TAXATION AND REVENUE SYSTEMS—OREGON.
191
ARTICLE IV.
Sec. 23. The legislative assembly shall not pass special or local
laws * * * f or the assessment and collection of taxes for state,
county, township, or road purposes.
ARTICLE IX.
Sec. 1. The legislative assembly shall provide by law for a uni
form and equal rate of assessment and taxation, and shall prescribe
such regulations as shall secure a just valuation of all property, both
real and personal, excepting such only for municipal, educational,
literary, scientific, religious, or charitable purposes, as may be spe
cially exempted by law.
Sec. la. No poll or head tax shall be levied or collected in Oregon.
The legislative assembly shall not declare an emergency in any act
regulating taxation or exemption.
Sec. 2. The legislative assembly shall provide for raising revenue
sufficient to defray the expenses of the state for each fiscal year, and
also to pay the interest on the state debt.
Sec. 3. No tax shall be levied except in pursuance of law, and
every law imposing a tax shall state distinctly the object of the same,
to which only it shall be applied.
Sec. 6. Whenever the expenses of any fiscal year shall exceed the
income, the legislative assembly shall provide for levying a tax for
the ensuing fiscal year, sufficient with other sources of income, to
pay the deficiency, as well as the estimated expense of the ensuing
fiscal year.
OFFICERS.
The officers most directly concerned with taxation
are:
(1) County assessor, elected for a term of four years.
(2) Sheriff of the county, elected for two years, who is the tax
collector.
(3) The county board of equalization, consisting of the county
judge, county clerk, and assessor of each county.
(4) The “county court,” which refers to the board of county com
missioners in counties which have a separate board for county busi
ness, and the county judge and commissioners in other counties.
There are two county commissioners in each county, elected for four
years.
(5) Board of state tax commissioners composed of the governor,
secretary of state, state treasurer, and two others, expert in matters
of taxation, to be appointed by a majority of the three former.
State Revenues,
a. general property taxes.
1. Base—
a. The property included and exempt.—All real and
personal property situated or owned within the state,
except such as may be specifically exempted by law,
is subject to assessment and taxation in equal and
ratable proportion.
(1) Real property includes the land itself, all structures attached
thereto and other improvements thereon, and all rights and privi
leges thereto belonging; all franchises and privileges granted by the
laws of the state or by municipal ordinance, other than the right to
be a corporation; and all mines, minerals, quarries, fossils, and trees
in, under, or upon the land.
(2) Personal estate and property shall be construed to include
all things in action, household furniture, goods, chattels
moneys, and gold dust, on hand or on deposit, all boats and
vessels, whether at home or abroad, and all capital invested therein;
all debts due or to become due from solvent debtors, whether on
account, contract, note, mortgage, or otherwise, either within or
without the state; all public stocks; all bonds, warrants, and
moneys due or to become due from this state, or any county or other
municipal subdivision thereof, and stocks and shares in incorpo
rated companies, and such proportion of the capital of incorporated
companies liable to taxation on their capital as shall not be invested
in real estate; and all improvements made by persons on land
claimed by them under the laws of the United States, the fee of
which land is still vested in the United States.
The following property is exempt from taxation:
(1) All property, real and personal, of the United States and this
state except land belonging to this state held under a contract for
the purchase thereof.
(2) All public or corpoiate property of the several counties, cities,
Villages, towns, and school districts in this state used or intended for
corporate purposes, except lands belonging to such public corpo
rations held under a contract for the purchase thereof.
(3) The personal property of all literary, benevolent, charitable,
and scientific institutions incorporated within this state, and such
real estate belonging to such institutions as shall be actively occu
pied for the purposes for which they were incorporated.
(4) All houses of public worship and lots on which situated and
the furniture therein, and all burial grounds, tombs, and rights of
burial; the lands and buildings thereon, not exceeding 30 acres,
held and used by a crematory association incorporated under the
laws of this state.
(5) All public libraries including the real and personal property.
(6) The property of Indians on reservations who have not severed
their tribal relations or taken lands in severalty, except lands held
by them by purchase or inheritance and situate on an Indian
reservation.
(7) The personal property of all persons who by reason of infir
mity, age, or poverty may in the opinion of the assessor be unable
to contribute toward the public charges.
(8) All household furniture, domestic fixtures, household goods,
and effects actually in use as such in homes and dwellings; also
all wearing apparel, watches, jewelry, and similar personal effects
actually in use.
(9) All lands within the boundary of any county road, and all
dedicated streets and alleys in any incorporated or unincorporated
city or town, or town plat, within the state while used for such
purposes.
b. Assessment.—In general, there is but one com
plete assessment roll for state, county, and municipal
taxes. The county is the unit, and the initial assess
ment is made by the county assessor. Ml property is
to be assessed annually with reference to the first Mon
day in March at its true cash value—that is, the amount
for which such property would sell at a voluntary
sale made in the ordinary course of business. No de
ductions from assessments are allowed on account of
indebtedness. It is the duty of the assessor to re
quire each taxpayer, under a penalty of $50, to fur
nish a sworn list of his property, but such list is not
binding upon the assessor, but is merely to aid him in
arriving at the items and true value of the property to
be assessed.
Tax maps are provided and in use by all assessors.
The form of assessment roll is not fixed by statute, but is made by
the board of state tax commissioners.
Shares of stock in national banks located in the state are assessed
to the individual shareholders at the place where the bank is
located. The shares of capital stock of national banks not located
in this state, held in this state are not assessed or taxed.