Chap. 387.—An ACT to Amend and Re-enact the Thirty-sixth Chapter of

Ae Code of Virginia (edition of 1860), in Relation to the Collection of
axes.

Approved April 5, 1872.

Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
thirty-sixth chapter of the Code of Virginia (edition of eighteen
hundred and sixty), in relation to the collection of taxes, be
amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

1. A person not residing in the county in which his land may
lie, may, before the first day of December in any year, pay into
the treasury in advance the taxes assessed on such land for
that year, upon a certificate of the auditor of public accounts,
for which a fee of fifty cents shall be paid to that officer. A
list of such payments shall be transmitted by said auditor,
immediately after the first day of December, to the treasurer,
to be by him delivered to the proper township collectors of the
counties wherein such lands shall be srhawbext, who shall be
governed accordingly.

When taxes may be distrained for.

2. No distress shall be made for taxes or levies, where the
treasurer or collector has had more than two years to collect
the same, unless it be for taxes returned delinquent, and sent
out by the auditor for collection, as provided by law. But a
treasurer or collector of a former term may, notwithstanding
the expiration of his term of office, by himself or by his depu-
ties, have the same powers of distress and sale as he possessed
before said term expired, and which right of distress and sale
shall continue for the term of two years from the time such
right first accrued; but no deputy shall be permitted to qualify
for such collections after the principal's office has expired.

When and on achat distress may be made.

3. Any goods or chattels in the county or corporation, be-
longing to the person or estate assessed with taxes, may be
distrained therefor by the treasurer or collector.

4. The goods and chattels of the tenant, or other person
possession, claiming under the party or estate assessed with
taxes on land, may be distrained if found on the premises, but
not for an amount exceeding the rent contracted to be paid by
such tenant for said premises, nor until the property of the
landlord subject to distress within the county or corporation
shall have been exhausted; and where the rent is payable in a
share of the crop, only the share of the crop belonging to the
landlord shall be liable to levy. But when taxes are assessed

wholly to one person, on a tract or lot. part of which has be-

come the freehold of another, by a title recorded before the
commencement of the year for which such taxes are assessed,
the property belonging to the owner of that part shall not be
distrained for more than a due proportion of the said taxes.
5. Where taxes are assessed on a tract of land lying partly
in one county and partly in another, the treasurer or collector
of the county in which the taxes are so assessed may distrain
on that part of the land lying in the other county in the same
manner as if such part was in his own county.

6. No deed of trust or mortgage upon goods or chattels
shall prevent the same from being distrained and sold for taxes
against the grantor in such deed while such goods and chattels
remain in the grautor’s possession; nor shall any such deed
prevent the goods and chattels conveyed from being distrained
and sold for taxes assessed thereon, no matter in whose posses-
sion they may be found.

Remedy without distress.

7. When the officer cannot find sufficient goods or chattels
to distrain for taxes, any person indebted to, or having in his
hands estate of the party assessed with such taxes, may be
applied to for payment thereof out of such debt or estate; and
& payment by such of the said taxes, either in whole or in part,
shall entitle him to a charge or credit for so much on account
of such debt or estate against the party so assessed. If the
person applied to do not pay so much as it may seem to the
officer ought to be recovered on account of the debt or estate
in his hands, the officer shall, if the sum due for such taxes
exceed not twenty dollars, procure from a justice a summons
directing such person to appear before some justice at such
time and place as may seem reasonable; and, if the sum due
exceed twenty dollars, shall procure from the clerk of the court
of the county or corporation a summons directing such person
to appear before the court of the county or corporation on the
first day of the next term thereof; and from the time of the
service of any such summons the said taxes shall constitute a
lien on the debt so due from such person, or on the said estate
in his hands.

8. If such summons be returned executed, and the person
so summoned do not appear, judgment shall be entered against
him for the sum due for such taxes, and for the fees of the
clerk and of the officer who may execute the summons.

9. If the person so summoned appear, he shall be interro-
gated on oath, and such evidence may be heard as shall be
adduced, and such judgment shall be rendered as upon the
whole case shall seem proper.

Where one pays taxes another should pay.

10. A tenant from whom payment shall be obtained, by dis.
tress or otherwise, of taxes due from a person under whom he
holds, shall have credit for the same against such person out
of the rents he may owe him, except where the tenant is bound
to pay such tax by an express contract, with such person.

11. Where a tax is paid by a fiduciary on the interest or pro
fits of moneys of an estate laid out or invested, either unde
an order of court or otherwise, the tax shall be refunded ou
of said estate.

Lists returned of uncollected taxes.

12. The treasurer or collector, after ascertaining which of
the taxes assessed in his county or corporation cannot be col-
lected, shall, as soon as practicable, in each year, after the first
day of February, make out lists of three classes, to wit: First,
a list of property on the assessors’ or commissioners’ land book
improperly placed thereon or not ascertainable, with the amount
of taxes charged on such property; secondly, a list of other
real estate which is delinquent for the non-payment of the
taxes thereon; and thirdly, a list of such of the taxes so as-
sessed, other than on real estate, as he is unable to collect.

13. In the lists mentioned in the preceding section, the
names of the persons charged with the taxes shall be placed
alphabetically. The list mentioned secondly shall be in the
following form :

Lists of realestate in the township, county of , delinquent
Jor the non-payment of taxes thereon for the year

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fo) | x Ba e ! |
zB | 3 ro 8 / @
2 ¢g | S 8 |88 | 8Ee| s E
| = | iS | al 55 os 2 ES
oO |; & a 2 28 2 xo a 5
p24) 2 |e lake) by | EF
alg ! # | & | 838/282! 28 | 22
2 | & | A , SF | ALS |ALE | <8 | Es

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And the treasurer or collector returning such list shall, at
the foot thereof, subscribe the following oath: “I, A B, trea-
surer or collector of the county, city or town of , do swear
that the foregoing list is, I verily believe, correct and just;
that I have received no part of the taxes for which the real
estate therein mentioned is returned delinquent; and that I
have used due diligence to find property within my county lia-
ble to distress for the said taxes, but have found none.” '

14. The lists mentioned first and third in the twelfth sec-
tion shall, each of them, be verified by the oath of the treasurer
or collector; and a copy of that thirdly mentioned shall be
posted at the front door of the courthouse of the county or
corporation on a court day during the term next preceding
that at which the list may be presented to the court, under the
following section.

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15. Each of the said lists shall be presented to the court
of the county or corporation and examined by the court. The
court being satisfied of the correctness of said lists, or having
corrected them, if erroneous, shall direct the clerk to certify
copies thereof to the auditor of public accounts, and a copy of
that first mentioned to the assessor or commissioner of the
revenue, who shall correct his books accordingly. The original
lists shall be preserved by the clerk in his office. After the
said copies are so directed to be certified, the treasurer or col-
lector shall not receive any of the taxes mentioned in the said
lists, but they may be paid into the treasury, or the personal
property tax may be paid to the clerk of the county or corpo-
ration, who shall be accountable therefor in like manner and at
the same time as for taxes on law process.

16. Any officer who shall return in anysuch list, real estate,
persons or property, as delinquent for the non-payment of
taxes, when such taxes, or any part thereof, shall actually have
been received by him, shall forfeit, if the return was by design,
ten times the amount of taxes so actually received, and if the
return was by mistake, twice the amount, one-half of which
forfeiture shall in each case be to the commonwealth, and the
other half to the person charged with such taxes. And any
such officer who shall return in such list any real estate, per-
sons or property as delinquent, when he had either found, or
by using due diligence, might have found sufficient property
within his bailiwick, liable to distress for the taxes for which
such real estate, peasous or property are returned delinquent,
shall forfeit to the commonwealth a sum equal to five times the
amount of the said taxes.

17. The copies of lists directed tobe certified to the audi-
tor of public accounts, shall be placed by the clerk in a sealed
enclosure directed to that officer and delivered to the treasurer,
by whom the lists are returned. The auditor shall credit the
trehsurer with the amount of taxes mentioned in such lists, if
the said lists be presented at his office before the first day of
April next, after the said taxes were assessed, but not other-
wise.

18. The lists required by the twelfth section of this chap-
ter to be made out by the treasurers or collectors, shall not be
allowed, unless they have been first submitted to the assessor
or commissioner of the revenue for the district to which they
relate, or, in case of his death, to some other assessor or com-
missioner, and are accompanied by the written opinion of such
assessor or commissioner touching the propriety of such lists,
and each case therein contained verified by his oath. The
second and third lists heretofore returned, and when the third
lists mentioned in said section shall hereafter be allowed, a copy
thereof shall be placed by the auditor of public accounts in the
hands of any treasurer or collector of any county or corpora-
tion for collection, to be returned within one year thereafter,
and accounted for as other assessed taxes; or if the said audi-
tor see fit, may place such copy in the hands of any constable
as a collector, who shall have the same power of distress as
treasurers and collectors, and shall account for the same in like
manner; and he and his sureties shall be subject to all such
remedies as are given the commonwealth against treasurers and
collectors for a failure to pay, and his compensation shall not
exceed twenty per centum of the amount collected and paid
into the treasury.

19. In any case of a failure to pay on the part of the trea-
surer, proceedings may be had according to the forty-second
chapter. And from the time a notice shall be served under the
said chapter, on any such treasurer, the property of such trea-
surer shall be bound for the payment of any judgment which
may be rendered upon such proceeding, in the same manner
that property is bound under the third section of chapter one
hundred and eighty-eight, upon delivery of a fieri facias to a
sheriff or other officer ; and shall also operate as a lien on the
real estate of. such treasurer from the time of the service of
such notice. The right of the commonwealth to proceed by
notice or otherwise against the sureties of such treasurer shall
not be affected thereby.

Rate of interest chargeable to treasurer in default.

20. Every treasurer or other collector of the revenue, who
does not pay the same into the treasury at the time prescribed
by law, shall be charged with interest on the revenue so due
and unpaid, from the time when the same was regularly paya-
ble into the treasury. The said interest shall be at the rate of
twelve per centum per annum; but if the revenue is not in
arrear more than three months, the auditor shall abate six per
centum of said interest. If the revenue has been in arrear
three months and not more than six months, then the auditor
shall abate four per centum. If the revenue has been in arrear
for six months, and not exceeding nine months, then the auditor
may abate two per centum.

Auditor may appoint collector.

21. The auditor of public accounts may appoint a collector
in any county or corporation to collect arrears of taxes therein,
and may allow him a reasonable compensation, to be agreed on
(before the service is commenced) and approved by the execu-
tive, which compensation shall not exceed twenty per centum
on what may be collected and paid into the public treasury.

22. Such collector shall have a reasonable time allowed him
by the auditor of public accounts, and shall, before he acts,
execute a bond, approved by the said auditor, conditioned that
he will faithfully collect the said arrears of taxes, and account
for and pay the same into the treasury within the time so al-
lowed. The said bond shall remain filed in the auditor's office.
_ 2. This act shall be in force from its passage.