CHAPTER XVI.

PROCEEDINGS UNDER THE NEW YORK CHARTER TO COLLECT A TAX.

The provisions of the New York Charter govern the collection of taxes in that city, but these provisions are supplemented by the Tax Law, in so far as the charter may be silent or fail to direct the method of collection.

Corrected roll to be delivered to receiver of taxes.-The board of aldermen must also cause the assessment rolls of each borough, when corrected according to law, and finally completed, or a fair copy thereof, to be delivered to the receiver of taxes in and for the city on or before the twenty-eighth day of March, with the proper warrant or warrants annexed, signed by the president of said board and countersigned by the city clerk, directing and requiring him to collect from the several persons named in the assessment rolls the several sums mentioned in the last column of such roll opposite to their respective names, and to pay the same from time to time, when so collected, to the chamberlain of the city. (Sec. 911, Charter, as amended by ch. 455, L. 1911.)

Source: Sec. 833, ch. 410, L. 1882; sec. 27, ch. 121, L. 1850; art. 2, sec. 2, ch. 230, L. 1843.

The provision requiring the rolls to be delivered to the receiver of taxes on or before a certain date is directory and not mandatory. A delay of eighteen days in the delivery of the rolls does not vitiate the assessment. City v. Watt, 40 Misc. 595; People ex rel. Rome, W. & O. R. R. v. Haupt, 104 N. Y. 377; Bradley v. Ward, 58 N. Y. 408. The failure to follow this provision of the charter does not vitiate the tax. It is merely directory. City of N. Y. v. Ferris, 91 App. Div. 223, (1904).

There is a presumption in favor of the regularity of the acts. of public officials, and, if the warrant annexed to the assessment

roll is signed by the vice-president of the board of aldermen instead of by the president of the board, it may be assumed that it was done under the authority of section 23 of the New York Charter, vesting him in certain cases with the duties of the president. City of New York v. Streeter, 180 N. Y. 507 (1905); aff'g 91 App. Div. 206.

A penalty is provided by statute, if the board refuse or neglect to deliver the assessment rolls or make the necessary alterations required by section 910 of the charter.

Penalty for board of aldermen's neglect.—If the board of aldermen shall wilfully refuse or neglect to perform any of the duties required of them by the two preceding sections, each member so refusing or neglecting shall forfeit to the City of New York, the sum of five hundred dollars, to be recovered in a civil action; and shall also be punishable for a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall forfeit his office. (Sec. 912, Charter.)

Source: Sec. 834, ch. 410, L. 1882 (Consolidated Act) without change of substance.

The "two preceding sections" referred to in the above paragraph are sections 911 and 910 of the New York Charter, the first relating to the delivery of the assessment-rolls to the receiver of taxes, and the second to the duties of the board of aldermen, in relation to the alteration of the assessment-rolls and the writing in of the tax, and to the estimating of the amount of the tax opposite each assessment in the rolls. (supra.)

Where taxes are payable.-The receiver of taxes, upon receiving the assessment rolls and warrants, shall immediately cause the assessment roll and warrants for each of the several boroughs wherein he shall have an office to be delivered at and filed in such office, and shall thereafter proceed to collect and receive said taxes from the several individuals and corporations assessed in the said assessment rolls in the manner hereinafter prescribed. (Sec. 913 of the Charter.)

Source: In substance the same as sec. 840, chap. 410, L. 1882. Receiver responsible for subordinates' acts.-Section charter, provides for the receiver of taxes giving a bond and by

152,

section 156 of the New York Charter, he is made liable for the acts and faults of deputies appointed by him. Upon the receiver rests the duty of the collection of taxes and he is responsible for the acts of subordinates. People ex rel. Tate v. Dalton, 41 App. Div. 460 (1899).

Receiver of taxes to give public notice.- The receiver of taxes shall immediately after he shall have received the assessment rolls give public notice for at least five days in the City Record and in such newspaper or newspapers published in the several boroughs as may be designated by the board of City Record, or in default of any newspapers being published in any borough, in such newspaper or newspapers having a general circulation in such borough as the board of City Record shall direct, that said assessment rolls have been deliv ered to him and that all taxes shall be due and payable at his office in the said respective boroughs as follows:

All taxes upon personal property and one-half of all taxes upon real estate shall be due and payable on the first day of May and the remaining and final one-half of taxes on real estate shall be due and payable on the first day of November. All taxes shall be and become liens on the real estate affected thereby on the respective days when they become due and payable as hereinbefore provided, and shall remain such liens until paid. The second half of the tax on real estate which is due as hereinbefore provided on the first day of November following the payment of the first half, may be paid on the first day of May or at any time thereafter, providing the first half shall have been paid or shall be paid at the same time and on such payments of the second half as may be made in such manner prior to November first, a discount shall be allowed from the date of payment to November first at the rate of four per centum per annum. (Sec. 914, Charter, as am'd by ch. 455, L. 1911.)

Source: In substance the same as sec. 841, chap. 410, L. 1882 (Consol. Act), except as to the time of payment. The provision of rebate for prompt payment was omitted by ch. 447, L. 1908.

The Revised Charter of 1901 established a uniform date on which taxes became due and payable, from which time a lien attaches to real estate taxed. The date is now the first day of May in the case of personal taxes, but real estate taxes may be paid in two equal payments, one-half on May first, and the remaining half on November first following. (Chapter 455, Laws

of 1911.) Prior to the Charter of 1901, the date of payment was not uniform, varying with the time when the tax rolls were delivered to the receiver of taxes and he had given notice thereof. Much confusion also existed as to the date when the lien on real estate attached. See Burr v. Palmer, supra; Lathers v. Keogh, supra.

The provision for a rebate formerly allowed for prompt payment of taxes under Section 915 of the charter has been repealed by Chapter 447, Laws of 1908, Section 2.

Interest on unpaid taxes.-If any tax on personal estate or the first one-half of any tax on real estate shall remain unpaid on the first day of June, after it shall become due and payable, it shall be the duty of the receiver of taxes to charge, receive and collect upon such tax so remaining unpaid on that day, interest upon the amount thereof, at the rate of seven per centum per annum, to be calculated from the day on which said taxes or such part thereof became due and payable, as provided by section nine hundred and fourteen of this act, to the date of payment; and such increase of percentage shall be paid over and accounted for by such receiver from time to time, as a part of the tax collected by him. If the final half of any tax on real estate shall remain unpaid on the first day of December, after it shall be due and payable, it shall be the duty of the receiver of taxes to charge, receive and collect upon such tax so remaining unpaid on that day, interest upon the amount thereof at the rate of seven per centum per annum, to be calculated from the day on which said final half of said tax became due and payable, as provided by section nine hundred and fourteen of this act, to the date of payment; and such increase of percentage shall be paid over and accounted for by such receiver from time to time, as a part of the tax collected by him. (Sec. 916 Charter, as am'd by ch. 455, L. 1911.)

It shall be the duty of the said receiver, in person or by his deputies, to charge, collect and receive upon all taxes or portions thereof remaining unpaid on and after the first days of June and December respectively, as provided in section nine hundred and sixteen of this chapter, interest at the rate of seven per centum per annum to be calculated from the days on which the respective parts of said taxes become due and payable as provided by section nine hundred and fourteen of this act. (Sec. 917 Charter, as am'd by ch. 455, L. 1911.)

Corporations; tax for, how collected. The said receiver of taxes shall proceed in enforcing the collection and payment of taxes against

corporations or associations and their officers and directors, or trustees, in the same manner as against individuals; such taxes shall be paid out of the funds of the company and shall be ratably deducted from the dividends of those stockholders whose stock was taxed, or shall be charged upon such stock, if no dividends be afterward declared. (Sec. 921, Charter.)

Source: In substance same as sec. 848, chap. 410, Laws of 1882, as amended by chap. 58, L. 1892.

No personal notice required.-No personal notice is required. to be given to a corporation or its officers before bringing suit for payment of unpaid tax. Austen v. Westchester Telephone Co., 8 Misc. 11 (1894); City v. Watt, 40 Misc. 595 (1903).

Sections 922-24 of the charter refer to the method of keeping the receiver's accounts and the disposition of his daily receipts. Section 925 provides for the designation by the comptroller of a person to perform the receiver's duties in case of sickness or absence.

Receiver's account of taxes received; how to be kept.-It shall be the duty of the receiver, and of deputy receivers, from time to time, to enter in a column, to be made for that purpose, upon the assessment rolls in his possession, opposite to the names of the persons mentioned therein, and who shall pay their tax, as aforesaid, to the receiver of taxes, personally or by deputy, the fact of such payment, the amount thereof, and the day when paid, and to enter into suitable books, to be kept for that purpose, on each day such payment, and the names of the parties respectively on whose account the same were paid; and at the expiration of the office hours, and on the same day, he shall furnish to the comptroller of the said city, personally or by deputy, a detailed statement of such sums, of the borough for which received, and the names of the parties respectively on whose account the same have been paid, which shall be filed by the said comptroller in his office. The comptroller shall, on each day, immediately after receiving from said receiver or deputy the statement, compare the same with a voucher furnished to him by the chamberlain for the payment thereof to the chamberlain, and if the aggregate amounts thereof shall correspond, shall credit the said receiver of taxes in his books with such amount. (Sec. 923, Charter.)

Source: In substance the same as sec. 850, Consol. Act, chap. 410, L. 1882.