Note 128 — The law of taxation since 1710.

Collectors who made distraint were ordered to settle accounts with the town treasurers once a month (Dec. 1781). Debts due from Great Britain which do not seem to have been taxed during the war were declared subject to taxation (June, 1784). One of the dangers of an unsound financial system is shown in the order forbidding collectors to pay to the general treasurers taxes, collected by them, in orders on the state treasury, purchased by the collectors for a sum below their face value. (May, 1785). To avoid careless methods of accounting collectors were ordered, if required, to lay before the town treasurer once in fourteen days a clear statement of the taxes committed to them to collect, showing that taxes had already been paid. (June, 1788)