Git IL'Og 
 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 Synopsis of dec 
 Conf Pam #392 
 
 DTTDn330Y 
 
SYNOPSIS OF DECISIONS 
 
 UNHER 
 
 THl^: CONFEDERATE TAX LAW. 
 
 PTTBTJ8TIKn ?.V ATTITOTUTV OF SKORETAEY OF TKFASTTRY 
 
 ACCOUNTS. — Open book accounts are to be taxed according to 
 their true value, on 1st of July, that value to be ascertained by 
 the Assessor in the best manner practicable, under the circumstances 
 of each case, by the oath of tlie tax-payer, and any other available 
 evidence. 
 
 APOTHECARIES may sell all such articles as are usually sold by 
 that class of dealers, without paying an additional specific lax, that is, 
 perfumes, soaps, brushes, combs, dye-stuff.-*, &c. 
 
 ARMY ST'TTLERS are liable to the taxes imposed on peddlers. 
 
 ARTICLES TAXED BY SECTION ONE.— If any of the arti- 
 cles taxed by section first of the tax act, arc sold by any person or 
 firm, Avhose business is required to be registered by section five, " the 
 ])roceeds of such sales will be subject to the same tax as that imposed 
 upon the sales of other articles by the same establishment; that is, 
 the payment of the ad valorem tax of 8 per cent, upon such articles 
 does not exempt the proceeds of their sale afterwards from the tax of 
 2 1-2 per cent, under section five, 
 
 ASSESSORS are not bound by the s*^^andard of valuation fixed 
 upon property by commissioners under the iuipressmeut laws ; Asses- 
 sors may be recommended, but cannot be appointed by District Col- 
 lectors, as the power to ajipoiut such is confined to State Collectors. 
 
 AUCTIONEERS. — Any person whose business it is to offer prop- 
 erty for sale to the highest and best bidder at public outcry, is an 
 auctioneer within the meaning of the act, whether a neighborhood 
 
crier In the country, or a re^rular auctiolheer in the city. But any 
 peraon not registered as an auctioneer may cry the official sales of 
 executive officers, personal representatives, &c., -without being subject 
 to the taxes on auctioneers. If an auctioneer " purchases, rents, 
 hires, or sells real estate or negroes" privately, he will be chargeable 
 with an additional specific tax as a commercial broker. A commission 
 merchant cannot exercise the privilege of an auctioneer without sepa- 
 rate registration and tax as such ; auctioneers are not liable to pay 
 upon sales made for a dealer who is registered and taxed and at the 
 place of business of. such dealer, witli the foregoing exceptions, and 
 the exception in case of the sale of stocks, kc, they are required to 
 pay a tax of 2" 1-2 per cent, on all sales made. Where auctioneers, 
 in ignorance of the law, have failed to retain the taxes upon sales, 
 thereby losing the amount, the Secretary of the Treasury has no 
 authority, undej^ the law, to remit any portion of such tax, and in 
 such cases Congress is the only power that can grant relief. Gov- 
 ernment officers selling at auction damaged corn, or other government 
 property, will not be liable to the tax imposed on auctioneers, nor will 
 the person who cries the sales for such officer be responsible, because 
 they are sales made by executive officers, and specially exempted under 
 paragraph tAvo, section five, tax act. The sales of land sold by an 
 auctioneer for the commissioner of a circuit court are not subject to the 
 tax of 2 1-2 percent. Tobacco inspectors who sell tobacco for farmers 
 and others at public outcry, are decided to be auctioneers under the 
 act, and will be registered and taxed accordingly. 
 
 BACON AND LARD are not agricultural products within the 
 meaning of section one, tax act, and are not subject to the ad valorem 
 tax of 8 per cent. 
 
 BAKER — A baker having more than one place of conducting the 
 business, will be required to pay a specific tax for each, so with other 
 businesses under section five, where the privilege is not conferred of 
 transacting the business without regard to the place where it is con- 
 ducted. Bakers can only sell the products of their bakery under that 
 registration. If they sell other articles they must pay the specific 
 tax on dealers, and the per centage on sales. The per centage on 
 sales of bread, cakes, &c., being one per cent., it would be unjust to 
 other dealers to allow bakers to sell other articles than their own 
 products under a baker's registration only. 
 
 BANKS. — The exception in paragraph one, section five, tax act, 
 in favor of banks authorized to issue notes of circulation, includes 
 their agencies. The agent does not come within the definition of 
 ''bankers," unless he does business on his own account, and is not 
 subject to the specific tax of $500. Banks are required to pay tax 
 on all their own moneys held on 1st of July, as well as upon general 
 deposits that go into the cash balance, and are paid out, loaned, or 
 used as other money by the banks. They will also be required, undei* 
 section fifteen of the tax act, to return and pay the tax on special 
 deposits also, unless the depositors themselves have made due return 
 thereof. 
 
 BANKERS. — An insurance company in receiving and paying out 
 

 the revenues of a State university, is regarded merely as a disbursing 
 agent, and not as a banker, and is, therefore, not subject to the tax 
 on bankers. 
 
 BONDS. — The interest on Confederate bonds is taxable as income 
 under section eight, act 24th April, 1863, (see ''credits.") The 
 guaranty of a State Legislature that the bonds of the State shall not 
 be taxable for any purpose whatever, is binding upon the State, but 
 not upon the Confederate States, otherwise a State Legislature might 
 exempt every other taxable object, and thus defeat the object of the 
 tax law entirely. A surety to a tax collector's bond cannot be relieved 
 of his suretyship by application to the Secretary of the Treasury. 
 The bond is a contract between the government and the parties signing 
 it, and is binding upon the obligors until the conditions of the obliga- 
 tion are performed. 
 
 BUTCHERS. — If a butcher carries on the business of a cattle 
 broker he shall register as such, and pay the taxes imposed on cattle 
 brokers. The two are separate and distinct, and cannot be conducted 
 under the same registration. The one is " to butcher and sell," the 
 specific tax being ;$50, and tax on sales one per cent, while in the 
 other case the tax on sales is 2 1-2 per cent, A farmer who may kill 
 and sell the llesh of one, two, or three beeves, or who may kill and 
 sell one occasionally, and who does not follow the business of oflfering 
 the ilesh for sale in open market or elsewhere regularly, is not a 
 butcher within the meaning of the act. Yet he will be required to 
 pay a tax on the income derived from such sales under section twelve, 
 tax act, 
 
 CATTLE. — By section twelve, the value of all neat cattle, horses, 
 mules and asses not used in cultivation, is taxed one per cent, to be 
 returned on 1st November, and tax paid on 1st January next. The 
 term •* neat cattle " as used in section twelve, means all domestic 
 animals of the bovine kind, and includes milch cows, calves, &:c. 
 
 CATTLE BROKER.— A farmer who buys lean cattle and fattens 
 them for sale, is not a cattle broker, but will be taxed upon the income 
 derived from the sale of such cattle under section twelve. 
 
 COMMISSION MERCHANTS and others taxable under section 
 five. The specific tax is for the year ending 31st December, 1863, 
 and the liability to pay the per centum on gross sales or profits 
 attaches from and includes the 24th April, 1863, the date of the act. 
 A person registered and taxed as a commission merchant can exercise 
 the privilege of a wholesale dealer, 
 
 COTTON. — All cotton held or owned on 1st July, is taxable at the 
 rate of 8 per cent, on its value, except cotton owned by the govern- 
 ment. If cotton or other property become liable to taxation, and was 
 afterwards taken away by the enemy or destroyed, this does not relieve 
 the owner or holder from payment of the tax. Nor would its- loss or 
 destruction in any other way relieve him from the tax after it had 
 once attached. No value is fixed on cotton by the department, it is 
 the duty of the person holding the cotton, when he makes return to 
 return it at its true value, according to quality, and the locality in 
 which it may be situated. If too low a valuation should thus be placed 
 
upon it, in the estimation of the Assessor, it will be the duty of that 
 officer in each particular tax district, to place such value upon it as 
 the same cm^lity of cotton would • command in that market under 
 ordinary circumstances of sale, that is, under circumstances of vol- 
 untary and unforced sale. The same rule will apply to the articles of 
 wool and tobacco, as well as to every other taxable article. Cotton of 
 the growth of any year prioi' to 1863, iu the hands of manufacturers 
 on 1st July, is liable to a tax of 8 per cent. Manufacturers selling 
 their own fabrics by the piece, and other articles, are subject to be 
 taxed as wholesale dealers, also to pay tax on their income ; and joint 
 stock companies and corporations to pay certain portion of annual 
 earnings set apart as dividend and reserved fund, according to the per 
 centum yielded on the capital stock. 
 
 Cotton in the Confederate States, hypothecated for goods iu Europe, 
 is liable to tax under section first. The' goods so obtained, that is 
 their gross sales, are also liable to 2 1-2 per cent, tax when sold in 
 the Confederate States. If first sold by an auctioneer, wholesale 
 dealer or commission merchant, the proceeds will be chargeable with 
 2 1-2 per cent, tax, and an additional 2 1-2 per cent, tax will be paid 
 by the next person selling, and so on until they reach the consumer. 
 The nett profits made by each business person or firm selling them 
 will also be taxed as income under section eight, if the income of the 
 seller from all taxable sources exceeds $500. 
 
 COTTON FACTORS are commission merchants in contemplation 
 of the law. 
 
 CREDITS. — Section one taxing credits, is to be construed in con- 
 nection with section eight, taxing incomes. The scheme of the law is 
 to lay an alternative tax of one per cent, on capital, or 5, 10, or 15 
 per cent, on incomes. It is not designed to tax capital and again the 
 interest, and this is the idea conveyed by the law when speaking of 
 credits " upon which the interest has not been paid." All interest 
 received during the year 1863 is subject to income tax, and no capital 
 tax is, therefore, designed to be laid upon the credits producing that 
 interest. The rule thus furnished, it follows that the one per cent, 
 tax is not laid upon credits upon which the interest due up to Ist of 
 July has been paid; but when the interest has not been paid the tax 
 falls upon the capital. *' Value of credits" is construed to mean the 
 principal and interest, if not paid, of all solvent credits, and the esti- 
 mated value of credits that the holder will swear are not Avorth the 
 principal and interest. " Credits employed in a business, the income 
 of which is taxed under the act," are exempt from the capital tax of 
 one per cent. To be entitled to exemption, the credits must form part 
 of, and be exclusively used in carrying on the business, and the money 
 derived from them must also be so* exclusively used when collected. 
 In case of Confederate and State bonds and stocks, where the interest 
 is payable at stated periods, and has been paid up to the last stated 
 period when it fell due, and the 1st July intervenes before the next 
 stated period arrives, the credit is not taxed as capital, but the whole 
 interest during the year must be returned as income on 1st January 
 next. Credits include all unliquidated demands and evidences of debt, 
 
such as notes, bonds, cevtificates of State, bank, railroad or other 
 stock, open accounts due and unpaid, kc, which are to be taxed as 
 capital according to their true value on July 1st, 1S63. The exemption 
 of credits employed in a taxed business under section first does not 
 include money, bank notes, or other currency. These are not 
 exempted. The tax on capital and interest, as decided long since, are 
 alternates. The same rule Avili follow dividends and stock. When 
 the dividend is exempted by rea.'jon of the capital stock having paid 
 its tax through the company, the individual stock is not subject to the 
 tax on credits. But if the company has not paid the tax on the divi- 
 dend, the individual stock is subject to the tax on credits. The tax 
 payer is not allowed to deduct his indebtedness from his credits, but 
 must return all his taxable credits regardless of what he owes. 
 
 CURRENCY. — All moneys, bank tiotes and other currency ( not 
 specially exempted in the tax act) on hand or on deposit on^lst July, 
 are taxed one per cent, no matter by whom held or controlled, or from 
 what source derived. The words '• otlier currency " as used in section 
 first are construed to include Confederate notes and all individual or 
 corporation notes issued for circulation, and generally received and 
 used as currency, or a medium of trade, in any community in the Con- 
 federate States. It is the intention of section first to tax all monies, 
 bank notes, or other currency on hand or on deposit on 1st day of 
 July, whether held by bankers, auctioneers, merchants, commission 
 merchants, farmers, lawyers or doctors, including all other persons, 
 firms, companies or corporations. So with all credits not exempted 
 under that section. Monies belonging to a State and held by its airents 
 and officers on 1st July, arc not liable to the tax imposed on monies, 
 bank notes, &c., under section first, tax act. 
 
 DEALERS. — Where a mercantile firm is registered as '• dealers " 
 under section five, the whole firm pays only one specific tax, because 
 the law only requires one. But (ack lav>\yer of a law firms pays the 
 specific tax, as also does each partner of an auction firm, because the 
 law declares in these o«ses, that the specific tax shall be deemed a tax 
 on the personal privilege, and is to be paid by each individual engaged 
 in the business, so also with physicians, dentists and peddlers. 
 
 A mercantile firm or any company of dealers will be required to 
 pay the tax on the joint income of the partners dorivedfrom the part- 
 nership business, and each partner, therefore, will not be required to 
 pay separately. Persons buying and selling land for themselves do 
 not seem to be dealers under section five. But the income derived 
 from such sales will be liable to taxation under section eight. 
 
 Traders buying and selling negroes on their own account do not 
 seem to be within the provisions of the tax act as dealers, but their 
 income will be taxed. The failure ou the part of Congress to include 
 this class would seem to be a casus omissus, as no good reason is per- 
 ceived why they should not be taxed as other dealers. The payment 
 of a specific tax and tax upon sales by any registered dealer does not 
 relieve such dealer from the income tax under section eight, tax act. 
 
 Proprietors of packet and other boats keeping bar-rooms on the 
 same, and retailing liquors, wines, &c., are to be ta.xed as retail 
 
dealers in liquors. They must register and pay the tax in the district 
 in which they reside. Persons who manufacture wines from grapes 
 or blackberries cannot sell the same without registration and payment 
 of the tax, as the law includes a// wines and all persons who sell without 
 exception. If a man registers as a wholesale dealer in liquors, he can 
 exercise the privilege of retailing under tlie same specific tax, but he 
 will be rc(iuired to pay 10 per cent, on all retail sales of liquors. 
 Detailed men manufacturing saltpetre for the government, under the 
 control and direction of executive officers, are not taxable as dealers, 
 (see manufacturers.) 
 
 DISTILLERS. — All persons or partnerships, who distill or manu- 
 factures spirituous liquors, for sale, are distillers Avithin the meaning 
 of article eight, section five, tax act, and whether they distill 
 exclusively for the government, on contract, or for others, are liable 
 to the taxes imposed upon distillers by the act. 
 
 Distillers are not taxed for every still used in the manufacture of 
 liquors, where several stills are run at the same place of business. 
 But if the business should be conducted in two or more distant 
 localities, a specific tax will be required for each. Distillers, and 
 "distillers of fruit for ninety days or less," are not required to pay 
 any other taxes for authority to sell the spirits by them manufactured 
 than those designated under paragraph eight, section five. 
 
 Where a person is engag'ed as a regular distiller, he is required 
 under paragraph eight, section five, to register as such and pay the 
 specific tax of $200 and 20 per centum on the gross sales. He will 
 be authorized to sell all his spirits without making any other registry, 
 or paying any other tax upon sales (always saving and excepting the 
 tax on nett income.) To distill fruit for ninety days or less is the 
 lesser privilege^ and is merged in the greater where a regular distiller 
 distils fruit; therefore, a regular distiller, registered as such, has to 
 pay no additional tax for the privilege of distilling fruit ; but he may, 
 on the contrary, under his registration, distill fruit or anything else, 
 and the spirits derived therefrom, when sold,'^are subject to the 20 per 
 cent, on their value, just like other spirits. But those wko only still 
 fruit for ninety days or less, pay only $60 specific tax for the time 
 so engaged (not to exceed ninety days,) and fifty cents per gallon for 
 the first ten gallons, and $2 per gallon on all spirits distilled beyond 
 that (juantity. 
 
 DWELLING HOUSES, &c. — Every person owning dwelling 
 houses or building lots in a city town or village, if not actually 
 rented to another, whether occupied by himself or not, will be required 
 to pay an income tax upon the estimated annual rent. This does not 
 apply to uncultivated lands in the country. The act does not tax 
 the estimated rent of lands not cultivated, or dwellings or other 
 buildings not in a city, town or villngc. 
 
 If the town buildings, streets, (fee, extend beyond the corporate 
 limits, such buildings arc deemed as being within the provisions of 
 the act, as well as those within the corporate limits, and so with 
 buildings, (fee, in a town or village not incorporated. 
 
 EATING IIOUSES.—If a stevyard's hall, or boarding house, for 
 
pupils of a school, belongs to and inures to the sole use and profit of 
 the school, it forms a part of the income of the school, and is not 
 taxable as an eating house. If the principal of a school, not being 
 the proprietor, but receiving a stated salary, keeps a boarding house 
 for pupils on his own account, six or more boarding with him, then 
 he is deemed to hfi the keeper of an eating house, and taxed according 
 to the class of the house, to be determined by the amount of estimated 
 or actual annual rent. Persons keeping restaurants, hotels and eating 
 houses, and those pursuing any other business, must make a separate 
 registration, and pay a separate specific tax, and the per centum on 
 sales for the privilege of selling liquors at retail. 
 
 '•FAMILY CONSUMPTION/'— The amount of agricultural 
 products authorized by section one, of the tax act, must not be more 
 than sufficient for the use or consumption of the tax payer, his white 
 family, house servants and family horses. 
 
 GAMBLING HOUSES.— The income and profits of a gambling 
 house not being exempted by the act, are subject to the tax. This 
 does not legalize or license gambling. If a tax payer holds, on the 
 first of July, a sum of money, he is bound to return the amount and 
 pay thereon, a tax of one per cent. The law does not enquire how he 
 came to possess it, whether by lawful or unlawful practices. He may 
 have stolen it. yet the receipt by the government of a tax thereon 
 would not legalize the theft. 
 
 HIRE. — The estimated annual hire of a cook on a plantation will 
 be taxed as income. The daily wages of an hired man cannot be taxed 
 as a salary, but such wages are income. 
 
 INCOME. — Persons returning income should return income and 
 profits derived from every investment of labor, skill, property or 
 money, nnd the income and profits derived from any source whatever 
 except salaries. The interest on Confederate bonds is an income 
 derived from the investment of money, and, therefore, taxable; so is 
 the interest on interest-bearing treasury notes. Income from all 
 sources, with the exceptions specified in the tax act should be returned 
 to the assessor. 
 
 When a joint stock company or corporation reserves the portion of 
 their annual earnings set apart as dividend and reserved fund, and 
 pays the same to the Collector, as required by article six. section 
 eight, tax act, then the dividend paid to the stockholder shall not be 
 estimated as a part of his income for the purpose of taxation. Interest- 
 bearing treasury notes being currency, are taxed one per cent, by 
 section one, excluding interest which is taxed as income. 
 
 Income and moneys of schools, colleges, kc, are exempt ; if the 
 teacher is proprietor, the income and moneys derived by him from the 
 school are exempt. P>ut if he is not proprietor, but employed at a 
 salary, his salary is not exempt, if above J? 1,000 per annum. (See 
 Dealers, Dwellings, Hire, kc.) 
 
 INTEREST. — Interest, at the rate of five per cent, per annum, will 
 only be allowed on Treasury Certificates up to the time the taxes fall 
 due for which they are received in payment, and not up to the time of 
 actual payment in cases where the same are paid after they are due. 
 
INTEREST-BEARING TREASURY NOTES.— Persons paying 
 their taxes with interest-bearing treasury notes will be allowed the 
 interest due thereon up to the time at which the tax was due and 
 pa^'able. 
 
 The holder of an interest-bearing treasury note cannot change it 
 by his endorsement to a permaraent investment, and thereby relieve it 
 from the tax on currency. Such endorsement would not bind the 
 person endorsing, or a new holder, the note being by its t^rms payable 
 to bearer. 
 
 LARD.— (See Bacon.) 
 
 LIQUORS, sold by commission merchants for others, pay the same 
 tax as other goods. But regular wholesale or retail dealers are pro- 
 hibited from selling liquors, nnder their registration as such ; and if 
 tlic}'- sell liquors, will have to do so under separate registry, paying 
 the tax of five or ten per cent., as the case may be. (See Dealers 
 and Distillers.) 
 
 LIVERY STABLES. — A person owning a stable, and keeping 
 horses and hacks, for the conveyance of passengers, baggage, &c., for 
 hire, is a livery stable keeper and subject to the tax. 
 
 MANUFACTURERS of saddlery, harness, &c., and dealers in the 
 same, selling artillery harness to the government, are decided to be 
 wholesale dealers and liable to registry and tax as such,. Manufac- 
 turers of all goods, wares and merchandize, are liable to a tax of 2 1-2 
 per centum upon their sales. Therefore, nails, candles, cotton and 
 Avoolca goods, cotton yarns, flour, shoes, boots, hats, clothing and other 
 articles of domestic manufacture are subject to the tax, whether sold 
 by the manufacturers themselves or their agents. 
 
 Manufacturers of fire-arms for the government, who sell to it under 
 contract, arc deemed wholesale merchants or dealers under the act, 
 and taxed accordingly. The income derived from the manufacturing 
 business is also taxed under section eight, ta.^ act. 
 
 Manufacturers of iron plates for ships, under special contract with 
 the government, are wholesale dealers, and liable to pay a -specific tax 
 and 2 1-2 per cent, upon all sales made. 
 
 jMERCHANTS, commission.— Paragraph thirteen, section 
 five, only exempts the sales of agricultural products, when sold by 
 commission merchants for the producers themselves. The sales of 
 negroes, whether sold for the persons v,'ho have raised them, or 
 others, arc not exempt. 
 
 MILLER. — A miller is not a mechanic within the meaning of the 
 proviso under paragrapli five, section five, of the tax act. 
 
 MOLASSES. — The tax on molasses is construed to apply exclu- 
 sively to that made of the West India sugar cane. It does not em- 
 ])race molasses made of the sorghum or any other substance. 
 
 MONEYS.— (See credits.) 
 
 xnAVAL STORES.— Salt, wines, and all the other articles 
 enumerated in section one, and agricultural products of the growth 
 of any year precceding the year lS(i3, and not necessary for family 
 consumption for the unexpired portion of the year, are subject to a 
 tax of eight per cent. It is immaterial in whose hands they are 
 
found on Ist Julj, the person then holding, p(Jssessing or controlling 
 them, is bound to return and pay the tax on them. 
 
 OFFICERS. — Under section thirty-nine, assessment act, no per- 
 son is eligible to any of the offices enumerated in the act -vvhcJ is 
 under forty years of age, unless he comes Tvithin one or the other of 
 the two classes of persons named in the latter part of the section. 
 Persons under the age of forty, who have furnished substitutes, and 
 who have not been disabled in the military service, or declared unfit 
 for military duty by the proper board are not eligible. Neither is 
 any person under the age named, eligible, unless he is within one or 
 the other of the exceptions. 
 
 POSTMASTER. — A postmaster whose compensation eousists of a. 
 certain per centage upon postage received, will not be taxed as a 
 salaried officer, but his commissio-is will be taxed as income, unless his 
 income from all taxable sources should not exceed §o()i). 
 
 PRODUCE. — The proceeds of the sale of produce consigned by 
 the producer to commission merchants, and sold on account of the 
 producer, are not taxed. The words, ."or produce consigned by 
 others than the producers," as used in paragraph thirteen, section 
 five, are construed to include agricultural products only. 
 
 PROPERTY. — The ad valoram tax on property in section one, is 
 
 laid upon the value of all the articles enumerated (and not excepted) 
 
 held or owned on the 1st of July, it must, therefore, embrace the 
 
 property of foreigners, as well as citizens, because no clause is found 
 
 . excepting the property of foreigners. « 
 
 REGISTRY. — Persons in bu'^iness on 24th April, 1863, who have, 
 before the 1st July, closed, will be required to register, stating the 
 fact, without paying the specific tax, only paying two and-a-half per 
 cent, on 'sales up to the time of closing busine!?it?. 
 
 RETURNS. — A person owning taxable property in a State other 
 than that of his residence, must see that it is duly returned in the 
 tax. district where situated. He may make the return in person or 
 by agent ; but he cannot make the return to any officer of another 
 State. Travelling speculators, having no fixed place of trade or 
 business, should be required to make return to the assessor of the 
 district, where they may be found and designated as not haying made 
 due return of their taxables. 
 
 If the tax payer is absent, the assessor should take the return of 
 the person controlling, whether wife, overseer or other agent. But 
 the assessor should see that a true return is made, and where there is 
 no one in charge, it is his duty under section eleven, assessment act, 
 to make lists himself. The trustee or guardian may return his own, 
 and the taxables of his ward or cestui que trust, at the same time and 
 in the same list, stating them separately to show what he is liable for 
 in each capacity. 
 
 Persons residing in one State, cannot legally return property 
 situated in another State, to any collector of the State in which thej 
 reside, but it must be returned to the assessor of the district where held. 
 
 SALARIES of ministers of the gospel, and teacheis, are taxed 
 •under section seven, of the tax act, if they exceed SlOou — unless the 
 
10 
 
 jainister is employed in the military or naval service of the Confede- 
 rate States, in which case his salary is exempt. The portion of a 
 Methodist ministers annual compensation, •which is called " diciplinary 
 allowance," i!s a salary within the meaning of section seven, and if it 
 exceeds the sum of Si'*"" per annum, is subject to the tax. The 
 allowance for family expenses, being contingent and uncertain in its 
 nature, is not considered •' salary," but will be considered as income. 
 
 Where the same person is in receipt of a salary less than $11)00 
 per annum, and an income less than $.50(),but in the aggregate, they 
 Tboth amount to more than $1000 the amount is neither taxable as 
 salary nor as income. 
 
 Any person other than those mentioned in the exceptions in sec- 
 tion seven, receiving tv.o or more salaries from different sources, 
 amounting together to more than $1000 per annum, though each 
 salary may be less, must return the aggregate and pay tax thereon. 
 
 SALT. — All salt held or owned on the 1st July, whether raanu- 
 lactured last year or this, is subject to the ad valorem tax of eight per 
 sent. The language in section one, " of the growth or production of 
 any year proceeding 1863," exclusively refers to agricultural pro- 
 qlucts, and does not include salt. 
 
 SAVINGS INSTITUTIONS are bankers within the meaning of 
 paragraph one, section five, tax act, and liable for the specific tax of 
 
 $5r>o. 
 
 SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY is the highest executive 
 Authority for deciding questions arising under the tax laws, and the 
 Attorney General has no power to review his decisions, therefore, 
 parties have no right to ask that the Secretary should submit any 
 .:>(nestion for the opinion of the Attorney General. 
 
 SLAVES. — The estimated value of the annual hire of all slaves, 
 not engaged in the cultivation of farms, or some other business, the 
 profits of which are taxed as income, is also to be taxed as income. 
 And this includes all house and body servants, whether in town or 
 the country, gardeners, cooks, nurses, kc. If negroes be engaged 
 partly in household and partly in planting duties, it will be proper to 
 include the value of partial hire for household work. (See hire.) 
 
 SPECIFIC TAX. — The payment of specific tax and tax on sales 
 &y any registered dealer, does not relieve such dealer from the income 
 Cax under section eight, tax act. The specific tax on any business or 
 profession is not subject to any deduction for the fraction of^the year 
 Ehat may have expired before the time of vegistration. Where the law 
 'leclares any specific tax to be imposed on the personal privilege, each 
 individual inem'ber of any firm engaged in a business or profession so 
 taxed, shall pay such specific tax. 
 
 STOCKS and money credits sold by auctioneers, are liable to a tax 
 of one-fourth of one per cent, on gross amount of sales. No tax 
 apon sales of such stocks, &c., when disposed of at private sales. 
 (See credits.) 
 
 SUGARS impressed in the hands of commission merchants, and 
 the price tliereof fixed by commissioners under the impressment laws, 
 are liable to a rax of two and-a-half per centum on the sales thereof 
 
n 
 
 to the government, such sales — though under impressment — being 
 legal sales to the government. Where sugars or other property is 
 seized by the government, the sale is not eftected until the price 
 thereof is fixed by the appraisers. 
 
 TANNER. — A tanner who purchased in 1862. a tan yard and the 
 stock on hand 's\ ill be liable to the tax on profits imposed by section 
 ten, if any such stock was tanned leather when he purchased, provided 
 he sold such leather during the same year. He will not be so liable 
 upon the profits derived from' sales of leather which, when purchased, 
 had not been s-ufficiently changed from its original condition as raw 
 hides to be denominated katJier. 
 
 TAX IN KIND. — If the wheat or other crop of a farmer has been 
 80 damaged by the overflowing of streams as to prevent its being 
 harvested or gathered, the tax in kind for such crop shall not be levied. 
 In each case the facts should be investigated by the Assessor, and the 
 full extent of the damage ascertained. A farmer having his wheat 
 threshed and paying a part as toll will Be required to pay the tithe 
 upon the toll as well as his other wheat. Only farmers, planters, and 
 graziers are liable to the tax in kind imposed under section twelve 
 upon all the hogs slaughtered, &c. If any other person should 
 slaughter hogs he will be liable to an income tax upon his profits. 
 
 Only the peas, beans, and ground peas that have been gathered are 
 subject to the tax in kind. Such as are not gathered, but fed to hogs, 
 kc, in the field are ]iot subject to the tithe, and only the cured hay and 
 fodder are so subject ; all other crops which are named in section eleven 
 are subject to the tithe Avhether gathered or not. 
 
 If a planter or farmer has two farms he is not entitled to the reser- 
 vation of wheat, &c., for each farm, but the reservation can only be 
 made from the aggregate production whether he has one or several 
 farms. Where two or more persons farm together jointly, the reser- 
 vation does not enure to each, but they are all considered one person 
 for the purpose of taxation, as they are so held in law for purposes of 
 trade as co-partners. If a farmer has sold his whole crop of wool or 
 a part, or of other articles subject to the ,lax in'kind, the estimate of 
 the whole must, nevertheless, be made, and the tithe and money value 
 thereof ascertained. It will be the duty of the post quartermaster to 
 determine whether the tithe shall be paid in kind, and if not, whether 
 the penalty of double tax shall be enforced when the estimate shall be 
 returned to the district collector. 
 
 When the tax payer refuses to return his produce, and to select a 
 referee, and the Assessor cannot find persons willing to act as referees, 
 he is required, under- section ten. tax act to enter the premises and 
 make the estimate and assessment himself, which shall be transferred 
 to the post quartermaster as other estimates. 
 
 TOBACCO. — All tobacco, manufactured or unmanufactured, grown 
 prior to the year 1863, is taxed 8 per centum by section one tax act. 
 The manufacturer of tobacco is not considered a producer in contem- 
 plation of law, and commission merchants are liable for the 2 1-2 per 
 centum tax upon sales of tobacco for the manufacturer. In valuing 
 tobacco in a public warehouse, if the same has not been inspected, and 
 
12 
 
 the liolder or owner neglects to have it inspected 30 as to furnish the 
 Assessor with the facilities for ascertaining the true value thereof, then 
 the Assessor shall value all such tobacco as belonging to the best 
 grades accordinir to mercantile custom or classification. 
 
 Manufacturers of tobacco and- all other manufacturers selling their 
 own products are to be registered and taxed as dealers, wholesale or 
 retail, as the facts in each case may require. Manufacturers of tobacco 
 and all other manufacturers selling their products exclusively, 
 through the agency of a commission merchant, are not required to 
 register and pay the tax on dealers. 
 
 The producer of tobacco holding the same on 1st July, is subject to 
 the tax of 8 per cent, but not liable as a dealer for selling the same. 
 VALUATION OF CREDITS.— The value of credits means 
 the principal and interest due to 1st July, added ; that is, if the credits 
 be solvent. If they are not solvent, the tax payer will be required to 
 so state under oath, and they^ will be valued according to the best 
 evidence the nature of the case will admit of by the Assessor. 
 
 WOOL produced in 1863 is to be taxed in kind, and the farmer is 
 not privileged to commute iy paying the estimated Value thereof. The 
 product of wool produced any year prior to the year 1863, pays a tax 
 of 8 per cent, ad iialorem. 
 
 THOMPSON ALLAN, 
 Commissioner of Taxes. 
 
 
pH 8.5