town, railroad, bank and other corporations for facilitating the internal business thereof. Messages transmitted by Telegraph and Railroad Companies over their own wires, on their own business, for which they receive no pay, are not taxable. CONCERNING THE AFFIXING AND CANCELLATION OF STAMPS. SEC. 94, of the Excise Law, requires, "That on and after the first day of October, certain stamp duties shall be collected on all instruments, matters, and things, as described in schedule marked B." SEC. 95 provides: "That if any person or persons shall make, sign, or issue, or cause to be made, signed, or issued, any instrument, document, or paper, of any kind or description whatsoever, without the same being duly stamped for denoting the duty imposed thereon, or without having thereupon an adhesive stamp to denote said duty, such person or persons shall incur a penalty of $50; and such instrument, document, or paper shall be deemed invalid and of no effect." By the provisions of Sec. 95, the person who makes, signs, and issues the instrument is the only person who is authorized to affix the stamp required by the law; and the person who makes, signs, and issues, etc., without affixing the stamp, incurs the penalty as aforesaid, and is liable to prosecution therefor, and the instrument or document is invalid in consequence of such neglect. SEC. 99 provides: "That the person using or affixing the stamp shall write thereupon the initials of his name, date, &c.," and this requisition must be observed, except in the case of bills of exchange drawn in foreign countries. Other portions of the law impose penalties upon persons who receive documents or articles subject to stamp duty from the person who makes, signs, and issues them, without being duly stamped, etc. A faithful compliance with the requirements of the provisions of the Excise Law demands: First; That all papers subject to stamp tax must be stamped before the same are issued. Second; That the stamp so affixed must be cancelled in the manner prescribed, by the party making, signing, or issuing (in other words, executing) the instrument, document, or paper, either by writing or printing the initials, etc. The fourth section of the act passed 25th December, 1862, is construed to exempt from duty only those official instruments, documents, and papers issued or used by the officers of the United States Government, the duties on which, if paid, would be a charge upon the Treasury of the United States. This decision will apply also to official instruments, documents, and papers issued or used by the officers of a State. In all cases of conveyance of real estate by deed, the stamps used must answer to the value of the estate conveyed. When the consideration is nominal, the value of the property conveyed is the measure of the stamp duty. When an estate that is encumbered by mortgage or deed of trust is conveyed, subject to the encumbrance, the stamp must answer to the value of the equity, unless the payment of the mortgage debt is assumed by the grantor. When two or more persons join in the execution of an instrument the stamp to which the instrument is liable under the law may be affixed and cancelled by any one of the parties. No. 76. IN RELATION TO TOBACCO, CIGARS, SNUFF, &c. Representations have been made to this Office that parties who hold tobacco, and others who have been engaged in manufacturing cigars, are in the habit of making nominal sales of such tobacco at prices much below its present value, upon condition that certain quantities of cigars shall be received in payment, or in consideration therefor, at prices much below their value in the market; these and all similar transactions are a violation of the Excise Law, and Collectors and Deputy Collectors are authorized and required to seize tobacco and cigars which have been or are the subjects of such transactions, and proceed, under section 114 of the Excise Law, for the forfeiture of the same to the Government. The preparation of Maccaboy flour, or pulverized tobacco, is not regarded as a manufacture; but persons who prepare this article by pickling, sifting, and scenting, or by other processes, and sell the same, are regarded as manufacturers of snuff, and liable to taxatior. as such. -See Amendment to Sec. 75, New Law. No. 77. IN REGARD TO THE MANUFACTURE OF PATENTED ARTICLES. Whenever a person is the owner of a patent, or of the right to manufacture a patented article, and employs other parties to make such patented article, the patentee or owner of the patent-right will be regarded as the manufacturer, and the tax will be assessed upon the sales as made by him or his agents. No. 78. CONCERNING VENDORS OF MAPS, BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, &c. Itinerant vendors of maps in any form, or of books or pamphlets, other than those exempted by the words of the Excise Law, must take out licenses as peddlers of the first, second, third, or fourth class, as the case may be. The practice of obtaining subscriptions to such books, pamphlets, or maps, and of delivering them and receiving the money therefor at the time of subscription or afterwards, is held to be peddling under the Excise Law. Peddlers must obtain licenses of Collectors of the Districts in which said peddlers respectively reside, and, under such license, they can pursue their occupation in any part of the United States not prohibited to them by local law. No. 79. AS TO ARTICLES REMOVED FOR CONSUMPTION OR USE. Whenever a manufacturer shall use, or shall remove for consumption or use, any articles, goods, wares, or merchandise, which—if removed for sale-would be liable to taxation as manufactures, he shall be assessed on the saleable value of the articles, goods, wares, or merchandise so used, or so removed for consumption or use. It is not necessary, in order to render a manufacturer liable to taxation under this decision, that the articles so removed for consumption or use should be removed from the premises, or even from the building in which they were made. No. 80. CONCERNING COUPONS OF BONDS ISSUED BY, OR IN AID OF, A RAILROAD COMPANY. When bonds are issued by a State, county, city, or town, in aid of a railroad company, whereof the interest is to be paid by the company, the government tax of three per cent. must be withheld, although neither bond nor coupon may express the liability of the company; such an arrangement being virtually an endorsement of the company's bonds by the said State, county, city, or town. Whether the interest is paid by the State, county, city, or town, and received from the railroad company, or paid by the company directly to the bondholders, is immaterial. In either case, the managers of the company must account to the government for the tax. When bonds are issued by, or in aid of, a railroad company, the interest of which is made payable in a foreign country, such interest will not be subject to taxation under the 81st section of the Excise Law. No. 81. RELATIVE TO LEATHER TANNED, WHEN CURRIED OR FINISHED. Leather, tanned and removed from the place of manufacture prior to September 1st, is not liable to duty when curried or finished. All leather, whether damaged or sound, finished or curried in the interest of the parties who tanned the same, is subject to a duty of one cent per pound on the curried leather; provided, the specific tax had not been previously paid on the tanned leather. No. 82. CONCERNING THE ASSESSMENT AND COLLECTION OF TAXES WHERE THE LIABILITY EXISTED PREVIOUS TO MARCH 3D, 1863. The Act of the 3d instant, amending the Excise Law of July 1st, 1862, will not relieve parties from payment of taxes previously assessed, and from liability to assessment in all cases where such liability existed at the time of the passage of the first named Act. No. 83. CONCERNING READY-MADE CLOTHING. The provision in Sec. 1, of the amended law, exempting from tax clothing made to order, under $1,000, is construed to apply to such clothing or articles of dress, for men's, women's, or children's wear, as are made upon personal order at the shop or place of business of the manufacturer, by the person or persons for whom such articles are made or manufactured; and all clothing or articles of dress sold in quantities exceeding the ordinary personal wants of individuals, or in such quantity as to indicate that the purchaser intends to offer them for sale, will be subject to a duty of three per cent. ad valorem on the full amount of sales. No. 84. IN REGARD TO GROUND RENTS, ETC. [The following decision has just been rendered by Mr. Commissioner Boutwell in regard to Perpetual Leases of Land and Ground Rent Deeds, etc.]. I have received your letter of the 12th inst., with form of Lease of Land for ninety-nine years, with right of renewal for ever, and assignment of the same by the Lessee or his representative. I am of opinion that the Assignment or Deed, as it more properly is, must be stamped as a Conveyance. The Lease must also be regarded as a Conveyance, and when made it must bear stamp proportionate to its value. This valuation may be fixed by the market price, or by converting the annual rent into a capital sum at the legal rate of interest of the U. S., viz. six (6) per cent. |