Consolidated National Bank v. Pima County

48 P. 291, 5 Ariz. 142, 1897 Ariz. LEXIS 5
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedApril 1, 1897
DocketCivil No. 505
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 48 P. 291 (Consolidated National Bank v. Pima County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Consolidated National Bank v. Pima County, 48 P. 291, 5 Ariz. 142, 1897 Ariz. LEXIS 5 (Ark. 1897).

Opinions

ROUSE, J.

The Consolidated National Bank of Arizona is a corporation duly organized under the laws of Congress as a national bank, having its place of business at Tucson, Pima County, Arizona, with a capital of fifty thousand dollars, divided into five hundred shares, each of the par value of one hundred dollars. It is admitted that in 1893 the-assessor of Pima County attempted to assess the shares of said bank, and listed and assessed one hundred of said shares to H. B. Tenney, as follow, to wit: “H. B. Tenney, cashier Consolidated National Bank, Tucson, personal property, value $10,000”; and that he listed and assessed the other four hundred shares as follows, to wit: “Unknown owners, personal property, value $40,000.00.” Said lists were returned and passed upon and equalized by the board of supervisors of said county, as a board of equalization. No one appeared before said board on behalf of said Tenney or said bank to have said lists corrected or altered, and they were duly entered on the tax-roll for said year. There was listed and assessed for said year as the property of said Tenney other personal property in addition to said one hundred shares of bank stock, on which he afterwards, in due time, paid the taxes. Said bank also paid the taxes on all property assessed to it. Appellants, as plaintiffs, filed a joint complaint against appellees, as defendants, [144]*144for an injunction to restrain the collection of the taxes levied on said shares in said bank, and a temporary restraining order was made. Thereafter the ease was tried, and the injunction was made perpetual as to the four hundred shares, and dissolved as to the one hundred shares assessed to Tenney. Prom that decision, plaintiffs appeal. No question as to a misjoinder of parties as plaintiffs was raised in the district court, and the right of said bank to join in the appeal to this court has not been disputed; hence those questions will-not now be determined as independent questions. The judgment of the district court dissolving the injunction as to the one hundred shares of stock in said bank assessed to Tenney is the only question presented for our decision. We will not consider the points urged for and against the reversal of the judgment in the order in which they have been presented by the distinguished counsel for the respective parties.

By decisions of the supreme court of the United States too numerous to cite it has been determined that, without congressional authority, national banks cannot be taxed by the states. By section 5219 of the Revised Statutes of the United, States the authority to tax national banks is given as follows: “Nothing herein shall prevent all the shares in any association from being included in the valuation of the personal property of the owner or holder of such shares, in assessing taxes imposed by authority of the state within which the association is located; but the legislature of each state may determine and direct the manner and place of taxing all the shares of national banking associations, located within the state, subject only to the two restrictions, that the taxation shall not be at a greater rate than is assessed upon other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens of such state, and that the shares of any national banking association owned by non-residents of any state, shall be taxed in the city or town where the bank is located, and not elsewhere. Nothing herein shall be construed to exempt the real property of associations from either state, county, or municipal taxes to the same extent, according to value, as other real property be taxed.” The legislature must by law, determine and direct the manner and place of taxing the shares of national banking associations located within the state. There are only two restrictions placed by Congress on the power of the legislature of a [145]*145state in respect to the taxation of the shares of national hanking associations. Congress has not seen fit to specify the form of the law to be enacted by the state, or to direct the form of the assessment, or to fix the penalties on those who may fail to pay the taxes on such property. These things have been left to the state in which said associations are located, with no other restrictions than those above mentioned. The state may impose the same penalties on those who hold shares in such banking associations for the collection of taxes thereon as it imposes for the non-payment of taxes on other property. Palmer v. McMahon, 133 U. S. 660, 10 Sup. Ct. Rep. 324; Mercantile Bank v. New York, 121 U. S. 138, 7 Sup. Ct. Rep. 826. It will be observed that the power to tax national bank associations is confined and limited to the shares of such associations, and that such shares may be included in the valuation of the personal property of the owners or holders of such shares. It will further be observed that the same taxes may be imposed on such shares as is imposed by authority of the state on other personal property. Rev. Stats. U. S., sec. 5219. The limitations imposed on the power to tax the shares of national bank associations are: 1. “That the taxation shall not be at a greater rate than is assessed upon other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens of such state”; and 2. “That the shares of any national hanking association, owned by nonresidents of any state, shall be taxed in the city or town where the bank is located, and not elsewhere.” The main purpose of Congress in fixing limits to state taxation on investments in shares of national banks, as above mentioned, was to render it impossible for the state, in levying such tax, to create and foster an unequal and unfriendly competition, by favoring institutions or individuals carrying on a similar business, and operations of like character; that is, to prevent unjust discrimination against those who have money invested in the shares of national banks. Mercantile Bank v. New York, 121 U. S. 138, 7 Sup. Ct. Rep. 826; People v. Commissioners of Taxes, 4 Wall. 244; Palmer v. McMahon, 133 U. S. 660, 10 Sup. Ct. Rep. 324.

The law of the territory of Arizona with reference to the taxes involved in this case was approved April 13, 1893, (Laws 1893, Act No. 85,) and the first section thereof is as follows, viz.: “That hereafter all the shares of stock of every bank or [146]

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Related

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51 P. 821 (Montana Supreme Court, 1898)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
48 P. 291, 5 Ariz. 142, 1897 Ariz. LEXIS 5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/consolidated-national-bank-v-pima-county-ariz-1897.