I 
MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 269 
trinities indeed have existed for taxing stocks in domestic corporations 
without inflicting an unjust double taxation. 
The personal property tax on stocks and shares came in this way very 
early to denote a tax on stocks and shares in foreign corporations only, 
and this fact is recognized by a statute of 1853 which provides for the 
taxation of shares or stocks in all railroad, turnpike, canal and other 
corporations out of the state which are owned by inhabitants within the 
State. No alteration of this situation has taken place until the present 
time with the single exception that banking companies are taxed through 
their shares of stock and this outcome was brought about by the rule 
of taxation laid down by the federal government as to the way in which 
national banks should be taxed and the further provision that the 
method employed should not be different from that used in taxing state 
banks. The shares in foreign corporations therefore, except in the case 
of banking shares, alone develop almost the entire sum which is re- 
ceived from this form of personalty. 
That classic bugaboo to a general property tax — credits — appeared 
early among the items of personalty in our taxing laws. At all times 
too, net credits only have been taxable since always deductions have 
been permissible to the amount of ones indebtednesses. The earlier tax- 
ing laws limited strictly the credits which were subject to taxation to 
those which resulted from time transactions in money or goods, but a 
statute of 1882 provides an omnibus clause under which all credits, even 
those due from corporations are assessible. Under this provision, notes, 
mortgages, bonds, and bills and accounts receivable become taxable and 
public sentiment has run strongly in the direction of bringing all these 
classes of property to the assessment rolls. Land mortgages, indeed, 
have proven themselves' especial causes of discord in the various agita- 
tions which have taken place in favor of securing more revenues from 
taxing credits. This distinction has resulted from the fact that land 
mortgages are objects of record and also because of the large aggregates 
of this sort of property which now exist. Tn 1801 a mortgage tax law 
was adopted by which credits of this sort were considered as an interest 
in the land, which was subject to the mortgage, but before a fair trial 
of this method of taxation could be had a rival legislature repealed the 
law. Once again in 1901 a mortgage taxation law was adopted by the 
legislature but was vetoed by the State executive on account of certain 
administrative defects. 
The Hercules of the personalty group of properties — if the term her- 
culean be not indeed, wholly a misnomer in describing the revenues 
which have come from any of these taxable — is the class of things known 
as chattels. The abundance and the tangibleness of this sort of property 
gives it second place to realty only in the amount of tax receipts which 
have been developed while the zeal of the legislative attack upon this 
sort of personalty may be gathered from the care which has been exer- 
cised in defining the scope within which taxable chattels were to be 
found. The earlier statutes limited themselves to the simple statement 
that chattels wheresoever they may be are subject to assessment but 
the laws of 1893 elaborated this simple phrase into two provisions: 
the first providing for the taxation of chattels within the state and the 
second for the taxation of chattels in other states if owned by inhabi- 
tants of this commonwealth. 
