In re McMahon

11 Daly 214
CourtNew York Court of Common Pleas
DecidedNovember 15, 1882
StatusPublished

This text of 11 Daly 214 (In re McMahon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of Common Pleas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re McMahon, 11 Daly 214 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1882).

Opinion

Van Brunt, J.

This is an application under the act of 1843 to punish the said F. A. Palmer for his misconduct in neglecting and refusing to pay a tax imposed upon his personal property, consisting of shares of stock in the National Broadway Bank, situated in the Third Ward of the City of New York.

In opposition to the proceeding it is urged,

1st. That this proceeding is the first opportunity that Mr. Palmer as an individual has had to correct the assessment and taxation of his bank stock, for that all former proceedings have been directed against the National Broadway Bank as a corporation.

2d. That there being no difference between the capital [216]*216stock and personal property of a corporation and the shares held by all stockholders, such shares are not the subject of taxation, because section 5219 of the Revised Statutes of the United States authorizing such taxation is beyond the power of Congress; and chapter 596 of the Laws of 1880, providing for such taxation, is unconstitutional and void for impairing the obligations of contracts.

3d. That other corporations than banks and individual citizens having government bonds are allowed to deduct government bonds in assessing value of capital stock or personal property, but in banks they are not allowed.

4th. There is no lav/ for the taxation of moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens in this state when invested in the shares of other corporations than banks, and the authority to tax moneyed '.capital in the shares of banks as other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens, when invested in other corporations than banks, is taxed, confers no authority, since any tax upon bank shares must necessarily be at a greater rate than taxes on shares in other corporations than banks not taxed.

5th. That the assessment in question is void because the assessors and others have failed to comply with the requirements of the local statutes regulating their proceedings:

(a). The assessment of shareholders by a separate list does not comply with the statute;

(&). There has been no confirmation by the Board of Supervisors, and the Board of Aldermen have no power.

6th. That there is no pretense of misconduct in this matter unless the desire to have one’s rights determined by the court is misconduct, and the receiver should be forced under all the circumstances of the case to bring an action under the Laws of 1867, chapter 334, to have all the issues tried by an action and not upon affidavits.

7th. That the Laws of 1867, chapter 334, under which the Counsel to the Corporation presumes- to act in this matter, does not authorize him to institute any suit or proceeding, but only to assume, conduct or control any suit or proceed[217]*217ing already instituted by the Attorney for the Collection of Arrears of Personal Taxes.

8th. That chapter 230 of the Laws of 1843 is unconstitutional and void, for that it would deprive a person of liberty and property without due process of law, and without a trial by jury.

9th. If the assessment is treated as a judicial judgment, then Mr. Palmer has had no opportunity to be heard, to produce witnesses, and to cross-examine the witnesses of the assessors, and to appeal therefrom for error; and if this proceeding under the act of 1843 is maintainable and the receiver not remitted to an action, then he has been deprived of a trial by jury.

In respect to the first proposition stated by the counsel for Mr. Palmer—namely, that this proceeding is the" first opportunity that Mr. Palmer, as an individual, has had to correct the assessment and taxation of his bank stock—it is sufficient to say that the papers in this case show that on the 12th day of April, 1881, Mr. Palmer did appear before the Commissioners of Taxes, and made application to have the assessment upon his bank stock corrected by deducting the sum of $57,000, the amount of debts due by him, exclusive of the portion of such debts which had been taken into account in the adjustment of another assessment for personal property before the Commissioners of Taxes and Assessments for this year, and that such deduction was thereupon made from the assessed value of his bank stock. It is apparent, therefore, from this significant fact, that Mr. Palmer knew that his bank stock had been assessed. He made an application for a reduction of the same, as appears by the affidavit filed with the Commissioners of Taxes and Assessments, and if he felt aggrieved in the valuation which was put upon his bank stock his remedy was to have the action of the Board of Assessors reviewed by certiorari.

I fail to see any principle which limits the power of Congress to impose obligations upon corporations of its creation. If, in the creation of a national bank, Congress provides that the shares of the stock issued by such bank may be [218]*218the subject of taxation under the laws of this state, where such bank is created, I have been unable to see, and my attention has not been called to any principle which would restrict Congress from making such condition precedent to the acceptance of a charter by a national bank from its hands. If national banks do not desire to accept a charter under the provisions of the National Bank act, they are under no obligations so to do, and if persons do not desire' to be taxed upon their bank shares where the bank is located, there is no obligation upon such persons to become the owners of such undesirable propertj'.

As to the unconstitutionality of chapter 596 of the Laws of 1880 in that it impairs the obligation of contracts because the amount of government bonds held by the bank is not permitted to be deducted from the assessed value of the bank stock, the point does not seem to be well taken. The law is not unconstitutional because it has been improperly applied. In the act of 1880 no limitations are made upon the power of the assessors to make such deductions as the law requires. They are directed to deduct the value of the real estate belonging to the bank. If other deductions should have been made, and they have not been made, the remedy of the party aggrieved is, as has already been suggested, to review the action of the assessors by certiorari; but such action cannot affect the validity and constitutionality of the act of the legislature from which they claim their power.

The third objection is answered by what has been already stated.

As .to the fourth proposition, the reasoning in the decision of Mr. Justice Wallace in -the case of the Albany City National Bank v. William J. Maher, Receiver of Taxes of the City of Albany, seems to be conclusive. He says:

“But I am of opinion that the-complainant cannot prevail upon this theory, and that shareholders to national banks are not subjected to a discrimination or rule of assessment which does not obtain as to stockholders in other corporations, because the act for the taxation of corporations generally does not exempt individuals from assess[219]*219ment or taxation upon their personal property or moneyed capital invested in the shares of such corporations. This act exempts only the capital stock and personal property of such corporations and joint stock companies from assessment or taxation. There is a wide difference, for the purposes of taxation, between the capital stock and personal property of a corporation and the shares held by the several stockholders.

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Related

Van Allen v. Assessors
70 U.S. 573 (Supreme Court, 1866)
Farrington v. Tennessee
95 U.S. 679 (Supreme Court, 1878)

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Bluebook (online)
11 Daly 214, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-mcmahon-nyctcompl-1882.