26S 
THIRTEENTH REPORT. 
Every general taxing law lias invariably classified property for taxa- 
tion purposes as real estate or as personal property and “cash value” 
has been the invariable legal measure of the taxableness of properties 
found in both of these classes. In early days a rated tax was the impost 
used by the state government for the defrayment of its own expenses 
but since 1853 both the state authority and the minor divisions have 
alike made use of an apportioned tax as the proper method of levying 
their exactions. 
All general taxing laws have always included among their objects 
every kind of non-exempted real estate situated within the common- 
wealth and have always associated together land and all non-exempted 
“buildings and fixtures thereon and appurtenances thereto” in their 
definitions of the term realty. This kind of property has furnished by 
far the major portion of the state’s assessable resources, although in 
early times the reservations by the federal government in the enabling 
act by which Michigan became a state, of all federal realty from the 
operation of state taxes removed at once three-quarters of the Michigan 
lands acreage from the operation of the property tax.* This enforced 
renunciation for taxation purposes of so large an area furnished a theme 
for complaint to the early state authorities which was only appeased 
by the gift of many millions of acres to the state and the prompt dis- 
position of . the remainder to private proprietors under whom it became 
immediately taxable. By 1874f only a twelfth of the realty of the com- 
monwealth remained free from taxation through its relations with the 
general government and much of this has since come into private hands. 
All taxing laws have likewise invariably regarded personal property 
as liable for the needs of government, and a definition of this kind of 
property has been found in each of the taxing laws since the time when 
the receipts from this lax ceased to be used exclusively for local pur- 
poses. Moneys, chattels, boats and vessels, corporate shares or stocks, 
annuities and credits less indebtednesses have at all times been included 
within these definitions although none of these terms have maintained 
the same meaning throughout each of its uses save moneys and boats 
and vessels. Personal property, too. itself, has been an expansive term 
since at different times new items have been inserted within its definition 
and our research into legislative design in order to be complete will 
require an inspection of each of these constituents of personalty as well 
as an enumeration of the different items which have in later years been 
added to the list. 
The taxation of corporate shares or stocks in this State by means of the 
general property tax has suffered much restriction through the Michigan 
plan of employing specific taxes as the means of securing a public reve- 
nue from the larger corporations. All corporations originally made 
their contributions through this form of taxation and the important ones 
continued to do so until a decade since and even now are taxed by a spe- 
cial corporation fax. The greater number of the residual corporations 
too — those hot levied upon by specific methods — -have submitted to the 
general property tax exactly as have private individuals — paying their 
taxes upon assessments precisely as do real persons — so that few oppor- 
*Cong. Re ! ’. Sen. Doc., No. 32, 1838. 
fState Aud. Rep. 1874, p. 
