In Franklin Socy. v. Bennett, 282 NY 79, 24 NE2d 854 [1939], Judge Lehman reasoned that although the tax was the historical vestige of a tax on mortgages, a form of intangible personal property, he held that the current tax has characteristics of both a tax on property and a tax imposed for the privilege of recording a mortgage. The Court ultimately decided that it would characterize the tax, in its present form, as a recording tax, because to do otherwise would render the tax an impermissible ad valorem tax, prohibited under the New York State Constitution. (NY Const. art. XVI, 3.)