Chap. 448.—An ACT to amend sections 18, 24, 31, 32, 33, 39, 48, 54,
64, 81, 87, 88 and 89, of an act to provide for the assessment of taxes
on persons, property and incomes, and imposing taxes thereon for
the support of the government and public free schools, and to pay
the interest on the public debt, and to provide for the mode of ap-
plying for licences to transact any business in this state, and pre-
scribing the amount to be paid asa condition precedent to the right
to transact such business, approved March 15, 1884, to add addi-
tional sections thereto, and to repeal sections 106 and 107 of said
act, and chapter 196 of the Acts of the extra session of 1884.

Approved March 6, 1886.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
sections eighteen, twenty-four, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-
three, thirty-nine, forty-eight, fifty-four, sixty-four, eighty-one,
eighty-seven, eighty-eight and eighty-nine of an act to provide
for the assessment of taxes on persons, property and incomes,
and imposing taxes thereon for the support of the government
and public free schools, and to pay the interest on the public
debt, and to provide for the mode of applying for licenses to
transact any business in this state, and prescribing the amount
to be paid as a condition precedent to the right to transact such
business, approved March fifteenth, eighteen hundred and
eighty-four, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as fol-
lows:

TAX ON INSURANCE COMPANIES.

$18. The real and personal property of every insurance
company, and every mutual aid society company, mutual bene-
fit, guarantee, accident, plate-glass, steam-boiler, assessment-
security, marine, united-brethren, live-stock, travelers’ company,
and all like companies, shall be listed and assessed on the land
and property books of the commissioners of the revenue, in the
same manner as other real and personal property is assessed,
and there shall be a tax of thirty cents on every hundred dol-
lars of the assessed value thereof, the proceeds of which shall
be applied to the support of the government; and a further tax
of ten cents on every one hundred dollars’ worth of the assessed
value thereof, which shall be applied to the support of the pub-
lic free schools of the state. The specific license tax upon every
such company, for the privilege of doing business in this state,
shall be two hundred dollars, and in addition thereto, one per
centum upon the gross amount of all premiums collected or re-
ceived, or obligations taken therefor, derived from its business
in this state: provided, that the specific license tax upon a live-
steck company shall be one hundred dollars. Any company
failing promptly to pay the tax hereby imposed, shall forfeit
five per centum upon the amount of the tax due for each month,
or fraction of a month, during which it shall be in default.
Any company which shall pay the specific license tax into the
treasury, between the first and fifteenth days of January in each
year, or as soon thereafter as such company shall begin busi-
ness in this state, and the additional tax of one per centum
upon the amount derived from its business, as provided, shall
be entitled without the payment of any additional state tax to
do business in any and every part of the commonwealth.
Every company shall certify to the auditor of public accounts,
between the first and thirty-first days of January in each year,
on the oath of its chief accounting officer or principal agent
in this state, the gross amount of all premiums collected or
received, or obligations taken therefor by such company from
its business in this state, and shall immediately pay into the
treasury the tax imposed by law on such premiums and forfeit-
ures. Any company failing to report the amount of its receipts
as herein provided, shall forfeit the right to do business in this
state until such report shall have been made, of which forfeiture
the auditor of public accounts shall give notice by publication;
and thereupon the power of such company shall cease and de-
termine. A company which does not in any year solicit any
new business, but which receives the premiums from business
done in any previous year or years, shall be construed as doing
business in this state for that year, and be subject to the taxes
imposed by chapter one of this act: provided, that no charge
shall be made against any insurance company chartered in this
state for the privilege of transacting its business, when such
company is a purely local mutual association, doing business
in not more than three counties in the state, and is not designed
to accumulate profits for the benefit of or pay dividends to the
stockholders or members thereof: and provided further, that
nothing in this act shall be construed to require any tax of
secret or fraternal orders, where the money, benefit or relief is
payable by the grand or supreme body of the same, and is de-
rived from assessments upon lodges, councils or other bodies,
such as Odd Fellows, Masons, Knights of Honor, Knights of
Pythias, Royal Arcanum, or like associations.

oa On the real and personal property of telegraph and
telephone companies there shall be a tax of thirty cents on
every hundred dollars of the assessed valued thereof, the pro-
ceeds of which shall be applied to the support of the govern-
ment; and a further tax of ten cents on every hundred dollars
worth of the assessed value thereof shall be applied to the sup-
port of the public free schools of the state. No telegraph or
telephone company, nor any agent nor officer of such company,
nor any person operating the apparatus necessary to communi-
cate by telegraph or telephone, shall transmit any messages or
communications over the wires of such company, firm or per-
son, without a license authorized by law. If the business be
conducted by an incorporated company the license shall be to
the company, which company may employ agents without a
license being required of such agents. If the Business be con-
ducted by any person, firm or company not incorporated, the
license shall issue to such person, frm or company. When a
license shall have issued, messages or communications may be
transmitted through any county or corporation of this state.
One license for the same company shall be sufficient; and this
section shall not be construed to require a license for each of-
fice of the same company. Any person violating the provisions
of this section shall pay a fine of not less than one hundred
dollars nor more than four hundred dollars for each offence.
The amount to be paid by any telegraph agent or officer there-
of for the privilege of operating for compensation the apparatus
necessary to communicate by telegraph shall be two hundred
and fifty dollars, and an additional charge of one per centum of
the gross earnings the company received, or due though not
received, from their business in this state during the year pre-
ceding: provided, that the sum of two hundred and fifty dol-
lars shall not be required of. companies whose gross receipts
are less than one thousand dollars. The amount to be paid by
any telephone company, agent or officer thereof, for the privi-
lege of operating for compensation the apparatus necessary to
communicate by telephone, shall be one hundred dollars, and
an additional tax of one per centum of the gross earnings of
said company: provided, that on telephone companies, when
gross receipts are less than six hundred dollars, the sum of one
hundred dollars shall not be required. Such sums, if the same
be not paid within sixty days, shall be collected by any treas-
urer to whom the auditor.may deliver the assessment for col-
lection. The treasurer may destrain and sell any property of
such company, and shall pay the taxes into the treasury within
sixty days after such assessment shall have been delivered to
him. :
SAMPLE MERCHANT'S LICENSES.

$31. For the privilege of selling by sample, card, descrip-
tion, or other representation, any person, firm or corporation,
in order to obtain the right to exercise the same, shall pay one
hundred dollars; and any sample merchant who shall permit
any person, except a duly authorized agent or salesman to sell
under his license, otherwise than for his exclusive use and ben-
efit, shall pay a fine of five hundred dollars for each offence.
No agent or salesman shall be permitted to sell, or offer to sell
as aforesaid, except he have with hiin at the time the license
granted to the person for whom he acts, and a duly executed
power of attorney from said person constituting him his agent
or salesman. For every agent or salesman employed to sell as
aforesaid, by any person, firm or corporation, there shall be
paid one hundred dollars, in order to obtain the privilege afore-
said; and no agent or salesman shall be permitted to sell, or
offer to sell as aforesaid, except he have with him at the timea
certificate from the auditor of public accounts, or the commis-
sioner of the revenue issuing the license, that the license to the
person for whom he acts has been granted, which certificate
shall also state the name of the person or firm to whom the li-
cense was granted, and the name of the agent or salesman using
the same; and such certificate and power of attorney shall be
exhibited wherever required by any officer of the law or private
citizen. Sales of wine, ardent spirits, malt liquors, cider, or
any mixture of any of them, by sample, shall be limited to sales
by wholesale; and any person who desires to sell wine, ardent
spirits, malt liquors, cider, or any mixture of them, by sample,
may do so upon paying the same amount that is required to be
paid by the wholesale liquor merchant. This section shall not
be so construed as to prevent any planter from selling all to-
bacco raised by himself, by sample or otherwise. Nothing in
this or the preceding section shall be construed to require any
licensed merchant who has paid for his merchant's license an
amount of not less than one hundred dollars, to pay an addi-
tional amount for selling or offering to sell by sample, either by
himself or agents; but before any merchant shall be authorized
to sell either by himself or his agents, he shall obtain a certifi-
‘cate from the commissioner of the revenue of the county or cor-
poration in which he is licensed, showing that he is conducting
a bona fide mercantile business in such county or corporation,
and has not taken out a merchant’s license to avoid the pay-
ment of the assessment on sample merchants; and no county,
city or town, other than that in which such merchant has his
place of business, shall impose any license-tax upon such mer-
chant for selling by sample; and any sample merchant who shall
hire his license to another, or allow the use of the same to any
other person, firm or corporation, shall forfeit such license; and
the person, firm or corporation using such license, shall pay a
fine of two hundred and fifty dollars for each offence; and any
person, firm or corporation who may be found using a license
not granted by the officers authorized by chapter one of this
act to issue such license, and any person, firm or corporation
using any such license in this state, and which is ascertained to
be fraudulent, such person, firm or corporation, shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor, and on eonviction shall be fined two
hundred and fifty dollars, and imprisoned for one year: and
provided, further, that this section shall apply alike to resident
and non-resident sample merchants: provided, however, that
any manufacturer who shall have been assessed and paid on the
capital employed in his business, as provided in schedule C of
this act, shall not be required to pay an additional sum for sale
by sample. :
SALE BY PEDDLERS.

S$ 32. Any person who shall carry from place to place any
goods, wares or merchandise, and offer to sell or barter the
same, or actually sell or barter the same, in transitu or other-
wise, shall be deemed to be a peddler; and any person licensed
as a peddler may sell any personal property a merchant may
sell, or he may exchange the same for other articles; and
whenever a license is granted to a peddler to sell such goods,
wares or merchandise, his license shall be valid for one year
from date of its issue; said license shall not be transferable,
and any person so licensed shall endorse his name on the said
license; and shall confer authority to sell at any house or place
within the county or corporation in which the license was
granted. Any peddler who shall peddle for sale, or sell or
barter without a license as aforesaid, shall pay a fine of not less
than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars
for each offence, one-half of which shall go to the informer;
and any person selling or offering to sell as a peddler shall ex-
hibit his license on the demand of any citizen of the county or
corporation in which he sells or offers to sell or barter; and
upon his failure or refusal to do so, he shall be subject to the
penalties of peddling without a license. This section shall be
construed to include persons engaged in peddling lightning
rods: provided, however, that any manufacturer who has been
assessed and paid on the capital employed by him, under
schedule C of this act, shall not be required to take out the
license named in this section for the privilege of selling articles
actually manufactured by him.

§ 33. On every person, for the privilege of peddling or bar-
tering in any county or corporation, there shall be paid one
hundred dollars, where he travels on foot; and where he ped-
dles otherwise than on foot, the tax paid shall be one hundred
and fifty dollars, except the tax on peddlers of lightning rods,
which shall be fifty dollars. Any person who desires to obtain
a license under this section to sell throughout the state, may
be allowed to do so upon the payment of two hundred and
fifty dollars. If the license shall be used out of the county or
corporation wherein it 1s issued, it shall in all cases be authen-
ticated by the certificate of the clerk of the county or corpo-
ration aforesaid, with the seal of the court affixed. It shall
be the duty of the commissioner of the revenue issuing a cer-
tificate to a person desiring to obtain a peddler's license, to
transmit the same forthwith to the treasurer of his county or
corporation, and it shall be the duty of such treasurer forth-
with to collect the amount required to be paid by such person,
and on the failure of such person to pay said amount, the
treasurer shall. arrest him and lodge him in the county jail to
await his trial, unless he shall give bond and security to ap-
pear before the county or corporation court on the first day of
the next term.

§ 39. Any person other than a licensed merchant, who shall
receive subscriptions for or shall in any manner furnish news-
papers, books, maps, prints, pamphlets or periodicals, shall
be deemed to be a book agent. Any person desiring to dis-
tribute or sell any religious books, newspapers, pamphlets or
periodicals; or any person who shall receive subscriptions for
newspapers, magazines or periodicals, published solely in the
interest of agriculture and horticulture, may apply to the judge
of the county or corporation court in which he may desire to
distribute or sell the same, and such judge, upon being satis-
fied that the person applying is of good character, and a proper
person in whom to confide the trust of selling or distributing
such books, may direct the commissioner to grant him a license
with anominalsum only. Any person violating the provisions
of this section, shall pay a fine of not less than fifty dollars nor
more than one hundred dollars for each offence.
§ 48. A general auctioneer, to sell, shall pay for this privilege
the sum of fifty dollars, and if the place of business is in a city
or town having when assessed a population of more than five
thousand inhabitants, two dollars for every thousand above
that number; but said sum shall in no case exceed one hundred
and thirty dollars. And he shall pay an additional sum of one-
fourth of one per centum on the amount of sales for the year,
to be ascertained and charged as is provided in the case of liquor
merchants. If he sells wine, ardent spirits, malt liquors, or any
mixture thereof, he shall pay one-half of one per centum on the
amount of sales, to be ascertained and charged as his other
sales are ascertained and charged.

§ 54. Tobacco auctioneers shall pay for the privilege of trans-
acting business, twenty: five dollars, except, that in cities or in-
corporated towns containing a population of fifteen hundred or
more, they shall pay fifty dollars.

LICENSES TO COMMERCIAL BROKERS AND INSURANCE
BROKERS.

§ 64. A commercial broker, or an insurance broker, shall pay
the sum of one hundred dollars for the privilege of transacting
such business. And any commercial broker who shall hire his
license to another, or allow the use of the same to any other
person, firm or corporation shall pay a fine of not less than one
hundred nor more than five hundred dollars for each offence ;
and the person, firm or corporation so using such license, shall
also pay a fine of not less than one hundred nor more than five
hundred dollars for each offence; the informer in either case to
receive one-half of the fine so collected: provided, that nothing
in this or the preceding section shall be construed to authorize
any person licensed thereunder to sell wine, ardent spirits, malt
liquors, cider, or any mixture of any of them, nor to authorize
any person to canvass any county or corporation, to sell or
offer to sell, by sample, card, description or other representa-
tion.

LICENSE TO THEATRES AND PANORAMAS.

§ 81. On every theatrical performance, or any performance
similar thereto, panorama, or any public performance or exhi-
bition of any kind, except for benevolent or charitable or edu-
cational purposes, shall be three dollars for each performance,
or ten dollars for each week of such performance.

LICENSE TO PUBLIC ROOMS.

§ 87. Every proprietor or occupier of a public theatre, o1
other rooms fitted for public exhibitions, to use the same fot
compensation, shall pay twenty dollars for the privilege: pro-
vided, that every person who shall establish, keep or exhibit
for profits, a skating-rink, shall pay for the privileges of keep.
ing or exhibiting such skating rink, as follows:
First. When such rink is kept or exhibited in a city of more
than ten thousand inhabitants, he shall pay the sum of ten
dollars per quarter.

Second. When such rink is kept or exhibited in a city or
town of not more than ten nor less than two thousand inhabi-
tants, he shall pay the sum of seven dollars and fifty cents per
‘quarter. , .

Third. When such rink is kept or exhibited anywhere else
than in towns and cities above mentioned, he shall pay the sum
of five dollars per quarter.

PUBLIC ROOMS AND SKATING RINKS.

$88. No person shall, without a license authorized: by law,
charge for the use of any house in a city or town, or in any
manner receive compensation for the use of the same, while
used or employed to exhibit therein any theatrical performance,
lecture, concert, or any other exhibition. Whenever such
charge is made, or compensation is demanded or received for
the use of such house, or any public rooms fitted for the pur-
pose, a license shall be obtained, but no license shall be required
of the proprietor or occupier of such house or public rooms in
a town containing less than two thousand inhabitants. No
license to use such house for such exhibitions or performance
shall be construed to exempt the house from taxation as prop-
erty. For any violation of this section, the person so offending
shall pay a fine of not less than fifty dollars nor more than one
hundred dollars for each offence.

$89. No person shall, without a license authorized by law,
practice as attorney-at-law, physician, surgeon or dentist, and
no person who shall hereafter apply for license to practice as a
physician or surgeon,.shall have such license granted to him,
unless he shall have complied with the provisions of an act en-
titled an act to regulate the practice of medicine and surgery,
approved January thirty-first, eighteen hundred and eighty-
four: provided, that no person who was licensed to practice as
a physician or surgeon, at any time prior to January the first,
eighteen hundred and eighty five, need comply with the pro-
visions of said act in order to be again licensed as a physician
or surgeon.

RAILROAD COMPANIES, &C.

2. Every railroad company or other incorporated company
in this commonwealth, whether such privilege be granted in its
charter or not, which shall sell any mineral or forest product,
or any other article, shall be taxed as other merchants dealing
in like commodities. This act shall apply to companies keep-
ing commissaries or having agents for the sale of any. article
other than their own product: provided, that nothing herein
contained shall prevent a railroad company from buying and
distributing to its employes, as part of their compensation,
meat, meal and flour, at the cost price thereof: but nothing in
the foregoing shall be construed as requiring a company selling
the products of their own mines or lands, or manufactures, to
pay a merchant’s license for so doing.

3. Any railroad company or other incorporated company
selling any article or product on account of the owner, and re-
ceiving a compensation therefor other than for transportation,
storage or handling, as pravided in their charter, shall pay a
license the same as commission merchants.

4. It shall be the duty of the commissioner of the revenue to
ascertain the. liability of such individuals or companies in this
state to the payment of such license taxes, and shall assess the
same in the same manner as other merchants.

5. Sections one hundred and six and one hundred and seven
of an act to provide for the assessment of taxes, and so forth,
and section one hundred and six of an act approved December
first, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, entitled an act to amend
and re-enact section one hundred and six of an act entitled an
act to provide for the assessment of taxes on persons, property,
and so forth, are hereby repealed.

6. This act shall be in force from its passage.