HOUSE No. 125 REPORT OF THE TAX COMMISSIONER OF THE Commonwealth of Massachusetts, FOR THE YEAR ENDING December 31, 1874. BOSTON: WRIGHT &, POTTER, STATE PRINTERS, 79 Milk Street (corner of Federal). 1875. Commomomltl) of Jftassacljusette. Treasury Department,Boston, \ February 3, 1875. / To Hon. John E. Sanford, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Sir :—l have the honor to transmit through you to the legislature the Annual Report of the Deputy Tax Commis- sioner made to this Department, And am, with great respect, Your obedient servant, CHAS. ADAMS, Jr., Treasurer and Tax Commissioner. (ftommontomltl) of iftaosacljuoctts. Tax Commissioner’s Office, Boston, \ February 3, 1875. / Hon. Charles Adams, Jr., Tax Commissioner. Sir :—The following tables exhibit a summary statement of the results of the Corporation Tax Law for the current year:— Whole amount of Taxes assessed under Chanter 283, Acts of T865. General list, ........$1,314,871 47 On Coal, Mining, Quarrying and Oil Compan- ies,— May assessments, $3,195 13 November assessments, ....2,099 52 5,294 65 Aggregate of assessments, .... $1,320,166 12 Taxes of 1874, paid to Jan. 1, 1875,— General list, $1,299,050 96 ~ Under section eight, . 3,464 30 Taxes of 1874 unpaid,— General list, 13,077 49 Abatements, ..... 2,743 02 Under section eight, . 1,840 35 51,320,166 12 TAX COMMISSIONER’S REPORT. [Feb. The following statement exhibits the outstanding unpaid taxes of Corporations on the general list, and the changes during the year: Taxes of 1870,— Outstanding, Dec. 31, 1873, . $ll5 80 Outstanding, Dec. 31, 1874, . $ll5 80 Taxes of 1871,— Outstanding, Dec. 31, 1878, . $5,658 49 Amount paid, .....3,339 00 Outstanding, Dec. 31, 1874, ..... 2,319 49 Taxes of 1872,— . Outstanding, Dec. 31, 1873, . $1,587 64 Amount paid, ..... 108 97 Outstanding, Dec. 31, 1874, ..... 1,478 67 Taxes of 1873,— Outstanding, Dec. 31, 1873, . $22,165 98 Amount paid, .... 13,554 35 Abatements, ..... 7,778 46 Outstanding, Dec. 31, 1874, . 833 17 833 17 Taxes of 1874,— Outstanding, Dec. 31, 1874, ..... 13,077 49 Aggregate of unpaid taxes, .... $17,824 62 The amount accruing to the Commonwealth under the operation of the law for the current year is as follows : From GeneralList Corporations,— Net amount assessed, ......$1,312,128 45 Amount due to cities and towns, .... 984,839 15 Balance accruing to the Commonwealth: $327,289 30 From corporations under section eight, . 5,294 65 Total amount accruing to the Commonwealth, $332,583 95 1875. HOUSE—No. 125. Of the amount oftax assessed the present year, the sum of $984,839.15 has been paid and will be payable under the terms of the law to the various cities and towns of the Com- monwealth. A table is appended, marked “ C,” giving the amounts to which each city or town is entitled. As usual, a distribution of that portion of the above amount which had been collected on the twenty-seventh day of November, was made and certified in season to be offset against the amounts due from the cities and towns on account of the state tax on the first of December. The amount collected at that date was . $1,218,378 05 distributed, was 943,781 76 The amount retained was $274,596 29 The comparative valuation of the capital stock and real estate of corporations during the years 1873 and 1874 is as follows: In 1873, $233,437,610 86 1874, 235,021,537 75 Excess of 1874, $1,583,926 89 The value of real estate and machinery,— In 1873, $156,200,129 00 1874, 166,712,730 08 Excess of 1874, $10,512,601 08 The aggregate excess on which a tax was laid,— In 1873, $90,938,561 07 1874, 84,775,750 50 Excess of 1873, $6,162,810 57 This result is due to the general depression in business which has prevailed during most of the year, and probable that an even more unfavorable result must be looked for next year. The tshrinkage in values will, however, affect TAX COMMISSIONER’S REPORT. [Feb. to some extent the value of the fixed property of corporations, as well as their stock, while the general tendency to a higher rate of taxation will tend to increase the amount of revenue derivable from this source. The year for which accounts are kept in this office is neces- sarily the year for purposes of taxation, commencing May first. The following table has been prepared to connect the accounts of this office with those of the reports of the Treas- urer and Auditor, which relate to the financial year, com- mencing with January first. The whole amount realized by the Commonwealth during the financial year ending December 31, 1874, has been : From taxes of 1874,— General list distributed, ..... $302,570 98 not distributed, ..... 15,923 32 Mining list, . • . 3,454 30 $321,948 60 Taxes of previous years collected in 1874, General list, ..... $5,456 73 Mining list, ..... 3,368 28 8,825 01 Total amount realized, ..... $330,773 61 To harmonize this result with that which appears in the Treasurer’s Report, there should be added, — The amount now in the treasury to be distributed among the cities and towns, .... $37,179 57 Amount belonging to cities and towns on account of the distribution in November, not called for December 31, 1874, ...... 116 76 $368,069 94 And there must be deducted the amount paid during the year to cities and towns on account of collections of previous years, . $173,057 52 carried . 52 Amounts forward , $173,057 $368,069 94 1875.] HOUSE—No. 125. Amounts brought forward, $173,057 52 $868,069 94 Amount advanced to towns on ac- count of equalization of claims, . 212 57 Taxes under section eight, reported in the Treasurer’s books sepa- rately, 6,822 58 — 180,092 67 Treasury balance. ...... $187,977 27 By comparing this year’s report with last, it will be seen that, while the apparent balance to the credit of the law is much smaller than last, the actual net revenue realized by the Commonwealth, the present year, is $330,773.61 against $326,800.34 realized last year. This apparent discrepancy is explained by the fact that considerable collections were made in 1873, quite up to the close of December, which could not be paid over till the beginning of 1874. Thus the amount in the treasury due cities and towns, January 1, 1874, was $181,861.80 against $37,179.57 so remaining, January 1, 1875. The collections have been made with remarkable promptness the present year,—a somewhat noticeable matter, in view of the dullness of business. Whole amount paid by Coal, Mining, Quarrying and Oil Companies during the year ending December 31, 1874, is as follows: Taxes of 1870, .... $22 32 of 1871, .... 256 74 of 1872, .... 456 74 of 1873, .... 2,637 j 48 53,373 28 Taxes of 1874, 3,454 30 Aggregate of collections in 1874, . $6,827 58 Whole amount of Mining, etc., taxes assessed in 1874: Taxes paid, $3,454 30 unpaid January 1, 1875, . 1,840 35 55,294 65 2 TAX COMMISSIONER’S REPORT. [Feb. The whole number of Massachusetts corporations and charters to which my attention has been directed the present year, is . 1,319 Of this number 14 have been dissolved by the courts or are in process of dissolution, and 105 new corporations have been chartered or organ- ized, leaving as the number of corporations and charters to be reported, December 81, 1874, . 1,305 The authorized net increase of capital in the State during the year is as follows ; Authorized by special Act,— New corporations, .......$3,775,000 00 Under chapter 224, Acts of 1870,— Corporations under section 11 and amendments thereof (93), 5,920,360 00 Certificates of increase of capital by 25 companies under section 34, 1,214,600 00 $10,909,960 00 Certificates of reduction of capital under section 35 of same Act (12), $1,157,800 00 Dissolutions by the supreme judi- cial court, or in process, . 1,521,850 00 2,679,650 00 Net increase, .......$8,230,310 00 The Board of Appeal was constituted by the appointment of the Hou. George H. Whitney, of the council, to serve with the Treasurer and Auditor. The Board organized November 13, 1874, by the choice of the Hou. Charles Eudicott as chairman, when the first session was held. Since that time fifty-two appeals by corporations have been heard, with the results indicated in the accompany- ing; table. There have been some appeals by towns, in nearly all of which the action of the Board was simply to sanction a transfer 1875.1 HOUSE—No. 125 11 of credits from one town to another where all parties were agreed, and the parties for whose stock credit was claimed were shown to be residents of the appellant towns. Appeals in 1874. Whole number of appeals from taxes of 1873, . 5 from taxes of 1874r . 47 , 62 Abatements alio . .41 ..... Abatements refused, . 8 Appeals withdrawn, ....... 1 Appeals continued, ........ 2 52 A list of cases considered, with the result in each case, is appended, marked "B.” * Bank Tax Act. The opinion expressed last year, that further acquaintance with the operation of this law would justify its provisions, seems to have been entirely warranted by the experience of the year. Disagreements have been fewer, the banks have generally taken a liberal and reasonable course, to the apparent satisfaction both of their stockholders and the officers charged with the execution of the law. A large majority of the banks, I am informed, assume and pay the tax as one of the current expenses of the bank.