execution fees; such sale shall pass the absolute title to said franchises and property sold thereunder free and clear of all liens and encumbrances whatever, except of other taxes levied thereon; such notice, advertisement and publication of such sale shall be given not less than four weeks, as shall be directed in the order for execution, and no other notice, advertisement or publication shall be necessary. (P. L. 1886, p. 404.) Attorney- act as counemploy sel, and may assistants. 181p. Sec. 5. That the Attorney-General shall act as counsel to said board, and, with the approval of the Governor and Comptroller, the Attorney-General shall employ such assistant attorneys or counsel as may be necessary to assert and protect the rights of the State in the examination and proceedings authorized by this act, and such assistants shall be paid by the State such compensation as may be approved Compensaby the State Board of Assessors, nor shall the total amount expended under this act exceed the sum of seven thousand dollars. (P. L. 1886, p. 405.) 182. Sec. 18. That any railroad or canal company claiming exemption from taxation under this act, by reason of any alleged contract with the State, shall, together with and in addition to the return required by the last section, make a further return specifying the act or acts of the Legislature by which such contract is claimed to have been created, and also specifying what portion of the property of said railroad or canal company is claimed to be exempt from taxation under this act and the particulars thereof, and the cost and value thereof, and such other particulars as the charter of said company and as the said board may require, and the particulars as to character, location and value of the property, if any, admitted to be liable under this act; such return shall be in no manner conclusive as to any of the facts therein stated, but said board shall investigate and determine whether any, and if any, what portion of the property of such company is by contract beyond the power of the State to tax under this act; and shall ascertain the cost and value thereof, and shall estimate the tax to be paid by such company; the residue of said property shall be assessed, tion of, Company emption to tional return. claiming ex file addi Unlawful for company exempt from taxation to acquire property unless agreement made. Penalty for neglecting to apportioned, valued and taxed pursuant to the provisions of this act. (P. L. 1888, p. 282.) 183. Sec. 19. That it shall not be lawful for any railroad or canal company having any contract with the State whereby any of their property is exempted from the taxation imposed by this act, to acquire and hold, directly or indirectly, any property in this State (except such property as such company may be entitled to acquire and hold pursuant to their said contract with this State, if such company has any charter provisions on this subject which the Legislature cannot abrogate or repeal), unless such company shall, by a written instrument, executed under their common seal, approved by the Attorney-General and filed with the Secretary of State, first agree that any and all property acquired by such company after the passage of this act shall be subject to taxation under the provisions of this act, or any amendments thereto, or any further act of the Legislature, in which case such property shall be so subject. (P. L. 1888, p. 282.) 184. Sec. 20. That if any person or corporation running, make returns. operating or constructing any railroad or canal shall willfully neglect to make returns, as required by this act, such person or corporation shall forfeit as a penalty not more than ten thousand dollars, to be assessed by the jury, for each offence, to be recovered in any proper form of action in the Supreme Court, in the name of the State, and paid into the State Treasury; it shall be the duty of said board to certify any such default to the Attorney-General of the State, and it shall be the duty of the Attorney-General to prosecute for such penalty; any person who shall make falsely any oath required to be made under this act, and any person who shall testify falsely when called to testify under this act, shall be guilty of perjury, and on conviction thereof shall be liable to all the penalties prescribed by law therefor. (P. L. 1888, p. 283.) NOTE.-The following act of 1911 (P. L. 1911, p. 580) is a further supplement to the railroad tax act of 1888, and is here inserted for convenience of reference. Assessment of property omitted in returns to State assessors. 184a. Sec. 1. Whenever real estate, subject to taxation as property used for railroad or canal purposes, has been or shall be omitted from assessment under the provisions of the act to which this is a supplement by the failure of the company using the same to return the same to the State Board of Assessors for valuation and assessment or otherwise, it shall be lawful for the State Board of Assessors upon the complaint of the county board of taxation of the county wherein such property is situated, or upon the complaint of any taxpayer therein, in case it finds that such property has been omitted from its assessment, to cause such real property to be assessed by it, for such omitted years, under the provisions of the act to which this further supplement and the acts supplementary thereto and amendatory thereof; that Review of the said State Board of Assessors shall meet on a day to be fixed by them, not later than twenty days after the making of said assessments, of which immediate notice shall be given by said board to the companies affected thereby, for the purpose of reviewing their said assessments, and may adjourn. from time to time until they have finished the hearing; that not more than thirty days shall be spent by said board in said review, and the amount of taxes fixed by said board shall be due and payable into the State Treasury on or before fifteen days after the time limited for the review by said board of said assessments (a). (P. L. 1911, p. 580.) Constitutionality.—The attempt in this act to go back five years in the case of railroad property is in violation of the provisions of the constitution. Tunnel and Terminal Co. v. State Board of Assessors, 84 N. J. L. 49, reversed 87 N. J. L. 239. This supplement does not violate the requirement in art. 4, sec. 7, par. 12 of the constitution that property shall be assessed for taxes under general laws and by uniform rules. Penna. T. & T. R. R. Co. v. Hendrickson, 87 N. J. L. 239. The said supplement does not violate the provision of the fourteenth amendment to the federal constitution prohibiting the denial by any state to any person within its jurisdiction of the equal protection of the laws. Penna. T. & T. R. R. Co. v. Hendrickson, 87 N. J. L. 239. (a) The rights and duties of the State Board of Assessors, referred to in the six sections of this supplement, have been assumed by the State Board of Taxes and Assessment. (See pars. 166a and 166c, ante.) assessments. Time for levying taxes limited. Amount Credit for taxes paid locally. Rates to be used. Disposition of taxes received. NOTE. This act, a supplement to the act for taxation of railroad and canal property (P. L. 1888), providing for assessment and taxation of real estate omitted by reason of failure of the owner to make returns thereof, is retroactive as well as prospective in its operation; and supersedes, as to matters within its purview, the provisions in sec. 12 of the original act with relation to waiver of complaint of omission not made before the third Monday of November in each year. Penna. T. & T. R. R. Co. v. Hendrickson, 87 N. J. L. 240. See par. 176, ante. 184b. Sec. 2. The power of the State Board of Assessors to levy taxes upon omitted property used for railroad or canal purposes shall be limited to a period of five years next preceding the filing of the complaint aforesaid. (P. L. 1911, p. 581.) 184c. Sec. 3. The said board shall certify the amount of said assessments to the Comptroller, in detail, and shall divide the same into taxing districts so that the amount assessed for each year in each taxing district shall appear; the same remedies shall exist for the collection of said taxes as exist for the collection of taxes regularly assessed under the provisions of the acts to which this is a further supplement. (P. L. 1911, p. 581.) 184d. Sec. 4. Any company or corporation which shall have paid any tax for said omitted years under an assessment made upon said property or any part thereof by the local assessors, shall be entitled to receive a credit for such payment upon the assessment made hereunder by proving such payment to have been made to the satisfaction of the State Board of Assessors during the time herein authorized for the review of said assessments. (P. L. 1911, p. 581.) 184e. Sec. 5. The State board, in making said assessments for the different classes of property, shall adopt and use the average State rate and the local rates in the respective taxing districts that have prevailed for the years when said property should have been assessed. (P. L. 1911, p. 581.) 184f. Sec. 6. The taxes collected by the Comptroller under the provisions of this supplement shall be applied to the extent of one-half of one per centum on said valuation and assessment to the use of the State. The balance of said taxes over and above one-half of one per centum shall as and when collected by the Comptroller be allotted and paid over to the several taxing districts wherein said lands and real estate are located for the municipal purposes thereof, according to said valuations and assessments as ascertained and divided by the State Board of Assessors hereunder; said taxes so paid shall be used by said taxing districts first for the payment of the expenses incurred in proceedings taken to subject said property to taxation and then for the sinking funds established or to be established for bond issues other than special street improvement bonds. (P. L. 1911, p. 581.) 185. Sec. 21. That all railroad companies in this State, which shall hereafter pay any taxes imposed by this act on any cars, hired, leased, run or used on the roads of such companies in this State, shall have a right of action against the company or persons owning such cars, for the taxes so paid, with interest thereon from .date of payment, and may sue for and recover the same in any court of competent jurisdiction; but nothing in this section shall be so construed as to avoid the obligation of any contract relating to the payment of taxes heretofore entered into or made between any such company, its agents, or person owning such cars, and any such railroad company. (P. L. 1888, p. 283.) 186. Sec. 22. That if any company shall be in default under this act in payment of the State tax aforesaid, any person having any interest in a mortgage or other lien on its franchises or property, may pay the State Treasurer the amount of such State tax, and the interest due thereon, and receive from said treasurer a certificate of such payment, and such person shall thereupon be entitled to be repaid the amount of said tax and interest thereon at the rate of twelve per centum per annum out of the first proceeds of any sale of the franchises or property of said company, and such tax and interest thereon shall continue a lien on the franchise and property of the company for the benefit of the holder of or person interested in such mortgage or lien until paid by said company from the sale of its franchises or property; if any proceedings have been taken by the Attorney-General to enforce the payment of said tax and interest thereon, then Companies on cars to have right paying tax hired, etc., of action against owners. Payment of company in tax when default. |