Chapter 137.
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CHAP. 137.— An act to levy an assessment of the real estate in the District of Columbia in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-three, and every third year thereafter, for purposes of taxation. Mar. 3, 1883. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* Assessment of real estate in District of Columbia. That all real property, except as hereinafter provided, shall be assessed in the name of the owner, trustees, or guardian thereof.
All undivided real property of a deceased person may be assessed in the name of such deceased person until the same is divided according to law, or has otherwise passed into the possession of some other person. And real property, the ownership of which is unknown, shall be assessed “owner unknown.” Sec. 2. Assessments in 1883, and every third year, etc. That real property shall be assessed and valued in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-three, and every third year thereafter, as herein provided.
Sec. 3. Twelve sub-districts. That the Commissioners shall, on the second Monday of March, eighteen hundred and eighty-three, or as soon thereafter as practicable, and every third year thereafter, divide the District into FORTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS. Sess. II. Ch. 137. 1883. 569 not exceeding twelve sub districts, and shall appoint one assessor toAssessors.Bond. each sub district, who shall be a resident thereof. Each person so appointed shall, within ten days after receiving notice thereof, file with said Commissioners his bond, payable to the United States, with sufficient surety to the acceptance of said Commissioners, in the sum of two thousand dollars, conditioned that he will faithfully, diligently, and impartially perform all and singular the duties enjoined upon him by law.
And he shall, moreover, take and subscribe an oath of office.Oath of office.Failure to discharge duties. If any such appointee shall fail to qualify as aforesaid within the time prescribed, or shall fail to enter upon the discharge of his duties within five days after such qualification, the appointment shall be void, and the Commissioners shall forthwith appoint another suitable person, who shall qualify as above provided. Sec. 4. That the Commissioners shall furnish each of said assessorsCommissioners to furnish maps, field-books, etc. a map and field-book of the respective sub districts which he is appointed to assess and value, which shall contain an accurate list of each tract, together with a pertinent description of the real property situate therein, and, as far as may be known, the owner thereof, and also such blanks, forms, books, surveys, and plats as may be necessary for a systematic statement of the property to be assessed.
Upon the completion of the assessment, each assessor shall deposit with the assessor of the district all maps, field-books, surveys, and plats, and all his notes and memoranda thereof. Sec. 5. That real estate in Washington or Georgetown, except suchAssessments, how made. as is now or may hereafter be exempt by law from taxation, shall be assessed according to the number of the squares and lots thereof, or parts of lots, and upon the number of square or superficial feet in each square or lot, or parts of a lot, and in the county the agricultural lands shall be assessed by the acre, and suburban lots by the square foot, as in the city of Washington.
Sec. 6. That each assessor shall, in all cases, from actual view, andValuation. from the best sources of information in his reach, determine, as nearly as practicable, the true value of each separate tract or lot of real property in his district in lawful money, and he shall separately estimate the value of all improvements on any tract or lot, and shall note the same in his field-book, which shall be carried out as part of the value of such tract or lot, and he shall also return the dimensions to each tract or lot.
Sec. 7. That each assessor shall, on or before the first Monday ofAssessors’ returns. June, eighteen hundred and eighty-three, and every third year thereafter, make out and deliver to the Commissioners, a return in tabular form, contained in a book to be furnished him by said Commissioners, of the ownership, amount, description, and value of the real property subject to be listed for taxation in his district. He shall also enter in a separate list a pertinent description of all property exempt from taxation under the provisions of existing law, together with the ownership and use of the same, and shall estimate and return the true value thereof.
All real property, the ownership of which is not known, shall be returned, as to ownership, “unknown” Sec. 8. That every assessor who shall refuse or knowingly neglect toNeglect, etc., of assessor to perform duty. perform any duty enjoined on him by law, or who shall consent to, or connive at, any evasion of the provisions of this chapter, whereby any property required to be assessed shall be unlawfully exempt, or the valuation thereof entered at less than its true value, shall, on convictionPenalty. thereof, be liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars for each offense, which may be collected from his bond aforesaid.
Sec. 9. That the assessor of the District and the assessors hereinBoard of equalization, etc. provided for shall compose a board of equalization of the real property, and they shall convene at an office, to be provided by the Commissioners, on the first Monday of June, eighteen hundred and eighty-three, and every third year thereafter. They shall each take an oath fairlyOath. and impartially to equalize the value of the real property according to 570 Quorum.Record of proceedings.law.
Any seven of them shall constitute a quorum and a clerk appointed by the Commissioners shall keep a full and accurate account of their proceedings and orders. They shall immediately proceed to equalize the valuation made as aforesaid by the assessors, so that each lot and tract, and the improvements thereon, shall be entered upon the True valuation in money.Hearing of complaints.tax-list at their true value in money; and for this purpose they shall hear such complaints as may be made in respect of said assessment, and in determining them they may raise the valuations of such tracts or lot as, in their opinion, may have been returned below their true value, and reduce the valuation of such as they may believe to have been returned above their true value to such sum as, in their opinion may be the true value thereof; but they shall not reduce the aggregate value of the real property below the aggregate value thereof as made Report made to Commissioners, etc.and returned by said assessors.
All assessments and equalizations made pursuant to the provisions of this act shall be finally completed and be reported to the Commissioners of the District on or before the first Monday of August of each year in which an assessment is made. Sec. 10. Pay of assessors. That each assessor shall be entitled to receive for each day necessarily employed in the performance of his duties the sum of five dollars, for a period not exceeding one hundred and fifty days. Sec. 11. Valuation as rendered to constitute basis of taxation, etc.
That the valuation of the real property made and equalized as aforesaid shall constitute the basis of taxation for the next succeeding period of three years, and until another valuation is made according to law. Sec. 12. Valuation of property to be added to list subject to taxation. That annually, on or prior to July first, the assessor of the District shall take a list of all real property which shall have become subject to taxation, and is not on the tax-list, and affix a value thereon, according to the rules prescribed for assessing real estate; and he shall Return of new structures, etc., and improvements.make return of all new structures and additions to or improvements of old structures of over one hundred dollars in value, the value of which shall not have been included in the valuation of the land on which such structures have been erected, specifying the tract or lot of land on which each of such structures has been erected, and the value which has been added to any such lot or tract by reason of such structure, and the assessor shall add such valuation to the assessment made on such tract or lot; and in the case of the destruction of any structure from any cause, of over one hundred dollars in value, the value of which has been included in any former valuation of the tract or lot on which it is situate, the assessor shall determine and make return how much less valuable such lot or tract is by reason of such destruction, and the assessor shall deduct the same from the valuation of such tract or lot as it stands upon *Proviso*.the list: *Provided,* That the assessor of the District of Columbia shall hear such complaints as may be made in respect of said assessments and determine the same between the first and third Monday of July of the same year, subject, to the approval of the Commissioners of the District Sec. 13.
Property omitted from lists, etc. That if the assessor of the District shall learn that any property liable to taxation has been omitted from the assessment for any previous year or years, or has been so assessed that the assessment was void, it shall be his duty at once to assess such property for each and every year after the passage of this act for which it has escaped assessment and taxation, and report the same to the collector of taxes, who shall at once proceed to collect the taxes so in arrears as other *Proviso*.taxes are collected: *Provided,* That no property which has escaped taxation shall be liable to assessment and taxation under this section for a period of more than three years prior to such assessment. .
Sec. 14. Assessor of D. C. may administer oaths, etc. That the assessor of the District, in the discharge of any of the duties devolved upon him or the board of equalization, by any provisions of this act, may administer all necessary oaths or affirmations. He shall have power to summon the attendance of any person before said board, or himself, to be examined under oath touching such matters and things as they or he may deem advisable in the discharge of their said duties; and any member of the Metropolitan Police force or con- FORTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS.
Sess. II. Ch. 137, 138. 1885. 571 stable of the District may serve subpoenas in this behalf. Such feesSubpœnas.Fees. shall be allowed witnesses so examined, to be paid out of the contingent fund of the Commissioners, as are allowed in civil actions before justices of the peace. Any person who shall knowingly make false oath orFalse oath. affirmation shall be guilty of perjury, and, upon conviction thereof, be punished according to laws in force for the punishment of perjury.Penalty.
Sec. 15. That this act shall be in force from and after its passage; and all law’s and parts of laws inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed,Repeal, etc as also all laws allowing any deduction of taxes assessed against any person because of payment thereof within a period of thirty days after receiving notice that the collector of taxes is ready to receive the taxes assessed. Approved, March 3, 1883.