Chap. 41.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 435 of the Tax Code of Vir-
ginia, as heretofore amended, relating to property exempt from taxation.
[H B 57]
Approved February 19, 1936

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That section
four hundred and thirty-five of the Tax Code of Virginia, as hereto-
fore amended, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 435. What property, real and personal, exempt from taxa-
tion, State and local—The following property shall be exempt from
taxation, State and local, including inheritance taxes.

(a) Property owned directly or indirectly by the United States, the
Commonwealth, or any political subdivision thereof, and obligations of
the Commonwealth issued since February fourteenth, eighteen hundred
and eighty-two, or hereafter exempted by law.

(b) Buildings with land they actually occupy, and the furniture
and furnishings therein and endowment funds lawfully owned and
held by churches or religious bodies, and wholly and exclusively used
for religious worship, or for the residence of the minister of any
church or religious body, together with the additional adjacent land
reasonably necessary for the convenient use of any such building.

(c) Private or public burying grounds or cemeteries and endow-
ment funds, lawfully held, for their care, provided the same are not
operated for profit.

(d) Property owned by public libraries, law libraries of local bar
associations when the same are used or available for use by a State
court or courts or the Judge or Judges thereof, incorporated colleges
or other incorporated institutions of learning, not conducted for profit,
together with the endowment funds thereof not invested in real estate.
But this provision shall apply only to property primarily used for
literary, scientific or educational purposes or purposes incidental
thereto. It shall not apply to industrial schools which sell their product
to other than their own employees or students.

(e) Real estate belonging to, actually and exclusively occupied and
used by, and personal property, including endowment funds, belonging
to Young Men’s Christian Associations, and other similar religious
associations, orphan or other asylums, reformatories, hospitals and
munneries, conducted not for profit, but exclusively as charities, also
parks or playgrounds held by trustees for the perpetual use of the
general public.

(f) Buildings with the land they actually occupy, and the furniture
and furnishings therein, belonging to any benevolent or charitable asso-
ciation and used exclusively for lodge purposes or meeting rooms by
such association, together with such additional adjacent land as may
be necessary for the convenient use of the buildings for such pur-
poses; and

(g) Property of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia
Antiquities, the Confederate Memorial Literary Society, the Mount
Vernon Ladies’ Association of the Union, the Virginia Historical
Society, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, Incorporated, the
posts of the American Legion, posts of United Spanish War Veterans,
posts of Veterans of Foreign Wars, posts of the Disabled American
Veterans, the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Virginia, and
the Manassas Battlefield Confederate Park, Incorporated, and the
Robert E. Lee Memorial Foundation, Incorporated, and any corpora-
tion organized to establish and maintain a museum or museums, with
or without a library or libraries, provided such corporation be not
operated for profit. On and after January first, nineteen hundred and
thirty-four the property now owned or which may be hereafter acquired
by Colonial Williamsburg, Incorporated, and used for museum, his-
torical, municipal, benevolent or charitable purposes, shall be exempt
from all taxation, as long as such corporation continues to be organ-
ized and operated not for profit.

Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to exempt from
taxation the property of any person, firm, association, or corporation,
who shall, expressly or impliedly, directly or indirectly, contract or
promise to pay a sum of money or other benefit, on account of death,
sickness or accident to any of its members or other person. Whenever
any building or land, or part thereof, mentioned in this section, and
not belonging to the State, shall be leased or shall otherwise be a
source of revenue or profit, all of such buildings and land shall be
liable to taxation as other land and buildings in the same county, city
or town, except as is now or may hereafter be provided by law.

Nothing herein contained shall be construed as authorizing or re-
quiring any county, city, or town to tax for county, city, or town
purposes, in violation of the rights of the lessees thereof, existing under
any lawful contract heretofore made, any real estate owned by such
county, city or town, as heretofore leased by it.

In assessing any building and the land it occupies which may be
owned exclusively by a benevolent or charitable institution, or by a
church or religious body, but all of which is not used exclusively for
lodge purposes or meeting rooms, or for church or religious or chari-
table purposes, the assessing officers shall only assess for taxation such
proportional part of the fair market value of the entire property as
would be the comparative fair market value of the part of such land
and building not used exclusively for lodge purposes or meeting rooms,
or for church or religious or charitable purposes.