Farmers' & Traders' Nat. Bank v. Hoffmann

• Decision Date: 19 December 1894
• Citation: 93 Iowa 119,61 N.W. 418
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court
• Parties: FARMERS' & TRADERS' NAT. BANK v. HOFFMANN, TREASURER, ET AL.

93 Iowa 119

61 N.W. 418

FARMERS' & TRADERS' NAT. BANK

v.HOFFMANN, TREASURER, ET AL.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Dec. 19, 1894.

Appeal from district court, Mahaska county; A. W. Wilkinson, Judge.

This is an action in equity by which the plaintiff seeks to enjoin the collection of certain taxes. The defendant Hoffmann was treasurer of the county at the time of the commencement of the suit. There was a hearing on the merits, and a decree was entered for the plaintiff. Defendants appeal. Affirmed.Byron W. Preston, for appellants.

L. C. Blanchard and Seevers & Seevers, for appellee.

ROTHROCK, J.

1. The taxes in question were assessed and levied in the year 1891. The plaintiff at that time was a bank organized under the national banking law. The capital stock of the bank was $100,000, which was divided into shares of $100 each. The stock was owned by a number of persons, some of whom resided in Mahaska county, some in other counties in this state, and others were nonresidents of the state. When the assessor appeared at the bank, in performance of his duty as assessor, he had an interview with the cashier, which resulted in an assessment of $40,000. This was afterwards raised by the board of supervisors to $50,000, so that, when the assessment was placed on the tax books, it appeared thus:

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                ¦               ¦Value of        ¦Total Value of   ¦Consolidated¦      ¦Total ¦
                ¦Name.          ¦Personal        ¦All Property.    ¦Tax.        ¦Water.¦Tax.  ¦
                ¦               ¦Property.       ¦                 ¦            ¦      ¦      ¦
                +---------------+----------------+-----------------+------------+------+------¦
                ¦Farmers' &     ¦$50,000         ¦$50,000          ¦$1,425      ¦$125  ¦$1,550¦
                ¦Traders' Bank. ¦                ¦                 ¦            ¦      ¦      ¦
                +---------------+----------------+-----------------+------------+------+------¦
                ¦               ¦                ¦                 ¦1,425       ¦125   ¦1,550 ¦
                +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                

It is conceded that the assessor did not intend to assess any property of the bank, but his purpose was to assess the capital stock to the amount of 40 per cent. of its par value. As the tax was assessed and placed on the books, it appeared to be a tax against the bank upon “personal property,” of which it was the owner, and not against the stockholders. No mention was made of the stockholders, either generally or by name, and there is nothing of record in the way of assessment, levy, or tax books showing that there was any intention or purpose to levy a tax against any person other than the bank as a corporation. This was upon the face of the transaction a void assessment and levy. Section 819 of the Code expressly requires that the shares of the bank shall be assessed, and that the principal accounting officers shall give the assessor “the name of each person owning shares, and the amount owned by each.” This is a plain requirement of the statute. It is true that there is oral evidence to the effect that the intention of the assessor was to assess the shareholders by an assessment against the bank. But the evidence shows quite satisfactorily that, when the assessment was made, the cashier of the bank offered to furnish to the assessor a list of the shareholders, showing the number of shares held by each person. The assessor did not receive the list as offered, and made out the amount assessed against the bank, and requested the cashier to sign it, which he did. The reason of the requirement that the taxes shall be assessed and levied against the stockholders is obvious. A stockholder in a national bank cannot be taxed upon his stock at a greater “rate than is assessed on other moneyed capital in the hands of individuals.” Code, § 818. This authorizes the stockholder to deduct from the cash value of his stock the amount of his valid debts. Code, § 814; First Nat. Bank v. City Council of Albia (Iowa) 52 N. W. 334;People v. Weaver, 100 U. S. 539.

2. After this suit was brought, the auditor of the county made two alterations or claimed corrections in the tax book. One was the interlineation or addition of the word “National,” so that the name of the bank was corrected to read “Farmers' & Traders' National Bank.” The other addition was the words “Agent for Shareholders on Shares in Said Bank”; so that the tax books, as altered, showed that the tax was against the plaintiff as agent for the shareholders. A...