Considerable progress was made in developing the law of assessment. In 1744 when taxation was resumed, a law was passed which declared in detail the various kinds of rateable property and the values at which they were to be assessed. It is of so much value, both as affording a comparison with the like enactments of the earlier period and as giving an example of the acts in accordance with which colony valuations were taken, that it seems best to print it in full.[[113]]
"An Act ascertaining what Estate is Rateable, and for proportioning the same in Value.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of this Colony, and by the Authority thereof, it is Enacted, That the following Estates shall be deemed Rateable in all Publick Colony Rates and Taxes, therein made and levied, and shall be included and considered in the Proportioning the same, and that in the following Manner, and according to the Specifick Value they are hereafter fixed at, viz:
All Neat Cattle of Four Years old and upwards, shall be valued at Ten Pounds per Head.
All Neat Cattle from Two Years old to Four Years old, shall be valued at Five Pounds per Head; and Neat Cattle that are under Two Years old, are not to be considered.
All Horse Kind to be rated in the like Manner, as to their Age and Value.
All Sheep and Goats of One Year old and upwards, shall be valued at Fifteen Shillings per Head; and if younger, not to be valued.
All Swine of One Year old and upwards, shall be valued at Thirty Shillings per Head; but not to be considered before.
All Slaves for Life, that are between Sixteen and Fifty Years of Age, shall be set at the Price of Eighty Pounds; those under Sixteen, or above Fifty, not to be rated.
All deck'd Vessels that are in Port, shall be set at Five Pounds per Ton; and those not deck'd, at Three Pounds per Ton.