Action in case owner of real estate fails to make return thereof.
Section 49
SEC. 49. Action in case owner of real estate fails to make return thereof.—If the owner of any parcel of real estate shall fail to make a return thereof, as provided in section forty-six, or if the city assessor and collector is unable to discover the owner of any real estate, he shall nevertheless list the same for taxation, charge the tax against the true owner, if known, and if unknown then as against an unknown owner. In case of doubt or dispute as to ownership of real estate, the taxes shall be levied against the possessor or possessors thereof. Where it shall appear that there are separate owners of the land and the improvements thereon, a separate assessment of the property of each shall be made. In case the land and improvements, a statement of which it is the duty of the owner hereunder to file with the City Assessor and Collector, shall have been leased to another before the date of this Act on terms such that the leasehold held by the lessee is valuable, the owner of the land may in his statement request that the lessee or tenant of the leasehold be cited to appear and make a sworn statement of its value before the City Assessor and Collector. The City Assessor and Collector shall then proceed as in other cases to fix and assess the value of the leasehold. The owner of the land and improvements shall be required to pay taxes only on the total value of the land and improvements, less the value of the leasehold, while the lessee or tenant of the leasehold shall have assessed against him, and be required to pay, taxes upon the value of the leasehold. The remedies hereinbefore provided for the sale of land for collection of delinquent taxes thereon shall be applicable to the collection of delinquent taxes on leaseholds.