Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/183

 FINANCIAL HISTORY OF OREGON. 175 The governing county boards levied the school, county and territorial taxes in September and the collections were made in the fall and winter months. During the first four years it was the duty of the sheriff to call on the taxpayers at their "most usual place of residence"; in 1854 he could summon them to some public place in their respective election pre- cincts or they could pay to his deputy at the county seat; should they neglect payment and he visited them at their residence he could collect mileage from them. In 1856 the county treasurer became the collector and all taxes remaining unpaid after sixty days were turned over to the sheriff to collect according to the old custom of making demand in person and being allowed fees and mileage. County treasurers were to have paid over the territorial revenues before the first Monday in February, out of the first moneys paid into the county treasuries. 88 While county war- rants at par were receivable for county taxes only gold and silver coin was a legal tender for territorial taxes. There were the usual exemptions of a certain amount of household furniture and, for the first few years, of agricul- tural inplements and mechanic's tools; of public property, and of property used for religious, literary, charitable and benevolent purposes. In line with the unique policy of the Provisional Government agricultural lands were also tax-free for several years. Although the first general tax legislation, that of September 21, 1849, provided for a tax "on all lands, town lots, and out lots," in its enumeration of the kinds of property subject to taxation, and although the next general tax law, that of 1854, also included "not only the land itself, whether laid out in town lots or otherwise, ' ' among the forms of property subject to taxation, and this act in the forms of 88 This requirement worked a hardship on county treasurers remote from the capital. It was frequently almost impracticable to travel at this time and there was a lack of facilities for the safe transmission of their funds. There was no provision for their expenses in travelling. These conditions furnished plausible excuses for delinquencies on account of which heavy forfeitures were incurred.