all books relating to the assessment of taxes, and keep them arranged according to wards and dates; and also have the custody and control of the duplicates of surveys, when the same shall have been made by the department of surveys; they may issue certificates to show how property has been assessed, to be used with the same effect as the original books of assessment, as evidence in relation to the title of property; they shall report to councils, through the mayor, the aggregate of the assessments, on or before the first day of November in each year. The city commissioners of Philadelphia shall exercise none of the powers embraced in this act or the act to which this is a supple

Certificates of assessment.

12 April 1873 § 4. P. L. 715.

Seal to certificates. 15 May 1874 § 1. P. L. 193.

Statement to be

ment.

398. The board of revision are authorized and empowered to affix the seal of the city of Philadelphia in official certificates they may be authorized to issue by law.

399. The board of revision of the city of Philadelphia shall, upon the first day of June, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, and upon the same day annually thereafter, make out in tabular form, by assessment districts, a full statemailed to the sec- ment of all property taxable for county purposes, showing the real and personal in separate columns, and the amount of tax assessed for county purposes, and also the debt of said county, the same to be enclosed by mail to the secretary of internal affairs, at Harrisburg; and in case of refusal or neglect to make such returns, the same may be enforced by mandamus.

retary of internal

affairs.

12 April 1873 § 1. P. L. 715.

(3.) Assessments for taxation.

400. The board of revision of taxes of the county of Philadelphia shall divide the city into [twenty-one] assessment districts, and such districts shall be made City to be divided with due regard to equalizing the duties of the several districts; and the said board

into assessment districts.

Ibid. § 2.

Two assessors for each district.

of revision are empowered to alter and rearrange said districts from time to time, whenever in their judgment such alterations may be rendered necessary by the growth of the city, to preserve equality in the labor to be performed in the respective districts.

401. The said board of revision shall, on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, and every five years thereafter, appoint two competent persons to serve as assessors for the term of five years in and for each of said districts, (u) and shall have power to fill all vacancies that may occur by death, resignation or otherwise, and at said time the terms of the present assessors shall cease, determine and expire. The said assessors appointed as aforesaid shall have all the powers and be subject to all penalties now imposed on assessors in the city of Philadelphia by law, and be subject to removal by the said board of revision for incompetency, neglect or refusal to faithfully perform the duties required by law: Provided, That said appointments shall be made so that there shall be a majority and minority representation of the political parties in each district: And provided also, That no appointment or removal of assessor or assessors shall be made withSalary of members out the concurrence of all the members of said board of revision of taxes. The salary of each member of the board of revision shall be four thousand dollars per

of board.

Ibid. § 8. Assessment books and duplicates to be made in wards.

5 June 1874 § 1. P. L. 276.

annum.

402. The assessment books returned by the assessors aforesaid, and the duplicates issued to the receiver of taxes by the board of revision, shall be made in wards as heretofore.

403. In all cities of this commonwealth where there are or may hereafter be boards of revision of taxes, with authority to appoint assessors and apportion their

(t) See Philadelphia v. Michener, 7 W. N. C. 558. Lea's Appeal, 15 Ibid. 61.

(u) Assessors are not required to reside in their proper districts. Commonwealth v. Josephs, 39 L. I.

districts, such boards of revision shall have authority, from time to time, as the 5 June 1874 § 1. public interests may require, to create additional assessors' districts and appoint additional assessors therein.

P. L. 276. Additional districts.

P. L. 32.

Precept to make

404. The [board of revision] shall, immediately after such election in each year, 2 Feb. 1854 § 17. issue their precept to the said assessors of the respective wards, requiring them to make out and return, within such time as the said commissioners shall designate, not later than the first day of September (v) following, a just and perfect list, in out list of taxable such form as the commissioners shall direct, of all property taxable and exempt by property. law, with a just valuation of the same; and whenever the assessors of any ward Board to be umcannot agree upon the valuation of any property, the [board of revision] shall be pire. umpire, and decide. The office of assistant assessors within the said city is hereby abolished.(w)

405. The books for assessment shall be furnished to the assessors by the fifteenth 13 May 1856 § 6. day of May in each year from the said department, and any assessor who shall not

P. L. 568.

have completed and returned his assessment by the fifteenth day of August follow- When assessment ing shall forfeit his compensation and surrender his books, to be finished by the to be completed. board of revision.

406. It shall be the duty of the assessors to mark opposite every property used for agricultural purposes the word "rural," and on every property so returned there shall be assessed or collected but two-thirds the rate for city tax that shall be assessed on other real estate in the city: Provided, That any error in such return in this respect shall be corrected by the board of revision on appeal.

Ibid.

Rural property.

P. L. 549.

be returned with

407. The assessors of the several wards of the city of Philadelphia shall, at the same 16 May 1857 § 2. time they make the assessment required by law, ascertain the dimensions or quantity of each lot or piece of ground assessed, and return the same with their assessment, Dimensions and to the [board of revision], as provided by law, and whenever the said return shall quantity of lot to not be sufficiently certain to enable the receiver of taxes properly to describe any assessment. lot or piece of ground against which he is about to proceed for the recovery of reg- Duty of district istered taxes, it shall be the duty of the surveyor of the district in which said lot surveyor. or piece of ground is situated to furnish the said receiver with an accurate measurement thereof, together with a precise description of its locality.

408. The said board of revision are hereby authorized and empowered to issue 2 Feb. 1867 § 3. their precept to the several assessors of the said city and county of Philadelphia in P. L. 137. the year of the triennial assessment, (x) and to the assessors of any ward or wards Assessment other of said city in which they shall deem a new assessment necessary in any subse- than those in the triennial year. quent year other than the triennial year, requiring them to return *** all property taxable by law, together with the just valuation of the same, in the manner equalization of asRevision and now prescribed by law for the triennial assessment; the said board shall have the sessments. power to revise and equalize the assessments prescribed by the first section of the act approved the fourteenth day of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, to which this is a supplement, in any and every year.

Ibid. § 4.

409. The said assessors shall make a second return of the values of all new buildings which shall have been erected and not included in their previous return, on or Second return of before the first day of November in each year; and the said assessors, or either of new buildings. them, are hereby authorized and empowered to administer an oath or affirmation Power of assessors to any person or persons required to make a statement of property taxable under to administer the general or special laws of this commonwealth: Provided, That no fee shall be charged for the administration of such oath or affirmation.

oaths.

410. The pay of assessors for the city of Philadelphia shall be at the rate of two 12 April 1878 § 1. P. L. 715. thousand dollars per annum. Pay of assessors. 411. The assessors in the several cities, boroughs and counties of this common1 April 1845 § 1. wealth, in estimating real estate subject to ground-rent, where there is no provi- P. L. 280. sion made in ground-rent deeds that the lessee shall pay the taxes on the said Ground-rents to ground-rents, shall estimate and assess for taxes the said ground-rents to the be assessed to owners thereof.

(4.) Classification of real estate.

owners thereof.

412. It shall be the duty of the board of revision, mentioned in the act to which 24 March 1868 § 1. this is a supplement, immediately after the annual assessment in each year, to clas- P. L. 448. sify(y) the real estate so assessed in such a manner and upon testimony adduced Lands divided into before them as to discriminate between the rural and built-up portions of said city, three classes — and they are hereby required to certify to the councils of said city on or before city, rural and the first day of November, in each year, the valuation of the built-up portions, the

(e) See act 13 May, 1856, infra, pl. 405. () The remainder of this section is supplied. Registration of voters and duties incident to elections are now, by act 13 February 1874, § 1, P. L. 44, made by the several division assessors.

(2) The act 13 May 1856, § 7, P. L. 567, provides that no change shall be made in the valuation of real estate in other than the triennial year.

(y) Real estate in the built-up portions of the city is taxable at full city rates, though there be interven

farm lands.

ing fields or farms; on an appeal from the decision of the board of revision, the presumptions are in favor of the order appealed from. Castor v. Philadelphia, 26 L. I. 189. Land on Windmill Island, used for wharves and shipping purposes, is taxable as city property; it is not to be rated as rural or farm land. Tathan v. Philadelphia, 7 Phila. 262. The classification by the board of revision of taxes is not conclusive as to the rural character of the lot. It is a question for the jury. Lukens v. City, 13 W. N. C. 86.

24 March 1868 § 1. valuation of the rural or suburban property, and the valuation of lands exclusively used for agricultural and farming purposes respectively, and it shall be the duty of said councils, in determining the rate of taxation for each year, to assess a tax upon said agricultural and farm land equal to one-half of the highest rate of tax required to be assessed for said year, and upon the rural and suburban portion of said city, a tax not exceeding two-thirds of the highest rate of tax required to be assessed, as aforesaid, so that upon the real estate assessed in said city there shall be three rates of taxation, and it shall be the duty of the assessors of said city to make assessments of property in conformity with the provisions of this act, and to designate the class in which such property should be rated.

413. All meadow, or marsh, or meadow land situated in the twenty-fourth ward, city of Philadelphia, and assessed as marsh or meadow land, and paying, besides the usual city taxes, a further tax for keeping up and in repair the banks on said lands, shall only be liable to pay one-half(z) the rate of tax levied on real estate in said city for city purposes.

(5.) Apportionment of taxes.

414. In all cases where the taxes on separate and distinct properties, in the said city and county of Philadelphia, shall be assessed together, as one estate, it shall and Board may appor- may be lawful for the [board of revision], at any time before the payment of the said taxes so assessed, to apportion(a) the same ratably, upon the said several and distinct portions of the property so assessed together.

(6.) Exemption.

415. All taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of subjects, within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax,(b) and shall be levied and collected under general laws; (c) but the general assembly may, by general laws, exempt may be exempted. from taxation public property used for public purposes, actual places of religious worship, (d) places of burial not used or held for private or corporate profit, and institutions of purely public charity.(e)

416. All laws exempting property from taxation, other than the property above enumerated, shall be void.(g) 417. All churches, (h) meeting-houses or other regular places of stated worship, with the grounds thereto annexed, necessary for the occupancy and enjoyment of

the same; all burial-grounds not used or held for private or corporate profit; all 14 May 1874 § 1. hospitals, universities, colleges, seminaries, academies, associations and institutions

P. L. 158.

of learning, benevolence or charity, with the grounds thereto annexed and neces- Designation of
sary for the occupancy and enjoyment of the same, founded, endowed and main- exempt properties.
tained by public or private charity; and all school-houses belonging to any county,
borough or school district, with the grounds thereto annexed and necessary for the
occupancy and enjoyment of the same; and all court-houses and jails, with the
grounds thereto annexed, be and the same are hereby exempted from all and every
county, city, borough, bounty, road, school and poor tax:(i) Provided, That all
property, real and personal, other than that which is in actual use and occupation
for the purposes aforesaid, and from which any income or revenue is derived, shall
be subject to taxation, except where exempted by law for state purposes, and noth-
ing herein contained shall exempt (the) same therefrom.

P. L. 90.

418. Nothing in the act to which this is a supplement shall be taken as implying 4 June 1879 § 1. that any building, though incomplete or in course of construction, shall be subject to taxation, where said building was intended under provision of said act to be Incomplete buildexempt from taxation when completed. ings.

P. L. 354.

419. No portion of the real estate of any religious, charitable or benevolent asso- 30 March 1866 § 2. ciation or institution in the city of Philadelphia, which may be used for business purposes, shall be exempt from municipal or state tax, by reason of any act of Property used for assembly exempting the real estate or property of the said religious, charitable or business purposes. benevolent association or institution.

26 April 1893.
P. L. 25.

420. Whenever any real estate in the cities of the first class in this commonwealth, which has been exempt from taxation under the law, shall cease to be occupied and used for the purpose or purposes which entitled it to such exemption, it Property ceasing shall be the duty of the board of revision of taxes to add said real estate to the to be exempt. assessment books and to the duplicates thereof in the hands of the receiver of taxes, as taxable for the portion of the year commencing at the time when the right to exemption ceased, and said real estate shall thereupon become subject to taxation at the tax rate fixed for the year for the proportionate part of the year during which it is not entitled to exemption.

(7.) Payment of taxes.

421. The books of the receiver of taxes shall be opened on the first day of Jan- 11 June 1879 § 2. uary in each and every year, and the payment of taxes shall commence at that P. L. 180. time; and the receiver of taxes shall close the books of the preceding year the When payment to thirty-first day of December; public notice thereof shall be given fifteen days prior commence. thereto; and the receiver of taxes shall, immediately after the books are closed, Notice. proceed to register all delinquent taxes, and shall annually, on the fifteenth day of January, place the said register in the hands of the collector of delinquent taxes.

(8.) Refunding.

See amendment
21 May 1895,
P. L. 88,
Supp. 2602.

P. L. 302.

422. The receiver of taxes for the city of Philadelphia be, and he is hereby au- 80 June 1859 § 1. thorized and directed to refund all state and city taxes that may have been paid to and collected by him on duplicate and erroneous assessments (k) to the person or Taxes collected, or persons who may have so erroneously paid the same; all amounts to be refunded duplicate and out of the taxes collected in the respective wards, and in the respective years in erroneous assesswhich said errors occurred: Provided, however, That proper vouchers of allowance funded. of such errors by the city commissioners of said city shall be first furnished to the said receiver of taxes: And provided further, That the lien of the taxes on the real estate wrongfully paid shall not have been discharged by a judicial sale, or other

wise.

(9.) Delinquent taxes.

ments to be re

P. L. 569.

423. The receiver of taxes shall, on the first Mondays of October, November and 18 May 1856 § 8. December, give a general notice to all taxpayers, three times in three newspapers, to pay the taxes then due; and if not paid before the first day of the following General notice to January, interest will thereafter be charged thereon, and that the names of all de- taxpayers to pay linquent taxpayers will then be published according to law, and the names of the taxes due. delinquent taxpayers, when published, shall be alphabetically arranged for the sev

eral wards.

18 May 1857 § 2.

P. L. 489. Publication of names of delin

424. All laws or parts of laws now in force, requiring the receiver of taxes in the city of Philadelphia, to publish the names of all delinquent taxpayers, shall be construed as to apply to the taxes upon real estate in the said city of Philadelphia, quent taxpayers.

(i) Municipal assessments are taxes within this act. City v. Church, 14 W. N. C. 232. A cemetery company, exempted by its charter from local taxation, cannot be assessed for a municipal improvement. Olive Cemetery Co. v. Philadelphia, 93 P. S. 129. The exemption from taxation of churches includes a charge for water-pipe. War. Op. 1885, 78. But the pipe must be paid for before a permit is granted to use the water. Ibid. 89.

SO

(k) Taxes voluntarily paid where there has been no mistake of fact, cannot be recovered back on the ground that the party supposed he was bound in law to pay, even if he paid it under protest. Payment must have been made under compulsion to prevent the immediate seizure of goods, or the arrest of the person. Insurance Co. v. City, 101 P. S. 254. Peebles v. City, Ibid. 308.