Weir v. Norman

Citation166 U.S. 171,17 S.Ct. 527,41 L.Ed. 960
Decision Date15 March 1897
Docket NumberNo. 586,586
PartiesWEIR v. NORMAN
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

This was a bill filed in the circuit court of the United States for the district of Kentucky on behalf of the Adams Express Company to enjoin the collection and certification of taxes against it for the year 1895 under an act of Kentucky of November 11, 1892, entitled 'An act relating to revenue and taxation,' carried forward as chapter 108 of the compilation of the Kentucky Statutes of 1894, p. 1291. The case comes to this court on appeal from a decree of the circuit court sustaining a demurrer and dismissing the bill as amended. The decree proceeded on the grounds stated by Judge Barr in the opinion of the court in Telegraph Co. v. Norman, 77 Fed. 13.

The bill charged the statute of Kentucky under which the tax complained of was levied to be in contravention of the constitution of the United States, and also of sections 171, 172, and 174 of the constitution of Kentucky. Similar averments to those considered in Adams Exp. Co. v. Ohio State Auditor (Sanford v. Poe) 165 U. S. 194, 17 Sup. Ct. 305, appear in this bill, and need not be repeated at length. It is stated that the Adams Express Company had no property in the state of Kentucky in the year 1895, except certain horses, wagons, harness, trucks, safes, office fixtures, and other appliances, located at different points in the state, and that all of said property, including the moneys and credits of the company within the state, were duly returned and assessed for state, county, municipal, and other purposes; that the said cash value of the same was $36,614.53, and that the taxes thereon were duly paid; and that the tax complained of is an assessment for state, county, municipal, and other purposes on the further sum of $1,463,040.

Sections 171, 172, 174, and 181 of the constitution are as follows:

'Sec. 171. The general assembly shall provide by law an annual tax, which, with other resources, shall be sufficient to defray the estimated expenses of the commonwealth for each fiscal year. Taxes shall be levied and collected for public purposes only. They shall be uniform upon all property subject to taxation within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax; and all taxes shall be levied and collected by general laws.

'Sec. 172. All property, not exempted from taxation by this constitution, shall be assessed for taxation at its fair cash value, estimated at the price it would bring at a fair voluntary sale; and any officer, or other person authorized to assess values for taxation, who shall commit any wilful error in the performance of his duty, shall be deemed guilty of misfeasance, and upon conviction thereof shall forfeit his office, and be otherwise punished as may be provided by law.'

'Sec. 174. All property, whether owned by natural persons or corporations, shall be taxed in proportion to its value, unless exempted by this constitution; and all corporate property shall pay the same rate of taxation paid by individual property. Nothing in this constitution shall be construed to prevent the general assembly from providing for taxation based on income, licenses or franchises.'

'Sec. 181. The general assembly shall not impose taxes for the purposes of any county, city, town or other municipal corporation, but may, by general laws, confer on the proper authorities thereof, respectively, the power to assess and collect such taxes. The general assembly may, by general laws only, provide for the payment of license fees on franchises, stock used for breeding purposes, the various trades, occupations and professions, or a special or excise tax; and may, by general laws, delegate the power to counties, towns, cities, and other municipal corporations, to impose and collect license fees on stock used for breeding purposes, on franchises, trades, occupations and professions.'

Sections 190 to 208 refer to corporations, the latter section reading: 'The word corporation as used in this constitution shall embrace joint stock companies and associations.'

Chapter 108 of the compilation of 1894 is divided into articles as well as sections, and may be referred to by way of con- venience. There are some slight differences from the act of 1892, not material to be noted. The first article contains the general provisions relating to the assessment and collection of taxes 'upon all property.'

Sections 4019 and 4020 are as follows:

'Sec. 4019. An annual tax of forty-two and one-half cents upon each one hundred dollars of value of all property directed to be assessed for taxation, as hereinafter provided, shall be paid by the owner, person or corporation assessed. The aggregate amount of tax realized by all assessments shall be for the following purposes: Fifteen (15) cents for the ordinary expenses of the government; five (5) cents for the use of the sinking fund; twenty-two (22) cents for the support of the common schools, and one-half of one cent for the Agricultural and Mechanical College, as now provided by law, by an act entitled 'An act for the benefit of the Agricultural and Mechanical College,' approved April twenty-ninth, one thousand eight hundred and eighty, including the necessary traveling expenses of all pupils of the state entitled to free tuition in said college, and who continue students for the period of ten months, unless unavoidably prevented.

'Sec. 4020. All real and personal estate within this state, and all personal estate of persons residing in this state, and of all corporations organized under the laws of this state, whether the property be in or out of this state, including intangible property, which shall be considered and estimated in fixing the value of corporate franchises as hereinafter provided, shall be subject to taxation, unless the same be exempt from taxation by the constitution, and shall be assessed at its fair cash value, estimated at the price it would bring at a fair voluntary sale.'

Article 2 relates to the assessment of property by the assessors, to whom every person in the commonwealth must give in a list of all his property under oath.

Section 4058 provides for schedules with interrogatories to be propounded to each person, 'with affidavit thereto attached, to be signed and sworn to by the person whose property is assessed.' The schedules contain a long list of items, including all forms of tangible and intangible, real, personal, and mixed property; the enumeration being exceedingly minute. The first eleven items relate to bonds, notes secured by mortgage, other notes, accounts, cash on hand, cash on deposit in bank, cash on deposit with other corporations, cash on deposit with individuals, all other credits or money at interest, stock in joint-stock companies or associations, stock in foreign corporations.

The third article covers the assessment of corporations, corporations generally, banks and trust companies, building and loan associations, turnpikes.

Sections 4077, 4078, 4079, 4080, 4081, 4082, and 4091 are as follows:

'Sec. 4077. Every railway company or corporation, and every incorporated bank, trust company, guarantee or security company, gas company, water company, ferry company, bridge company, street railway company, express company, electric light company, electric power company, telegraph company, press dispatch company, telephone company, turnpike company, palace car company, dining car company, sleeping car company, chair car company, and every other like company, corporation or association, also every other corporation, company or association having or exercising any special or exclusive privilege or franchise, not allowed by law to natural persons, or performing any public service, shall, in addition to the other taxes imposed on it by law, annually pay a tax on its franchise to the state, and a local tax thereon to the county, incorporated city, town and taxing district, where its franchises may be exercised. The auditor, treasurer and secretary of state are hereby constituted a board of valuation and assessment, for fixing the value of said franchise, except as to turnpike companies, which are provided for in section four thousand and ninety-five of this article, the place or places where such local taxes are to be paid by other corporations on their franchise, and how apportioned, where more than one jurisdiction is entitled to a share of such tax, shall be determined by the board of valuation and assessment, and for the discharge of such other duties as may be imposed on them by this act. The auditor shall be chairman of said board, and shall convene the same from time to time, as the business of the board may require.

'Sec. 4078. In order to determine the value of the franchises mentioned in the next preceding section, the corporations, companies and associations mentioned in the next preceding section, except banks and trust companies whose statements shall be filed as hereinafter required by section four thousand and ninety-two of this article, shall annually, between the fifteenth day of September and the first day of October, make and deliver to the auditor of public accounts of this state a statement, verified by its president, cashier, secretary, treasurer, manager, or other chief officer or agent, in such form as the auditor may prescribe, showing the following facts, viz.: The name and principal place of business of the corporation, company or association; the kind of business engaged in; the amount of capital stock, preferred and common; the number of shares of each; the amount of stock paid up; the par and real value thereof; the highest price at which such stock was sold at a bona fide sale within twelve months next before the fifteenth day of September of the year in which the statement is required to be made; the amount of surplus fund and undivided profits, and the value of all other assets; the total amount of indebtedness as principal, the amount of gross or net earnings or...

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