Chap. 358.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Sections 225 and 227 of the Tax Code
of Virginia, the latter as heretofore amended, relating to telegraph and telephone
companies and operators. [H B 227]

Approved April 1, 1942

1. Beit enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sections
two hundred and twenty-five and two hundred and twenty-seven of the
Tax Code of Virginia, the latter as heretofore amended, be amended and
re-enacted, as follows:

Section 225. Incorporated telegraph and telephone companies.—
Each incorporated telegraph and telephone company doing business in
this State owning and operating a telegraph or telephone line in this State,
shall report annually, on the first day of May, to the State Corporation
Commission (hereinafter called the Commission) all real and personal
property of every description in this State, owned, operated or used by
it as of the beginning of the first day of January preceding, showing par-
ticularly, as to property owned by it, in what corporation, county, and
school district such property is located, and such corporation shall classi-
fy in its said report all property under the following heads :

(1) Number of miles of pole line or conduits, including number of
miles of other property used in lieu of pole lines or conduits such as buried
cable, submarine cable, or buried wire, owned by it within this State or
the first day of January preceding in each county, city, town and schoo!
district.

(1A) Number of miles of pole line or conduits, including number
of miles of other property used in lieu of pole lines or conduits such as
buried cable, submarine cable, or buried wire, operated or used, but not
owned, by it within this State on the first day of January preceding.

(2) Number of miles of wire in each city, county, town and schoo
district.
(3) Real and personal property, including the value of the tele.
phone instruments, switchboards, et cetera, and the value of telegrapt
instruments, apparatus, et cetera, in each city, county, town or schoo!
district.

(4) The gross earnings and receipts in this State for the twelve
months ending December thirty-first next preceding.

The report herein required shall be certified by the oath of the presi-
dent or other proper officer of the company making the same.

The Commission shall, after thirty days’ notice previously given
by it to the president or other proper officer of each of such companies in-
corporated under the laws of this or any other State, assess the value of
the property of said company and assess upon said property the State
taxes imposed by law, and shall assess the State license tax imposed by
law upon every such company. Should any such incorporated company
fail to make such report at the time herein prescribed, the Commission
shall, at such time as it may elect, upon the best and most reliable infor-
mation that can be procured, assess the value of the property of said com-
pany and assess upon said property the taxes imposed by law, and shall
also assess the license tax imposed by law upon every such company, and
in the execution of such duty shall be authorized and empowered to send
for persons and papers.

A certified copy of the assessment, when made, shall be immediately
forwarded by the clerk of the Commission to the Comptroller and to the
president or other proper officer of each company, and such company
shall pay into the treasury of the State by the first day of October follow-
ing the taxes assessed against it. PO .

It shall be the duty of the Commission to furnish to the council of
every corporation, and to the board of supervisors of every county, and
to every city and county commissioner of the revenue wherein any pro-
perty belonging to any such corporation is situated, a certified copy of
the assessment made by the Commission of such company’s property.
which assessment shall definitely show the character of the property, its
value and the location for the purposes of taxation in each city, town,
county and school district, so that city, town, county, school district and
road levies may be imposed upon the same.

Any company failing to pay said taxes into the treasury within the
time herein prescribed, shall incur a penalty thereon of five per centum,
which shall be added to the amount of said taxes.

Section 227. License tax on telegraph and telephone companies,
and on any firm or person operating the apparatus necessary to com-
municate by telegraph or telephone.—Each telegraph company and firm,
or person, operating the apparatus necessary to communicate by tele-
graph, shall, for the privilege of doing business between points within this
State, pay a license tax as follows, to-wit: two dollars and twenty-five
cents per mile of pole line or conduits, including number of miles of other
property used in lieu of pole lines or conduits, such as buried cable, sub-
marine cable, or buried wire, owned, operated, or used by any company,
firm or person in this State, and an additional charge of three and one-
eighth per centum of the gross receipts of the company, firm, or person
received (or due, though not received), from business done within this
State during the year ending thirty-first day of December. os

The specific license tax to be paid by every corporation, person, or
association, for the privilege of operating the apparatus necessary to com-
municate by telephone, shall be, when the gross receipts do not exceed
sixty-five thousand dollars, and when the number of miles of pole line do
not exceed seven hundred miles, and a majority of the stock or other
property of such company is not owned or controlled by any other tele-
phone or telegraph company whose receipts exceed sixty-five thousand
dollars, a sum equal to one and one-sixteenth per centum of the gross
receipts of such corporation, person or association from business done
within this State during the year ending the thirty-first day of December
preceding ; when the gross receipts from business done within this State
during any such year are in excess of sixty-five thousand dollars, or the
number of miles of pole line exceed seven hundred or a majority of the
stock or other property of such company is owned or controlled by any
other telephone or telegraph company whose receipts exceed sixty-five
thousand dollars, the license tax shall be a sum equal to one and one-
sixteenth per centum of such receipts up to sixty-five thousand dollars
and an additional sum equal to two and one-half per centum of such re-
ceipts exceeding sixty-five thousand dollars, and, in addition, a sum
equal to two dollars and twenty-five cents per mile of pole line or conduit,
including number of miles of other property used in lieu of pole lines or
conduits, such as buried cable, submarine cable, or buried wire, owned,
operated, or used by such corporation, person, or association in this State,
provided that, when the gross receipts do not exceed an average of two
hundred dollars per mile of pole line or conduits, including number of
miles of other property used in lieu of pole lines or conduits, such as
buried cable, submarine cable, or buried wire, a license tax on gross
receipts shall be as herein provided, and the additional sum equal to one
dollar per mile of pole line or conduits including number of miles of other
property used in lieu of pole lines or conduits, such as buried cable, sub-
marine cable, or buried wire, owned, operated, or used by such corpora-
tion, person, or association in this State, instead of two dollars and twenty-
five cents per mile as hereinabove provided ; when the number of miles of
pole line exceeds seven hundred and no license tax is paid upon gross
receipts, the license tax shall be a sum equal to ten dollars per mile of
pole line or conduits including number of miles of other property used
in lieu of pole lines or conduits, such as buried cable, submarine cable, or
buried wire, owned, operated, or used by such corporation, person or as-
sociation in this State; provided that no license tax shall be charged
against any telephone company, chartered in this State for the privilege
of prosecuting its business when such company is purely a local mutual
association, and does not charge others for transmitting messages over
its line, or lines, and is not designed to accumulate profits for the benefit
of, or to pay dividends to, the stockholders or members thereof.

The license tax to be paid by any firm or person, not incorporated,
transacting a telegraph or telephone business, or owning or operating a
telegraph or telephone instrument, line or conduit, shall be assessed by
the Commissioner of Revenue for the county and city wherein the prin-
cipal office of such firm or person is located, or in which such firm or per-
son resides.

The provisions of this section, as hereby amended, shall apply to the
assessment for the tax year nineteen hundred and forty-two and annually
thereafter, unless otherwise provided by law.