On complaint filed Secretary of State to make investigation. Proviso: Complainant to give bond for costs. If company acquitted bond responsible for expenses. Company found guilty shall pay expense of inves tigation. License of company violating act or refusing to submit to examination, revoked. How expenses of examination collected from company. Unlawful to company not licensed in this State. SEC. 4. That complaint being filed by any citizen of this State, that any company authorized to do business in this State has violated any of the provisions of this act, the Secretary of State shall diligently investigate the matter, and if necessary, examine by himself or his accredited representative at the head office located in the United States of America, and such other offices or agents ofsuch companies as may be deemed proper, also all books, records and papers of the same, and also the officers thereof under oath as to such alleged violation or violations: Provided, that before making examination the Secretary of State shall require the party or parties making complaint to file with him a good and sufficient bond to secure any expenses or cost that may be necessary in making such examination, and in the event that the insurance company be found not guilty of a violation of this act, the said bond shall be responsible for all the expenses incurred by reason of investigation, but should said company be found guilty of a violation of this act then said company shall be responsible for the expense thereof. SEC. 5. That any fire insurance company violating any provision of this act, or refusing to submit to the aforesaid examination when requested, shall forfeit their right to do business in this State for the twelve months thereafter, and the Secretary of State shall immediately revoke the license already issued to said fire insurance company to do business in this State. SEC. 6. That if any such company shall fail or refuse to pay expenses of examination upon the presentation of a bill therefor by the Secretary of State, then the said Secretary of State shall at once institute proceedings against the said company for the recovery of the same, and for this purpose may attach any of the property of the said company to be found within the jurisdiction of the court before which such proceedings are had. SEC. 7. Any person acting as adjuster on a contract made adjust loss for a otherwise than authorized by the laws of this State, or by any insurance company or person not regularly licensed to do business in the State, or who shall adjust or aid in the adjustment, either directly or indirectly, of a loss by fire on property located Or on a contract in this State, incurred on a contract not authorized by the laws of this State, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall upon conviction be fined not less than one hundred dollars or more that five hundred dollars or imprisoned not less than six months or more than two years or both in the discretion of the court. not authorized by the laws of this State. Misdemeanor. Penalty. Act authorizing SEC. 8. That section four (4), chapter one hundred and contracts outside seventy (170), laws of one thousand eight hundred and eighty State repealed. seven (1887), and section four (4), chapter one hundred and seventy-eight (1878), laws of one thousand eight hundred and eighty-five (1885), are hereby repealed, and any other laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this act be, and the same are hereby repealed. SEC. 9. This act shall be in force from and after its ratification. Ratified the 1st day of March, A. D. 1897. CHAPTER 168. An act to raise revenue. The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact: SCHEDULE A. ble. and assessed. SECTION 1. That the taxes hereinafter designated are payable Taxes, in what in existing national currency, and shall be assessed and col- currency payalected under the rules and regulations prescribed by law, and How collected applied to the payment of the expenses of the State government, the appropriations to charitable and penal institutions, other specific appropriations made by law, and the interest on the four per centum consolidated debt of the State. How applied. SEC. 2. On each taxable poll or male between the ages of Poll tax. twenty-one and fifty years, except the poor and infirm whom the county commissioners may declare and record fit subjects Exemptions. for exemption, there shall be annually levied and collected a tax of one dollar and twenty-nine cents, the proceeds of such tax to be devoted to the purposes of education and the support How applied. of the poor, as may be prescribed by law, not inconsistent with the apportionment established by section two of article five of the constitution of the State. Ad valorem tax poses. schools. SEC. 3. There shall be levied and collected annually an ad for State purcalorem tax of twenty-two and two-thirds cents for State purposes, three and one-third cents for pensions, twenty cents for For pensions. public schools, making forty-six cents on every one hundred For public dollars value of real and personal property in this State, and moneys, credits, surplus reserve funds, undivided profits, investments in bonds, stocks, joint stock companies, or otherwise, required to be listed in " an act to provide for the assessment Subjects of taxation, of property and collection of taxes," subject to exemptions Exemptions. made by law, and no city, town or other municipal corporation shall have power to impose, levy or collect any greater sum on Limitation on municipal taxareal and personal property than one per centum of the value tion. thereof, except by special authority from the General Assembly. Taxes on stock of SEC. 4. The taxes imposed for State purposes upon the shares of stock in any bank, building and loan association or banking association (whether State or national) in this State, shall be paid by the cashier of such bank, banking association or On failure Treas- building and loan association, directly to the State treasurer Treasurer. urer to bring action. Action brought is located. Tax on incomes other sources. sand to five thou sand dollars. On income from five thousand to On income from Exemptions of Exceptions. Proviso: Property held as investment, speculation or rent not exempt. Investments of corporations taxable at value. within thirty days after the first day of July in each year, and upon failure to pay the State treasurer as aforesaid, he shall institute an action against the bank or building and loan association to enforce the same in the county of Wake, or in the county in which the bank or building and loan association is located. The board of commissioners of the county in which such banks or building and loan associations are located shall assess against the value of shares of stock of residents of that county the tax imposed for school purposes and those imposed for county purposes, which shall be paid to the sheriff of that county, and the value of shares of stock in national, State and private banks and building and loan associations held by nonresidents shall not be deducted from the aggregate value of the shares thereof. SEC. 5. On the gross profits and the income derived from property not taxed five per centum; on the gross income derived from salaries and fees, public or private, one-half of one per centum on the excess over one thousand dollars; on the gross incomes derived from other sources, except such as are derived solely from property taxed one-fourth of one per centum on the excess over one thousand to five thousand dollars; one-half of one per centum on the excess over five thousand to ten thousand dollars; one per centum on the excess over ten thousand to twenty thousand dollars, and two per centum on the excess over twenty thousand dollars. SEC. 6. Whenever in any law or act of incorporation granted either under the general law or by special act, before or since the fourth of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixtyeight, there is any limitation or exemption of taxation, the same is hereby repealed; and all the property and effects of all such corporations shall be liable to taxation, except property belonging to the State and municipal corporations and property held for the benefit of churches, religious societies, associations or organizations, and property held for the benefit of charitable, educational, literary or benevolent institutions or orders, and also cemeteries: Provided, that no property whatever held or used for investments, speculation or for rent shall be exempt; any and all investments made by any railroad company or other corporation in the stock, bonds or other securi ties of other corporations or loans shall be taxable upon the amount of the value of such investments, irrespective of the market or other value of a single share of such stock. SCHEDULE B. SEC. 7. That taxes in this schedule shall be imposed as license License taxes. tax for the privilege of carrying on the business or doing the to relieve from act named, and nothing in the schedule contained shall be construed to relieve any person from the payment of the ad val- License tax not orem tax on his property, as required in the preceding sched- ad valorem tax. ule. The licenses issued under this schedule shall be for twelve months, unless otherwise specially provided in any section Term of license. imposing a tax, and shall expire on the thirty-first day of May of each year. Rooms or halls used as theatre or opera house. In places of more than 10,000 pop 1,000 inhabitants. Less than 1,000 SEC. 8. On each room or hall used as a theatre or opera house where public exhibitions or performances are given for profit, in a city or town having more than ten thousand inhabitants, ulation. one hundred and fifty dollars per annum; less than ten thou- From 10,000 to 5,000 inhabitants. sand inhabitants and over five thousand, one hundred dollars, From 5,000 to under five thousand inhabitants and not less than twenty-five 2,500 inhabitants. hundred, fifty dollars; less than twenty-five hundred inhabi- From 2,500 to tants and over one thousand, twenty-five dollars; less than one thousand inhabitants, fifteen dollars. The licenses under this section shall be issued by the sheriff, and said halls shall not be liable to any other license tax by the county; but the said tax shall be divided, and one-half paid to the State and one. half to the county. Companies or individuals performing or exhibiting in halls licensed in this section shall not be required to pay either county or State tax. SEC. 9. On every traveling theatrical company giving exhibitions or performances in any hall not licensed as provided in the next preceding section, ten dollars on each exhibition or performance, and the owner of the hall shall be responsible for said tax. inhabitants. to further license divided. Exhibitions in licensed hall not taxed. Tax on traveling halls. tainments in SEC. 10. On each concert or musical entertainment for profit, not given in a hall licensed as provided in section eight of this act, unless the same be given for the sole benefit of religious, unlicensed hall. charitable or educational purposes, three dollars, and the owner owner of hall of the hall or house in which the entertainment was held shall responsible. be responsible for said tax. SEC. 11. On each lecture for rewards, three dollars unless the same be given for the sole benefit of religious, charitable or educational purposes, or in a licensed hall, and the owner of the hall shall be responsible for said tax. Lectures in unlicensed halls. Owner of hall responsible. Museums, wax or curiosities. Owner of hall responsible. Circuses and menageries. Animal shows and trapeze and Juggling performances. Other entertainments. Exceptions. Proviso: Spiritualists or mediums not exempt. Gift enterprises. Lotteries. Prize photographs. Taxes under this section paid to sheriff. Payment of tax not to relieve persons engaged in business from penalties. Billiard and pool tables and bowl ing alleys in connection with liquor shops. Other billiard or pool tables and bowling alleys. Skating rinks, bagatelle tables, merry-gorounds, hobby horses, switch back railways SEC. 12. On museums, waxworks or curiosities of any kind, natural or artificial, on each day's or night's exhibition, three dollars, unless given for the sole benefit of religious, charitable or educational purposes, and the owner of the hall shall be responsible for said tax. SEC. 13. On every exhibition of a circus or menagerie, for each day or part of day, one hundred dollars, and each side show, fifty dollars, and on every show given under canvas or otherwise, in which animals are exhibited and trapeze and juggling performances are given, for each day or part of a day, fifty dollars, whether free or otherwise, and the county shall levy the same amount and no more. SEC. 14. On all companies or persons whatever who exhibit or give entertainment for amusement of the public or for reward, otherwise than is mentioned in the five preceding sections, five dollars for each exhibition or performance. Exhibitions or entertainments given for the sole benefit of religious, charitable or educational objects shall be exempt from taxation : Provided, no part or clause of this section shall be so construed as to exempt from taxation persons claiming to be spiritualists or mediums of communication between the material and immaterial worlds and giving public exhibitions. SEC. 15. On any gift enterprise or any person or establishment offering any article for sale, and proposing to present purchasers with any gift or prize as an inducement to purchase, twenty dollars; on any lottery, whether known as a beneficial association, gift or concert, or otherwise, one thousand dollars on every itinerant dealer in prize photographs, or prizes of any kind, one hundred dollars, in each county in which the business is conducted. The taxes in this section shall be paid to the sheriff or tax collector of the county, but shall not be construed as giving license or relieving such persons or establishments from any penalties incurred by violation of the law. SEC. 16. On each billiard or pool table, bowling alley or alley of like kind kept for public use, if in connection with any place where liquor is sold, twenty-five dollars, whether kept under the same roof or otherwise; and on all other billiard or pool tables, bowling alleys or alleys of like kind kept for public use, twelve dollars and fifty cents each. SEC. 17. On each skating rink, bagatelle table, merry-goround, hobby horses, switchback railway, or stand or place for any other game or play, with or without a name (unless used for private amusement or exercise alone), whether kept in conand other games. nection with or separate from any place where liquor is sold, twenty dollars in each county where the business is carried on. |