thereof; and all vessels, propelled in whole or in part by steam, and navigating as aforesaid, shall be subject to all the rules and regulations established in pursuance of law for the government of steam-vessels in passing, as provided by this Title [R. S., 4399-4500]; and every coastwise sea-going steam-vessel subject to the navigation laws of the United States, and to the rules and regulations aforesaid, not sailing under register, shall, when under way, except on the high seas, be under the control and direction of pilots licensed by the inspectors of steamboats. Aug. 19, 1890. June 7, 1897. PART XI.-TONNAGE TAX. 155. Rates of tax. 156. Exemptions from tonnage tax. 157. Discriminating tonnage taxes. 158. Alien tonnage taxes. R. S., 4227. R. S., 4219. June 26, 1884. Sec. 14. Sec. 11. April 30, 1900. Feb. 5, 1897. June 26, 1884. R. S., 4219. Sec. 11. 155. Rates of tax. 159. Light money. 160. Consular tonnage charges. Nothing contained in this Title [R. S., 4131-4305] shall be deemed in anywise to impair any rights and privileges which have been or may be acquired by any foreign nation under the laws and treaties of the United States relative to the duty on tonnage of vessels, or any other duty on vessels. In lieu of the tax on tonnage of thirty cents per ton per annum imposed prior to July first, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, a duty of three cents per ton, not to exceed in the aggregate fifteen cents per ton in any one year, is hereby imposed at each entry on all vessels which shall be entered in any port of the United States from any foreign port or place in North America, Central America, the West India Islands, the Bahama Islands, the Bermuda Islands, or the coast of South America bordering on the Caribbean Sea, or Newfoundland; and a duty of six cents per ton, not to exceed thirty cents per ton per annum, is hereby imposed at each entry upon all vessels which shall be entered in the United States from any other foreign ports, not, however, to include vessels in distress or not engaged in trade. The expense of maintaining the Marine Hospital Service shall hereafter be borne by the United States out of receipts for duties on tonnage provided for by this Act; and so much thereof as may be necessary is hereby appropriated for that purpose. 156. Exemptions from tonnage tax. The President of the United States shall suspend the June 19, 1886. collection of so much of the duty herein imposed, on vessels entered from any foreign port, as may be in excess of the tonnage and light-house dues, or other equivalent tax or taxes, imposed in said port on American vessels by the government of the foreign country in which such port is situated, and shall, upon the passage of this act, and from time to time thereafter as often as it may become necessary by reason of changes in the laws of the foreign countries above mentioned, indicate by proclamation the ports to which such suspension shall apply, and the rate or rates of tonnage-duty, if any, to be collected under such suspension: Provided, further, That such proclamation shall exclude from the benefits of the suspension herein authorized the vessels of any foreign country in whose ports the fees or dues of any kind or nature imposed on vessels of the United States, or the import or export duties on their cargoes, are in excess of the fees, dues, or duties imposed Apr. 4, 1888. on the vessels of such country, or on the cargoes of such vessels. But this proviso shall not be held to be inconsistent with the special regulation by foreign countries of duties and other charges on their own vessels, and the cargoes thereof, engaged in their coasting trade, or with the existence between such countries and other states of reciprocal stipulations founded on special conditions and equivalents, and thus not within the treatment of American vessels under the most-favored nation clause in treaties between the United States and such countries. The President be, and hereby is, directed to cause the Governments of foreign countries which, at any of their ports, impose on American vessels a tonnage-tax or lighthouse dues, or other equivalent tax or taxes, or any other fees, charges, or dues, to be informed of the provisions of the preceding section, and invited to co-operate with the Government of the United States in abolishing all lighthouse dues, tonnage-taxes, or other equivalent tax or taxes on, and also all other fees for official services to, the vessels of the respective nations employed in the trade between the ports of such foreign country and the ports of the United States. June 19, 1886. Sec. 12. No vessel belonging to any citizen of the United States, R.S., 4220. trading from one port within the United States to another port within the United States, or employed in the bank, whale, or other fisheries, shall be subject to tonnage tax or duty, if such vessel be licensed, registered or enrolled. In cases of vessels making regular daily trips between R.S., 4221. any port of the United States and any port in the Dominion of Canada, wholly upon interior waters not navigable to the ocean, no tonnage or clearance fees shall be charged against such vessel by the officers of the United States, except upon the first clearing of such vessel in each year. The mail steamships employed in the mail service be- R. S., 4232. tween the United States and Brazil shall be exempt from all port-charges and custom-house dues at the port of departure and arrival in the United States if, and so long as, a similar immunity from port-charges and custom-house dues is granted by the government of Brazil. 157. Discriminating tonnage taxes. Upon satisfactory proof being given to the President, R. S., 4228. by the government of any foreign nation, that no discriminating duties of tonnage or imposts are imposed or levied July 24, 1897. R. S., 4229. R. S., 4230. R. S., 4231. R. S., 4219. July 24, 1897. in the ports of such nation upon vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United States, or upon the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported in the same from the United States or from any foreign country, the President may issue his proclamation, declaring that the foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United States are suspended and discontinued, so far as respects the vessels of such foreign nation, and the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported into the United States from such foreign nation, or from any other foreign country; the suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given to the President, and to continue so long as the reciprocal exemption of vessels, belonging to citizens of the United States, and their cargoes, shall be continued, and no longer. Provided, That the President is authorized to suspend in part the operation of sections forty-two hundred and nineteen and twenty-five hundred and two so that foreign vessels from a country imposing partial discriminating tonnage duties upon American vessels, or partial discriminating import duties upon American merchandise, may enjoy in our ports the identical privileges which the same class of American vessels and merchandise may enjoy in said foreign country. No other or higher rate of duties shall be imposed or collected on vessels of Prussia, or of her dominions, from whencesoever coming, nor on their cargoes, howsoever composed, than are or may be payable on vessels of the United States, and their cargoes. The preceding section shall continue and be in force during the time that the equality for which it provides shall, in all respects, be reciprocated in the ports of Prussia and her dominions; and if at any time hereafter the equality shall not be reciprocated in the ports of Prussia and her dominions, the President may issue his proclamation, declaring that fact, and thereupon the section preceding shall cease to be in force. From Spanish vessels coming from any port or place in Spain or her colonies, where no discriminating or countervailing duties on tonnage are levied upon vessels of the United States, or from any other port or place to and with which vessels of the United States are ordinarily permitted to go and trade, there shall be exacted in the ports of the United States no other or greater duty on tonnage than at the time may be exacted of vessels of the United States. 158. Alien tonnage taxes (in exceptional cases). Upon vessels which shall be entered in the United States from any foreign port or place there shall be paid duties as follows: On vessels built within the United States but belonging wholly or in part to subjects of foreign powers, at the rate of 30 cents per ton; on other vessels not of the United States, at the rate of 50 cents per ton. Upon every vessel not of the United States, which shall be entered in one district from another district, having on board goods, wares, or merchandise taken in one district to be delivered in another district, duties shall be paid at the rate of 50 cents per ton. Nothing in this section shall be deemed in any wise to impair any rights or privileges which have been or may be acquired by any foreign nation under the laws and treaties of the United States relative to the duty of tonnage on vessels. On all foreign vessels which shall be entered in the United States from any foreign port or place, to and with which vessels of the United States are not ordinarily permitted to enter and trade, there shall be paid a duty at the rate of two dollars per ton; and none of the duties on tonnage above mentioned shall be levied on the vessels of any foreign nation if the President of the United States shall be satisfied that the discriminating or countervailing duties of such foreign nations, so far as they operate to the disadvantage of the United States, have June 26, 1884. been abolished; * and any rights or privileges acquired by any foreign nation under the laws and treaties of the United States relative to the duty of tonnage on vessels shall not be impaired; and any vessel any officer of which shall not be a citizen of the United States, shall pay a tax of fifty cents per ton. * * 159. Light money (in exceptional cases). Sec. 14. A duty of fifty cents per ton, to be dominated "light R. S., 4225. money," shall be levied and collected on all vessels not of the United States, which may enter the ports of the United States. Such light-money shall be levied and collected in the same manner and under the same regulations as the tonnage duties. The preceding section shall not be deemed to operate R. S., 4226. upon unregistered vessels, owned by citizens of the United States, and carrying a sea-letter, or other regular document, issued from a custom-house of the United States, proving the vessel to be American property. Upon the entry of every such vessel from any foreign port, if the same shall be at the port at which the owner or any of the part owners reside, such owner or part owners shall make oath that the sea-letter or other regular document possessed by such vessel contains the name or names of all the persons who are then the owners of the vessel; or if any part of such vessel has been sold or transferred since the date of such sea-letter or document, that such is the case, and that no foreign subject or citizen has, to the best of his knowledge and belief, any share, by way of trust, confidence or otherwise, in such vessel. If the owner or any part owner does not reside at the port or place at which such vessel shall enter, then the master shall make oath to the like effect. If the owner or part owner, where there is one, or the master, where there is no owner, shall refuse to so swear, such vessel shall not be entitled to the privileges granted by this section. |