Under Section 4268 et seq., of the Compiled Laws of Michigan, 1915, providing that no land contract can be offered in evidence until the specific tax is paid to the county treasurer as provided in the act, the county treasurer is to be guided by the face of the instrument, and where the instrument fails to show the first payment to have been made before the execution of the contract, the tax must be paid on the full consideration stated therein.45

Where the instrument shows that the downpayment was paid before the execution of the contract, the amount thereof should be deducted from the purchase price, and the tax computed on the balance.46