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thority aforesaid, the conveyances of the marshals or their deputies, executed in due form of law, shall give a valid title against all persons claiming under such collector or his sureties, respectively.

SEC. 56. That, for superintending the collection of the direct tax and internal duties or income tax laid by this act, an officer is hereby authorized in the Treasury Department, to be called "Commissioner of Taxes," who shall be charged, under the direction of the Secretary, with preparing all the forms necessary for the assessment and collection of the tax and duties aforesaid, with preparing, signing, and distributing all such licenses as are required, and with the general superintendence of all the officers employed in assessing and collecting said tax and duties; said commissioner shall be appointed by the President, upon the nomination of the Secretary of the Treasury, and he shall receive an annual salary of three thousand dollars. The Secretary of the Treasury may assign the necessary clerks to the office of said commissioner, whose aggregate salaries shall not exceed six thousand dollars per annum, and the amount required to pay the salaries of said commissioner and clerks is hereby appropriated.

Office of com

missioner of tax

es created.

Authority, duty, salary. Clerks.

act, &c.

SEC. 57. That in case of the sickness or temporary disability of a col- If a collector is lector to discharge such of his duties as cannot, under existing laws, be sick, deputy may discharged by a deputy, they may be devolved by him upon a deputy: Provided, Information thereof be immediately communicated to the Secretary of the Treasury, and shall not be disapproved by him: And provided, That the responsibility of the collector or his sureties to the United States shall not be thereby affected or impaired.

SEC. 58. That in case a collector shall die, resign, or be removed, the If collector deputy of such collector longest in service at the time immediately pre- who to act in his dies, resigns, &c. ceding, who shall have been longest employed by him, may and shall, place. until a successor shall be appointed, discharge all the duties of said collector, and for whose conduct, in case of the death of the collector, his estate shall be responsible to the United States.

No. 3. - JANUARY 21, 1862.

Stat. at Large,

Vol. XII. p. 612.
Tax to be

[No. 6.] Joint Resolution declaratory of the Purpose of Congress to impose a Tax. Be it resolved, &c. That, in order to pay the ordinary expenses of the government, the interest on the national loans, and have an ample sink- imposed. ing fund for the ultimate liquidation of all public debts, a tax shall be imposed which shall, with the tariff on imports, secure an annual revenue of not less than one hundred and fifty million dollars.

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CHAP. LXVI. An Act to amend an Act entitled "An Act to provide increased Revenue from Imports, to pay Interest on the Public Debt, and for other Purposes, approved August five, eighteen hundred and sixty-one.

Stat. at Large, Vol. XII. p. 384. 1861, ch. 45, § 53. Provision of former act, that

upon the United

Be it enacted, &c. That the provision in the fifty-third section of the act "to provide increased revenue from imports, to pay interest on the State may pay public debt, and for other purposes," approved August five, eighteen hun- its tax by release dred and sixty-one, allowing such portion of the tax as may be assessed of its claims. by any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia "to be paid and sat- States-to apisfied, in whole or in part, by the release of such State, Territory, or Dis- ply to claims for trict, duly executed, to the United States, of any liquidated and determined expenses of volclaim of such State, Territory, or District of equal amount against the fore July 30, United States: Provided, That in case of such release, such State, Ter- 1862. ritory, or District shall be allowed the same abatement of the amount of such tax as would be allowed in case of the payment of the same in money," shall be construed as applying to such claims of States for re

unteers filed be

imbursement of expenses incurred by them in enrolling, subsisting, clothing, supplying, arming, equipping, paying, and transporting its troops employed in aiding to suppress the present insurrection against the United States, as shall be filed with the proper officers of the United States beAbatement in fore the thirtieth of July next. And in such cases the abatement of fifteen per centum shall be made on such portion of said tax as may be paid by the allowance of such claims, in whole or in part, the same as if the final settlement and liquidation thereof had been made before the thirtieth of June.

such case.

Stat. at Large, CHAP. XCVIII. Vol. XII. p. 422.

Direct taxes,

when not peaceably collectable in any State, because of the in

surrection, how to be apportioned and charged. 1861, ch. 45.

No. 5. - JUNE 7, 1862.

-An Act for the Collection of direct Taxes in Insurrectionary Districts within the United States, and for other Purposes.

Be it enacted, &c. That when in any State or Territory, or in any portion of any State or Territory, by reason of insurrection or rebellion, the civil authority of the government of the United States is obstructed so that the provisions of the act entitled " An act to provide increased revenue from imports, to pay interest on the public debt, and for other purposes," approved August fifth, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, for assessing, levying, and collecting the direct taxes therein mentioned, cannot be peaceably executed, the said direct taxes, by said act apportioned among the several States and Territories, respectively, shall be apportioned and charged in each State and Territory, or part thereof, wherein the civil authority is thus obstructed, upon all the lands and lots of ground situate therein, respectively, except such as are exempt from taxation by the laws Lands charged of said State or of the United States, as the said lands or lots of ground. were enumerated and valued under the last assessment and valuation thereof made under the authority of said State or Territory previous to the first day of January, anno Domini eighteen hundred and sixty-one ; and each and every parcel of the said lands, according to said valuation, is hereby declared to be, by virtue of this act, charged with the payment of so much of the whole tax laid and apportioned by said act upon the State or Territory wherein the same is respectively situate, as shall bear the same direct proportion to the whole amount of the direct tax apportioned to said State or Territory as the value of said parcels of land shall respectively bear to the whole valuation of the real estate in said State or Territory according to the said assessment and valuation made under the authority of the same; and in addition thereto a penalty of fifty per centum of said tax shall be charged thereon.

with the tax.

Penalty in addition.

President to proclaim in what States insurrection exists.

Tax and penalty a lien.

Owner within,

&c. may pay tax, and discharge land from

lien.

Title to lands

on which tax is not paid, to be in the United States.

SEC. 2. That on or before the first day of July next, the President, by his proclamation, shall declare in what States and parts of States said insurrection exists, and thereupon the said several lots or parcels of land shall become charged respectively with their respective portions of said direct tax, and the same together with the penalty shall be a lien thereon, without any other or further proceeding whatever.

SEC. 3. That it shall be lawful for the owner or owners of said lots or parcels of lands, within sixty days after the tax commissioners herein named shall have fixed the amount, to pay the tax thus charged upon the same, respectively, into the treasury of the United States, or to the commissioners herein appointed, and take a certificate thereof, by virtue whereof the said lands shall be discharged from said tax.

SEC. 4. That the title of, in, and to each and every piece or parcel of land upon which said tax has not been paid as above provided, shall thereupon become forfeited to the United States, and, upon the sale hereinafter provided for, shall vest in the United States or in the purchasers at such sale, in fee simple, free and discharged from all prior liens, encumbrances, right, title, and claim whatsoever.

SEC. 5. That the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, may appoint a board of three tax commissioners for each of said States in which such insurrection exists, with a salary of three thousand dollars each per annum, to give security in the sum of fifty thousand dollars each, in such form as the Secretary of the Treasury shall direct, and to be approved by him, for the faithful performance of all their duties as such, and to account for and pay over all moneys and other property coming to their hands: Provided, That said commissioners shall not receive pay under the provisions of this act until they shall have entered upon the discharge of their duties.

Tax commissioners for each

State.

Number, pay,

security.

When to enter

SEC. 6. That the said board of tax commissioners shall enter upon the discharge of the duties of their office whenever the commanding general upon their duties. of the forces of the United States, entering into any such insurrectionary State or district, shall have established the military authority of the United States throughout any parish or district or county of the same, and they shall open one or more offices for the transaction of business.

sioners to adver

to sell the same to highest bidder,

or to bid in for the United States. Payment may

Certificate of sale, effect of.

SEC. 7. That the said board of commissioners shall be required, in Tax commiscase the taxes charged upon the said lots and parcels of land shall not be tise for sale lands paid as provided for in the third section of this act, to cause the same to on which taxes be advertised for sale in a newspaper published in the town, parish, dis- are unpaid, trict, or county where situate, and if there be no such newspaper published in said county, or if the publisher thereof refuse to publish the same, then in any other newspaper to be selected by said commissioners in said district, or in the city of Washington, for at least four weeks, and by posting notices of said sale in three public places in the town, parish, district, or county within which said lands are situate, at least four weeks previous to the day of sale; and at the time and place of sale to cause the same to be severally sold to the highest bidder for a sum not less than the taxes, penalty, and costs, and ten per centum per annum interest on said tax pursuant to said notice; and the said commissioners shall, at said sale, strike off the same severally to the United States at that sum, unless some person shall bid the same or a larger sum; who shall, upon paying the purchase money in gold and silver coin, or in the treasury notes of the be made in what. United States, or in certificates of indebtedness against the United States, be entitled to receive from said commissioners their certificate of sale; which said certificate shall be received in all courts and places as prima facie evidence of the regularity and validity of said sale, and of the title of the said purchaser or purchasers under the same: Provided, That the Owner, or loyal owner of said lots of ground, or any loyal person of the United States, person may redeem, &c. having any valid lien upon or interest in the same, may, at any time, within sixty days after said sale, appear before the said board of tax commissioners in his or her own proper person, and, if a citizen, upon taking an oath to support the Constitution of the United States, and paying the amount of said tax and penalty, with interest thereon from the date of the said proclamation of the President mentioned in the second section of this act, at the rate of fifteen per centum per annum, together with the expenses of the sale and subsequent proceedings to be determined by said commissioners, may redeem said lots of land from said sale; and any purchaser, under the same, having paid moneys, treasury notes, or other certificates of indebtedness of the United States, shall, upon such redemption being made, be entitled to have the same, with the interest accruing after said sale, returned to him by the said commissioners, upon surrendering up the certificates of sale: And provided, further, That if the owner of said lots of ground shall be a minor, a non-resident alien, or Redemption loyal citizen beyond seas, a person of unsound mind, or under a legal dis- minor, or under ability, the guardian, trustee, or other person having charge of the person disability. or estate of such person may redeem the same at any time within two years after the sale thereof, in the manner above provided, and with like effect: And provided, further, That the certificate of said commissioners

Proceedings for redemption.

when owner is a

Certificate of

how alone im

peached.

commissioners, shall only be affected as evidence of the regularity and validity of sale by establishing the fact that said property was not subject to taxes, or that the taxes had been paid previous to sale, or that the property had been redeemed according to the provisions of this act.

Further time

granted in certain cases.

SEC. 8. That at any time within one year after the said sale by said for redemption commissioners, any person being the owner of any lot or parcel of ground at the passage of this act, who shall, by sufficient evidence, prove to the satisfaction of said board of commissioners that he or she, after the passage of this act, has not taken part in the present insurrection against the United States, or in any manner aided or abetted the same; and that, by reason of said insurrection, he or she has been unable to pay said tax, or to redeem said lands from sale within the time above provided for, the said board of commissioners may allow him or her further time to redeem the same, not exceeding two years from the day of sale; and for this purpose they may take the testimony of witnesses, and shall reduce the same to writing; and the United States, or any person claiming an interest in said lands, may appear and oppose the said application. From their decision the United States or any party in interest may appeal to the district court of the United States for said district, which is hereby authorized to take jurisdiction of the same, as in other cases involving the equity of redemption. And in case said board of commissioners should, for any cause, cease to act before the expiration of one year after said sales, the said district court shall have original jurisdiction of the proceeding for redemption, as herein provided, to take place before the said board of commissioners.

Either party may appeal.

Jurisdiction of federal district

courts.

When commis

lands taken for taxes.

of lease.

SEC. 9. That in cases where the owners of said lots and parcels sioners may lease of ground have abandoned the same, and have not paid the tax thereon as provided for in the third section of this act, nor paid the same, nor redeemed the said land from sale as provided for in the seventh section of this act, and the said board of commissioners shall be satisfied that said owners have left the same to join the rebel forces or otherwise to engage in and abet this rebellion, and the same shall have been struck off to the United States at said sale, the said commissioners Duration, &c. shall, in the name of the United States, enter upon and take possession of the same, and may lease the same, together or in parcels, to any person or persons who are citizens of the United States, or may have declared on oath their intention to become such, until the said rebellion and insurrection in said State shall be put down, and the civil authority of the United States established, and until the people of said State shall elect a legislature and State officers, who shall take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States, to be announced by the proclamation of the President, and until the first day of March next thereafter, said leases to be in such form and with such security as shall, in the judgment of said commissioners, produce to the United States the greatest revenue.

Conditions of

of occupancy.

SEC. 10. That the said commissioners shall from time to time make lease, and terms such temporary rules and regulations, and insert such clauses in said leases as shall be just and proper to secure proper and reasonable employment and support, at wages or upon shares of the crop, of such persons and families as may be residing upon the said parcels or lots of land, which said rules and regulations are declared to be subject to the approval of the President.

Commissioners

SEC. 11. That the said board of commissioners, under the direction of may sell instead the President, may be authorized, instead of leasing the said lands vested of leasing. in the United States, as above provided, to cause the same, or any portion thereof, to be subdivided and sold in parcels not to exceed three hundred and twenty acres to any one purchaser, at public sale, after giving due notice thereof, as upon the sale of other public lands of the United States, for sixty days, and to issue a certificate therefor; and that, at any such sale, any loyal citizen of the United States, or any person

Who may be

purchaser.

Terms of pay

ment.

who shall have declared on oath his intention to become such, or any per-
son who shall have faithfully served as an officer, musician, or private
soldier or sailor in the army or navy or marine service of the United
States, as a regular or volunteer, for the term of three months, may be-
come the purchaser; and if upon such sale any person serving in the
army or navy or marine corps shall pay one fourth part of the purchase
money, a certificate shall be given him, and he shall have the term of
three years in which to pay the remainder, either in money or in certifi-
cates of indebtedness from the United States; and any citizen of the
United States, or any person who shall have declared his intention to be- emption.
come such, being the head of a family, and residing in the State or
district where said lands are situate, and not the owner of any other
lands, may, under such rules as may be established by said board of com-
missioners, have the right to enter upon and acquire the rights of pre-
emption in such lands as may be unimproved and vested in the United
States, and as may be selected by said board of commissioners, under the
direction of the President, from time to time, for such purpose.

Right of pre

Proceeds of

how to be dis

posed of.

SEC. 12. That the proceeds of said leases and sales shall be paid into the treasury of the United States, one fourth of which shall be paid sales and leases, over to the governor of said State wherein said lands are situated, or his authorized agent, when such insurrection shall be put down, and the people shall elect a legislature and State officers who shall take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States, and such fact shall be proclaimed by the President for the purpose of reimbursing the loyal citizens of said State, or such other purpose as said State may direct; and one fourth shall also be paid over to said State as a fund to aid in the colonization or emigration from said State of any free person of African descent who may desire to remove therefrom to Hayti, Liberia, or any other tropical state or colony.

Reimbursement

of loyal citizens.

Emigration to Hayti, Liberia,

Proceedings when records of

SEC. 13. That in case the records of assessments and valuation of the lots of land mentioned in the first section of this act shall be destroyed, assessments and concealed, or lost, so as not to come within the possession of the said valuation are boards of commissioners, they shall be authorized to take evidence of the concealed or lost. same, or to value and assess the same in their own judgment upon such evidence as may appear before them; and no mistake in the valuation of the same, or in the amount of tax thereon, shall, in any manner whatever, affect the validity of the sale of the same or of any of the proceedings preliminary thereto.

Statements of

Transcripts of

SEC. 14. That the said tax commissioners shall keep a book or books, Commissioners to keep taxin which they shall enter or cause to be entered the amount or quota of books. said direct tax assessed on each tract or parcel of land; which said amounts shall be distinctly stated in the advertisement, or notice of sale, together with a description of the tract to be sold, and an entry shall be advertisements. made in said book, or books, of each tract sold, together with the name of the purchaser, and the sum for which the same may have been sold. A transcript or transcripts of said book or books, duly verified by said com- books to be filed; missioners, and said books when said commission shall expire, shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, and said books and transcripts, and copies of said books and transcripts duly certified by the Secretary of the Treasury, shall be evidence in any court in the United States. The said commissioners may employ a clerk, whose compensation shall be twelve hundred dollars per annum. SEC. 15. That the thirteenth section of the act of August fifth, eighteen Construction hundred and sixty-one, entitled "An act to provide increased revenue of act 1861, ch. from imports, to pay interest on the public debt, and for other purposes," shall be so construed as not to exempt from taxation property above the value of five hundred dollars, but to exempt from taxation property of from taxation. the value of five hundred dollars, or less, owned by individuals, notwithstanding the provisions of said act.

SEC. 16. That this act shall take effect from and after its passage.

Copies of books and transcripts

to

be evidence. Clerk to com

missioners.

,, 45, § 13.

Exemption

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