Attorneygeneral may bring action Comptroller to retain $250,000 for refunds all respects, with like effect, and in the same manner prescribed by law in respect to executions issued against property upon judgments of a court of record, and shall be entitled to the same fees for his services in executing the warrant, to be collected in the same manner. In the discretion of the comptroller a warrant of like terms, force and effect may be issued and directed to any agent authorized to collect income taxes, and in the execution thereof such agent shall have all the powers conferred by law upon sheriffs, but shall be entitled to no fee or compensation in excess of actual expenses paid in the performance of such duty. If a warrant be returned not satisfied in full, the comptroller shall have the same remedies to enforce the claim for taxes against the taxpayer as if the people of the state had recovered judgment against the taxpayer for the amount of the tax. Action for Recovery of Taxes. § 381. Action may be brought at any time by the attorney-general of the state at the instance of the comptroller, in the name of the state to recover the amount of any taxes, penalties and interest due under this article. Distribution of the Income Tax. §382. Of the revenue collected under this article the comptroller shall retain in his hands sufficient to provide at all times a fund in his hands in the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars out of which he shall pay any refunds to which taxpayers shall be entitled under the provisions of this article. Of the remainder, fifty per centum shall be paid into the state treasury to the credit of the general fund. The remaining fifty per centum thereof shall, not later than the first day of July, and in case of moneys subsequently collected at least quarterly thereafter, be distributed and paid to the treasurers of the several counties of the state, in the proportion that the assessed valuation of the real property of each county bears to the aggregate assessed valuation of the real property of the state. As to any county included in the city of New York such payment shall be made to the receiver of taxes in such city and be paid into the general fund for the reduction of taxation of the city of New York. The county treasurer shall apportion the amount so received among the several towns and cities within the county in proportion that the assessed valuation of the real property of each town or city bears to the aggregate assessed valuation of the real property of the county, and shall credit the amount apportioned to each town against the county tax payable by it, and shall pay the amount apportioned to each city to the chief fiscal officer of the city to be paid into the general fund for city purposes. If the amount of the credit to a town exceeds the county tax from such town, the excess shall be paid to the supervisor of the town and be by him credited to general town purposes. Comptroller to Make Regulations and to Collect Facts. §383. The comptroller is hereby authorized to make such rules and regulations, and to require such facts and information to be reported, as it may deem necessary to enforce the provisions of this article. Secrecy Required of Official; Penalty for Violation. § 384. 1. Except in accordance with proper judicial order or as otherwise provided by law, it shall be unlawful for the comptroller, any agent, clerk, or other officer or employee to divulge or make known in any manner the amount of income or any particulars set Secrecy of returns Penalties Tax free covenants unlawful forth or disclosed in any report or return required under this article. Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit the publication of statistics so classified as to prevent the identification of particular reports or returns and the items thereof, or the inspection by the attorneygeneral or other legal representatives of the state of the report or return of any taxpayer who shall bring action to set aside or review the tax based thereon, or against whom an action or proceeding has been instituted in accordance with the provisions of sections three hundred and eighty and three hundred and eighty-one of this chapter. Reports and returns shall be preserved for three years and thereafter until the comptroller orders them to be destroyed. 2. Any offense against subdivision one of this section shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both, at the discretion of the court, and if the offender be an officer or employee of the state he shall be dismissed from office and be incapable of holding any public office in this state for a period of five years thereafter. Contract to Assume Income Tax Illegal. § 385. It shall be unlawful for any person to agree or contract directly or indirectly to pay or assume or bear the burden of any tax payable by any taxpayer under the provisions of this article. Any such contract or agreement shall be null and void and shall not be enforced or given effect by any court. § 2. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, or part of this act shall for any reason be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair, or invalidate the remainder of this act, but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered. § 3. An assessment on account of personal property made prior to August first, nineteen hundred and nineteen, shall be as valid and effectual as if this act had not been passed, and nothing in this act shall be construed to impair the obligation to pay taxes assessed on account of personal property in the year nineteen hundred and eighteen or the year nineteen hundred and nineteen prior to August first whether payable in that year or not. § 4. If in any city entitled to receive a portion of the taxes collected under article sixteen of the tax law as added by this act the budget for the fiscal year current on July first, nineteen hundred and twenty, shall be completed prior to that date, the board of estimate and apportionment or other board or body having the duty of preparing the budget in such city shall have the power subsequent to such date and before the levy of the taxes on account of the appropriations made by such budget to revise the estimates of city revenue so as to include in such calculation the income to the city from taxes collected under article sixteen of the tax law as added by this act. § 5. The sum of three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000), or so much thereof as may be needed, is hereby appropriated out of any money in the treasury, not otherwise appropriated, for the administration of article sixteen of the tax law as added by this act, but any position established or salary fixed for such purpose shall be deemed temporary only and subject to the future action of the legislature but no new position shall be created nor salary fixed except on the unanimous ap |