City of Boston v. Beal

• Decision Date: 25 July 1892
• Docket Number: 2,958.
• Citation: 51 F. 306
• Parties: CITY OF BOSTON v. BEAL.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts

51 F. 306

CITY OF BOSTON v. BEAL.

No. 2,958.

United States Circuit Court, D. Massachusetts.

July 25, 1892

T. M Babson, for complainant.

Hutchins & Wheeler and Frank D. Allen, U.S. Atty., for defendant.

COLT Circuit Judge.

This is a bill in equity, brought by the city of Boston against Thomas P. Beal, receiver of the Maverick National Bank, to recover the sum of $12,096 for taxes due October 1, 1891. The assessment was made under chapter 13, Pub. St. Mass. §§ 8-10 which are as follows:

'Sec 8. All the shares of stock in banks, whether of issue or not, existing by authority of the United States or of the commonwealth, and located within the commonwealth, shall be assessed to the owners thereof in the cities or towns where such banks are located, and not elsewhere, in the assessment of all state, county, and town taxes imposed and levied in such place, whether such owner is a resident of said city or town or not. All such shares shall be assessed at their fair cash value on the first day of May, first deducting therefrom the proportionate part of the value of the real estate belonging to the bank, at the same rate, and no greater, than that at which other moneyed capital in the hands of citizens, and subject to taxation, is by law assessed. And the persons or corporations who appeal from the records of the banks to be owners of shares at the close of the business day next preceding the first day of May in each year shall be taken and deemed to be the owners thereof for the purposes of this section.

'Sec. 9. Every such bank or other corporation shall pay to the collector or other person authorized to collect the taxes of the city or town in which the same is located, at the time in each year when other taxes assessed in the said city or town become due, the amount of the tax so assessed in such year upon the shares in such bank or other corporations. If such tax is not so paid, the shares in such bank or other corporation shall be liable for the same; and the said tax, with interest thereon at the rate of twelve per cent. per annum from the day when the tax became due, may be recovered in an action of contract brought by the treasurer of such city or town.

'Sec. 10. The shares of such banks or other corporations shall be subject to the tax paid thereon by the corporation or by the officers thereof, and the corporation and the officers thereof shall have a lien on all the shares in such bank or other corporation, and on all the rights and property of the shareholders in the corporate property for the payment of said taxes.'

The case was heard upon bill and answer. The bill alleges, in substance, that on or about September 22, 1891, a demand for the payment of the tax was mailed by the collector of the city of Boston to the bank, and that on October 19th the tax was committed to him by the assessors for collection; that the tax bills bear date October 1st, and, if not paid by November 1st, bear interest from the latter date; that on ...