State ex rel. Bank v. Gehner
Citation | 5 S.W.2d 40 |
Decision Date | 11 April 1928 |
Docket Number | No. 28293.,No. 28294.,28293.,28294. |
Parties | THE STATE EX REL. UNITED STATES BANK and GUSTAVE W. NIEMEN v. FRED GEHNER, Assessor of City of St. Louis, ET AL. THE STATE EX REL. STATE NATIONAL BANK and GEORGE F. COCHRAN v. FRED GEHNER, Assessor of City of St. Louis, ET AL. |
Court | United States State Supreme Court of Missouri |
(1) Section 12775, Revised Statutes 1919, fixes a tax upon the value of the shares of banks. The value so taxed is the actual value as represented by the net — not by the gross — assets of the bank. State ex rel. Johnson v. Buder, 295 Mo. 63; State ex rel. v. Brinkop, 238 Mo. 298; State ex rel. v. Trust Co., 261 Mo. 448; State ex rel. v. Buder, 271 S.W. 508; State ex rel. v. Lesser, 237 Mo. 326; State ex rel. v. Shryack, 179 Mo. 439. (2) The actual value of such shares can only be determined by taking into consideration and deducting from the gross assets the actual liabilities of the bank — those things which the bank would have to pay before the stockholders could receive anything. Such are the items here involved. The stockholders could receive nothing until these items were paid. Therefore they must be deducted before what is left for the shareholders — which determines the value of the shares — can be ascertained. Cases cited above.
Julius T. Muench and Oliver Senti for respondents; North T. Gentry, Attorney-General, of counsel.
(1) Under the laws of this State it was the duty of the officers of relator banks to include in their return for taxation against their shareholders, as of June 1, 1927, the money of said banks, including the amount representing taxes due and payable and not yet paid, and taxes and interest accrued but not yet payable on said date. Sec. 12775, R.S. 1919. There is no provision in the laws of this State which authorizes relator banks to deduct from their return for taxation against their shareholders taxes due and payable but not yet paid, or taxes and interest accrued but not yet payable. Sec. 12775, R.S. 1919. (2) Tax exemptions are in derogation of equal right and are not favored by the courts, but should be construed strictly against those claiming them. State ex rel. v. Johnston, 214 Mo. 656; State ex rel. v. Casey, 210 Mo. 235; St. Louis Lodge v. Koeln, 262 Mo. 444. (3) The policy of our law, constitutional and statutory, is that no other property than that enumerated shall be exempt from taxation. Constitution, secs. 6, 7, art. 10; Sec. 12753, R.S. 1919; State ex rel. Globe-Democrat v. Gehner, 294 S.W. 1018.
The two above-entitled causes, or proceedings, are original proceedings in certiorari, commenced in this court, in which the relators seek to quash the findings and orders of the Board of Equalization of the City of St. Louis, Missouri, made and entered on March 29, 1927, and the record of said Board of Equalization, relating to the assessment (as of June 1, 1926) of the shares of the capital stock of the United States Bank of St. Louis, Missouri, a banking corporation organized and existing under the laws of this State, and relating to the assessment (as of June 1, 1926) of the shares of the capital stock of the State National Bank of St. Louis, Missouri, a banking corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the United States, which assessments were made by respondents for the purpose of taxing the shares of the capital stock of said banking corporations for the year 1927. The first cause (No. 28293) is brought at the relation of, and by, said United States Bank of St. Louis, Missouri, and Gustave W. Niemen, a shareholder of said banking corporation, as relators and petitioners. The second cause (No. 28294) is brought at the relation of, and by, said State National Bank of St. Louis, Missouri, and George F. Cochran, a shareholder of said banking corporation, as relators and petitioners. The respondents in each of said proceedings are Fred Gehner, who was, and now is, the Assessor of the City of St. Louis, and who was, and now is, the ex-officio president of the Board of Equalization of said city, and four named individuals, who were the members of said Board of Equalization of said city, and who constituted said board at the time the assessments complained against herein were made.
The two proceedings, aforesaid, are submitted upon the pleadings filed in this court in each of said proceedings, consisting of the relators' application and petition for our original writ of certiorari; the respondents' return to our original writ (which return transmits to this court the record of said Board of Equalization relating to the assessments complained against herein), and relators' motion for judgment, which motion is in the nature of a demurrer to respondents' return to the writ of certiorari. The salient facts are not controverted, and they are clearly set forth in respondents' returns, and in the record of the Board of Equalization transmitted to this court therewith, filed, respectively, in the above-numbered causes. Relators' motion for judgment, being in the nature of a demurrer to the return, admits the substantive facts pleaded in the return.
The return of respondents filed in Cause No. 28293 sets out, in haec verba, the findings and order of respondents, constituting the Board of Equalization of the City of St. Louis, made and entered by said board on March 29, 1927, relating to the assessment of the shares of the capital stock of relator United States Bank, which order, in part, is as follows:
The return of respondents filed in Cause No. 28294 likewise sets out, in haec verba, the findings and order of respondents, constituting the Board of Equalization of the City of St. Louis, made and entered by said board on March 29, 1927, relating to the assessment of the shares of the capital stock of relator State National Bank, which order, in part, is as follows:
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