People Ex Rel. Palmer v. National Life Insurance

10 N.E.2d 385, 367 Ill. 35
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedJune 16, 1937
DocketNo. 23825. Reversed and remanded.
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 10 N.E.2d 385 (People Ex Rel. Palmer v. National Life Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People Ex Rel. Palmer v. National Life Insurance, 10 N.E.2d 385, 367 Ill. 35 (Ill. 1937).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Orr

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant below, a life insurance company organized under the laws of Illinois and in the hands of a receiver for liquidation, owned certain shares of stock in Chicago banks, on which it sought to avoid payment of personal property taxes. The chancellor of the superior court of Cook county held the company not liable for such taxes, and from this decree the present direct appeal was taken by the People, the revenue being involved.

The determination of this appeal depends upon the construction placed upon section 13 and sections 35 to 39, inclusive, of the Revenue act of 1872, as amended. (State Bar Stat. 1935, chap. 120, par. 13 and pars. 40 to 44, inch; Smith-Hurd Stat. 1935, chap. 120, par. 13 and pars. 39 to 43, incl.) The chancellor found section 13 withdrew such companies from the operation of sections 35 to 39, inclusive, as it was the sole and exclusive means of assessing the property of domestic life insurance companies subject to taxation under our statutes. Appellant claims that section 13, since it was last amended in June, 1915, (Laws of 1915, p. 565,) is not applicable to the assessment of bank stock, for the amendment restored the assessment of bank stock held by domestic life insurance companies to sections 35 to 39, inclusive.

Section 13, before amendment, provided merely for the place of the assessment of personal property, including that of domestic life insurance companies, since no special provision was made for the taxation of insurance companies. Under this section, until the amendment of 1905, bank stock held by domestic life insurance companies was assessed in accordance with section 35. Under the amendment, (Laws of 1905, p. 356,) an exception was made of domestic life insurance companies, requiring “all the property and assets” of such companies to be assessed at its place of residence, — i. e., the location of its principal office. Appellant concedes in its briefs that section 13, as amended in 1905, provided the only method to be used by assessing authorities in assessing bank stock owned by a domestic life insurance company, to the exclusion of section 35.

In March, 1915, section 13 was again amended. (Laws of 1915, p. 564.) The amendment provided for the assessment of the personal property of fraternal beneficiary societies, but in a manner different from making the assessment of property in the same category owned by domestic life insurance companies. The legislature therefore adopted a second 1915 amendment to section 13, in June. (Laws of 1915, p. 565.) This was the last time section 13 was amended and the pertinent provisions of that section are as follows: “The personal property of banks or bankers, brokers, stock-jobbers, insurance companies (except life insurance companies organized under the laws of this State,) fraternal beneficiary societies (except those organized under the laws of this State,) * * * shall be listed and assessed in the county, town, city, village or district where their business is carried on; * * * All property and assets of life insurance companies and fraternal beneficiary societies organized under the laws of this State (except such property as is by statute liable to assessment elsewhere) shall be assessed to the corporation or society as to a natural person in the name of the corporation or society in the county, town, city, village or district of'its residence as herein provided, and not otherwise.”

Section 35 of the Revenue act of 1872, as amended, provides: “The stockholders of every kind of incorporated bank located within this State, * * * shall be assessed and taxed upon the value of their shares of stock therein, in the county, town, district, village or city where such bank * * * is located and not elsewhere, whether such stockholders reside in such place or not,” etc. The cited sections subsequent to 35 are merely in aid thereof and their provisions do not affect the situs of an assessment. Both litigants earnestly apply well known canons of statutory construction to reach different results. These opposite conclusions arise because appellant labels section 13 as a general statute, and sections 35 to 39, inclusive, as special statutes, while appellee reverses the labels.

Sections 35 to 39, inclusive, of the Revenue act of 1872, deal exclusively with bank stock as an object of taxation, and every type of bank located within the State is embraced by these statutes. The one intent is to assess and tax the stockholders on the shares of stock owned by them. The provisions of the statutes relative to the assessment and collection of the tax apply uniformly to all banks located within the State; no exceptions to such uniform application are made by reason of bank stock being owned by domestic life insurance companies. It was the clear intent of the legislature to prevent bank stock from escaping taxation. To this end, it was made obligatory upon each bank to keep accurate records of the owners of its stock, the amount of stock held by each owner, and that the tax be paid to the taxing authorities at the place where the bank was located, irrespective of the places where stockholders might reside. A particular bank was required, under the statutes, to withhold the amount of the tax from dividends belonging to the stockholders. Tax authorities were allowed, by the statutes, to have access to such records, and the tax assessed against the stockholder was made a lien upon the share of stock until the tax was paid. It was the duty of the assessor to make a return of the correct list of bank stockholders, together with certain informative data, to the county clerk of the county wherein the particular bank was located. The return valuation of such shares of bank stock was then to be entered by the county clerk upon his tax lists, with his extension and computation of taxes thereon. Nowhere in these statutes is a duty imposed upon the assessor to make a return of the list of stockholders, etc., to a county clerk, or other ministerial officer having similar duties, in a county where the bank is not located.

Section 13 as it now stands, amended, treats of the assessment and taxation of personal property used in business, which is not covered in specially provided statufes of the Revenue act of 1872, as amended. Specific types of business, or individuals defined by the character of the business conducted by them, are brought under this section to reach their personal property for listing and assessing in the political unit where their business is carried on. Life insurance companies organized under the laws of this State are specifically exempted from this particular requirement in order to subject them to special consideration and treatment later in the section. As to such life insurance companies, the section requires that “all property and assets” shall be assessed, “except such property as is by statute liable to assessment elsewhere, in the political unit wherein the life insurance company resides, and not otherwise.” It is to be noted that shares of bank stock do not come under this section by virtue of any specifically named inclusion. They are under the provisions of this section as an unmentioned part of that class unit “all property and assets,” by being items of personal property, — i. e., shares of bank stock that, by circumstance, are owned by a domestic life insurance company.

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Bluebook (online)
10 N.E.2d 385, 367 Ill. 35, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-ex-rel-palmer-v-national-life-insurance-ill-1937.