Section 40-11-1
Enumeration of subjects of taxation.
(a) As used in this section the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed herein:
(1) CONSTRUCTION PURPOSES. The normal and ordinary meaning of the words, except that mining activities or the transportation of materials used in or produced by mining or forestry activities shall not be construed to be included;
(2) HEAVY DUTY EQUIPMENT. Any motor vehicle used primarily off the open road for construction purposes, including all road construction equipment whose gross weight exceeds 16,000 pounds, but not including inventory on hand for sale by duly licensed equipment dealers.
(b) The subjects of ad valorem taxation, except as exempted by law, shall be as follows:
(1) Every piece, parcel, tract, or lot of land in this state, including therein all things pertaining to such land, and all structures and other things so annexed or attached thereto as to pass to a vendee by conveyance of such land; and every separate or special interest in any land, such as minerals, the right to mine minerals, the right to turpentine, oil or petroleum, natural gas, and the right to remove same from the soil, or any other interests when such interests are owned by persons other than the owner of the surface or soil, except growing crops, standing timber, or any tree, bush, vine, or other growing thing from which a crop is harvested;
(2) All docks, wharves, wharf boats, landings, warehouses, toll bridges, ferries, canals, passes, channels, turnpikes, all street railroads, printing presses, and materials;
(3) All steamboats, barges, vessels, and watercraft of every name and kind however propelled, plying waters of this state, and the owner thereof shall return same for taxation to the assessors in the county wherein he resides; and, if such steamboat, barge, vessel, or watercraft is owned by a corporation, then in that county where its principal office is located; in the case of the owner's being an individual not residing in this state or being a corporation with no principal office in this state, then in the county or counties where used; all such steamboats, barges, vessels, or watercraft whether owned by a resident or nonresident of this state, which have acquired a permanent situs in this state. All transfer boats, steamboats, or barges used by any railroad in transferring cars and passengers must be assessed and taxed in the county or counties where used, or where the owner resides, regardless of where such vessel may be registered;
(4) All stocks of goods, wares, and merchandise, the assessment to be on the average amount on hand during the preceding year, except in cases where business is commenced on or after October 1 of a current year, and in such cases the assessment to be on the capital actually employed in the business and apportioned as hereinafter provided, but the amount so assessed for any whole year shall in no case be less than the capital actually employed in the business, and this shall include all goods, wares, and merchandise kept on plantations or elsewhere, or by railroad companies or persons, for sale or to be dealt out to laborers or employees for profit, or on account of their wages, and shall include all goods, wares, and merchandise offered for sale by any person commencing business subsequent to October 1 of a current year, but in such case the tax shall be apportioned according to the date at which the business was commenced, so that if commenced after January 1, the tax shall be three fourths of the tax for the whole year; if commenced after April 1, the tax shall be one half of the tax for the whole year; provided, that the assessment herein provided for shall not include products raised on the farms in the hands of the original producers. If the person, association or corporation, receiver, or trustee carrying on such business shall fail to make return of the amount of stock of goods, wares, and merchandise as provided by law, or if the county tax assessor is not satisfied with the return made, in order to make proper assessment, he shall have the right to demand a copy of the last inventory made of such stock of goods, wares, or merchandise, and may also by inquiry of persons believed to have knowledge of the subject obtain information as to the probable average amount of such stock, and from such information may assess the same upon his best judgment;
(5) All household and kitchen furniture, mechanical and electrical refrigerators, libraries, jewelry, precious stones, plate and silverware, ornaments and articles of taste, pianos and other musical instruments, paintings, clocks, gold, silver and other watches and gold and other safety chains, all wagons and other vehicles; all motor cars, automobiles, trucks, buses, tractors, motorcycles, and other motor vehicles and bicycles; travel trailers, utility trailers, semitrailers, and all other trailers of any kind; all outboard motors; airplanes, airships, and other aircraft and aircraft landing fields and equipment; all typewriters; all cash registers; all calculating machines; all bookkeeping machines, teletypes, dictaphones, and other recording or sending apparatus or machines; all phonographs and all machines of like character; all radio sending and receiving sets and appliances; all iron safes and cabinets, all store fixtures, all office furniture and fixtures; all mechanical tools and farming implements; all tanks, all storage reservoirs or basins; all golf bags, golf sticks, and all other sporting goods; all pistols and guns; all cattle and horses, mules, studs, jacks and jennets; all hogs, sheep and goats, except as specifically exempted; all x-ray machines; all lens grinding machines, all eye-testing machines, all surgical instruments and all other instruments or appliances used in surgical, dental, medical, optometrical, or other professional work;
(6) All money hoarded, whether in the custody of the owner in this state, or in another state, or in any safety deposit box, safe, or vault, or elsewhere, except money on deposit in banks which is specifically exempted from taxation;
(7) All investments in bonds, except bonds of the United States, the State of Alabama, and of counties and municipalities of this state, warrants or other obligations of county and city school boards in this state, and such other bonds as are not by law taxable; and all capital invested in bonds or currency which are exempt from taxation shall be liable to be taxed under this section should such capital at any time during the year be reconverted into money, bonds, or property which is taxable, unless it is made to appear that the money, bonds, or property into which such reconversion may be made has been assessed for taxes for such year;
(8) All roadbed, track, engines, cars, derricks, cranes, signals, crossties, and other property, real and personal, of railroads, of mining and manufacturing plants, and all tramroads, pole-roads, canals, ditches, and channels used for transporting or moving mineral ore, lumber, timber, logs, minerals, coal, ore, sand, gravel, or other commodities, whether raw or manufactured, which are not taxed as improvements on the land or plant or main property, of the owner of such tramroads, pole-roads, canals, ditches, or channels;
(9) Repealed by Act 99-665, 2nd Sp. Sess., § 9. As to effective date, see the Code Commissioner's Notes.
(10) On the gross amount of sales of goods, wares, and merchandise owned by nonresidents made at auction in or during the tax year preceding the assessment of goods, wares, and merchandise kept in stores for sale in the ordinary course of business, each auctioneer shall be assessed and shall pay a tax of one fourth of one percent, and each auctioneer shall pay a like tax on the gross amount of sales made by him of goods, wares, and merchandise owned by citizens of this state which have been imported into this state and sold at auction before same have been assessed for taxes as other property; but on sales of goods, wares, and merchandise and fruit by cargo at action, the rate of taxation shall be one eighth of one percent;
(11) On the gross amount of commissions or sums charged and received during each year by any auctioneer; provided, that nothing herein contained shall be construed as levying a tax on commissions received for the sale or rental of real estate, or brokerage on loans or real estate or the underwriting of insurance;
(12) All the real and personal property of water companies, including pumping stations, reservoirs, standpipes, towers, pipelines, gates, valves, tunnels, canals, and dams used in the business of supplying water to consumers for pay; all real and personal property of hydroelectric power, steam, or other power and light companies; natural and manufactured gas companies and gas light companies, including all machinery, engines, dynamos, wires, poles, pipelines, tubes, and appliances of every nature and description used in connection therewith; all real and personal property of every furnace, rolling mill, mine, quarry, or manufacturing establishment, including all machinery, all engines, hoisting engines, derricks, and appliances of every nature used in the business; all dams across rivers and creeks; all real and personal property of cotton gins, cotton mills, cotton compresses, cottonseed oil mills, grain elevators, flour and grist mills, molasses and syrup mills, paper mills, chemical plants or manufactories, fertilizer factories or mixing plants; all peanut oil mills and peanut mills, creosoting plants, concrete mixing plants, crosstie plants, and stave mills and heading mills;
(13) All property, real and personal, of all cement plants, lime plants, plaster plants, or quarries or other manufacturing, mining, or quarrying plants not herein specifically exempted;
(14) All property, including heavy duty equipment, used for construction purposes.
(15) All manufactured homes located on land owned by the manufactured home owners, except those manufactured homes rented or leased for business purposes, other than those manufactured homes in the inventory of a manufactured home dealer or manufacturer.
(16) All other property, real, personal, or mixed, not hereinbefore specified, of whatever class, whether ejusdem generis or not, except as herein specifically exempted, which said property shall be assessed and specifically described.
(c)(1) All property described in subdivision (b)(14) brought into the state after October 1 of any tax year and before the assessor has completed his assessment, shall be subject to taxation the same as if it had been held or owned in the state on October 1. In addition, heavy duty equipment brought into the state after October 1 and after the assessor has completed his assessment shall be subject to taxation the same as if it had been held or owned in the state on October 1; except that such tax shall be prorated with respect to the number of months remaining in the year.
(2) Property described in subdivision (b)(15) shall be taxed as realty.
(Acts 1935, No. 194, p. 256; Code 1940, T. 51, §21; Acts 1967, No. 240, p. 619; Acts 1973, No. 1007, p. 1542, §1; Acts 1977, No. 698, p. 1233; Acts 1988, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 88-824, p. 265, §4; Acts 1991, No. 91-694, p. 1340, §4; Act 99-665, 2nd Sp. Sess., p. 131, §9.)