Whereas the land-tax assessment lists in
the Province of Surigao are not in proper form, in that they are not
arranged by barrios, or in alphabetical order, and in some instances
contain no description of the property assessed, such lists being
thereby rendered of little or no value for reference or statistical
purposes; and
Whereas a great many parcels of land have been omitted altogether from
the tax-assessment lists of said province, and it is believed that in
many other instances parcels of land have not been assessed at their
true values; and
Whereas the valuations placed on lands and improvements at the time of
the original assessment were expressed in local currency and have not
since been reduced to money of the United States, as provided in
section six of Act Numbered Five hundred and eighty-two, as amended; and
Whereas the above-mentioned errors, omissions, and inequalities were
not remedied by the board of tax revision appointed under the
provisions of Act Numbered Five hundred and eighty-two, no complaints
having been presented to it, either by land-owners or government
officials: Now, therefore,
Section 1. There is hereby created for the Province
of Surigao a new board of tax revision, which shall consist of the
three members of the provincial board and two other taxpayers,
residents of the province, to be appointed by the Civil Governor, by
and with the consent of the Philippine Commission.
Sec. 2. The powers and duties of the new board of
tax revision in the Province of Surigao shall be those prescribed for
the provincial board of revision by Act Numbered Five hundred and
eighty-two, entitled "An Act to provide for the partial revision of the
assessment upon real estate in the municipalities in the Philippine
Islands outside the city of Manila," as amended by Act Numbered Six
hundred and ninety-three: Provided, however, That the dates specified
in the said Act, as amended, and the compensation and traveling
expenses of the two members of the new board to be appointed by the
Civil Governor, by and with the consent of the Philippine Commission,
shall be as provided in sections three and four of the present Act.
Sec. 3. The new board of tax revision shall be
organized on the fifteenth day of April, nineteen hundred and four, or
as soon thereafter as possible; the time fixed for receiving and
hearing complaints shall be not earlier than five days after the
organization of the new board, and not later than the twentieth of July
nineteen hundred and four; the certification by the new board of a list
of the changes made in the previous assessments, together with a list
of the total assessments of the taxable lands and improvements in each
municipality, provided for in section eight of Act Numbered Five
hundred and eighty-two, shall be made not later than the fifth day of
August, nineteen hundred and four, on which date the new board of tax
revision shall cease to exercise any powers under this Act; and the
payment of land taxes in the Province of Surigao for the year nineteen
hundred and four shall be made prior to the first day of November,
nineteen hundred and four, the provisions of section seventy-four, as
amended, of the Municipal Code, to the contrary notwithstanding. In all
other dates and periods of time specified in Act Numbered Five hundred
and eighty-two, as amended by Act Numbered Six hundred and
ninety-three, the words "nineteen hundred and three," for the purposes
of the present Act.
Sec. 4. Each of the two members of the board of
tax revision appointed by the Civil Governor, by and with the consent
of the Commission, shall receive for each day's session of the board
upon which he was in actual attendance, the sum of four Philippine
pesos, and his actual expenses for travel and subsistence, not
exceeding four Philippine pesos a day, while in attendance upon the
board and its meetings, from the time he leaves his usual place of
residence until he returns to the same. In cases where the usual place
or residence of such member shall be so far distant from the capital as
to make it impracticable for him to go to his home on Sunday and return
upon Monday, he shall be allowed the per diem for Sunday, as well as
the days when the board is in actual session.
Sec. 5. In all cases in which land in the Province
of Surigao assessed for the year nineteen hundred and two, or the year
nineteen hundred and three, was assessed at more than fifty per centum
above the valuation made by the new board of tax revision, the
provincial board is hereby authorized and required to reduce the
assessment, for the year or years in which such excessive assessment of
more than fifty per centum was made, to the amount fixed by the new
board of tax revision for the same land for the year nineteen hundred
and four, and the provincial treasurer shall comply with the order of
the provincial board by making the reduction upon the records of the
municipality and province.
Sec. 6. In all cases in which the money has been
paid upon the excessive assessment as described in the section
immediately preceding, it shall be the duty of the provincial board to
allow a credit of the amount of such excess payment, to be applied upon
taxes due for the year nineteen hundred and four or the next subsequent
year.
Sec. 7. In case the tax has not been paid on the
excessive assessment, then the taxpayer or the person from whom the tax
is due shall be allowed to pay the tax on the reduced assessment
without penalty at any time before November first, nineteen hundred and
four; and all proceedings for the sale of land because of the
delinquency of payment on the excessive assessment as defined in
section five shall be discontinued and held for naught, and the title
to the land shall remain in the delinquent taxpayer, subject only to
the lien for taxes on the assessment as reduced in accordance with
section five hereof: Provided, That if the amount of taxes due on the
reduced assessment is not paid before November first, nineteen hundred
and four, the same procedure shall be followed in their collection as
in other cases of delinquent taxes.
Sec. 8. In cases of excessive taxation described
in section five hereof in which the land shall have been sold to a
third person for failure to pay taxes, the delinquent taxpayer upon
redeeming his land by paying to the purchaser the amount required by
law to be paid shall be entitled to a credit, for use in payment of
future taxes, for the amount expended by him over and above the tax
without penalty at the reduced assessment. In case the land shall have
been purchased by the Government, the proceedings shall be by the
provincial board declared null and void, and the title shall revert to
the delinquent taxpayer on payment of the amount due on the assessment,
as reduced in accordance with the terms of section five of this Act,
before November first, nineteen hundred and four.
Sec. 9. The public good requiring the speedy
enactment of this bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in
accordance with section two of "An Act prescribing the order of
procedure by the Commission in the enactment of laws," passed September
twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred.
Sec. 10. This Act shall take effect on its passage.
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