State Ex Rel. Attorney General v. Lion Oil Refining Co.

284 S.W. 33, 171 Ark. 209, 1926 Ark. LEXIS 424
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedMay 24, 1926
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 284 S.W. 33 (State Ex Rel. Attorney General v. Lion Oil Refining Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Ex Rel. Attorney General v. Lion Oil Refining Co., 284 S.W. 33, 171 Ark. 209, 1926 Ark. LEXIS 424 (Ark. 1926).

Opinion

Hart, J.,

(after stating the facts). The Attorney General claims the right to levy and collect the tax under the provisions of §§ 9965 and 9966 of Crawford & Moses’ Digest. The act was passed by the Legislature of 1917, and among other things the title provides that it is an act assessing for taxation the tangible property of all corporations.

Section 9965 reads as follows: “All corporations doing business in this State, except corporations whose property is assessed by the Arkansas Tax Commission and the corporations required to make and file the special returns provided for in § 9904, shall, in addition to the list prescribed by § 9904, make and file with the assessor of the county wherein its principal office is situated a statement wherein shall be distinctly set forth:

“(1). The name of the corporation and the location of its principal 'office.

“(2). The number of shares of stock of said corporation outstanding and the face value of each share.

“(3). The market value of each share, and, if no market value, the actual value of each share of stock, and the net income of the corporation shall be considered in determining the actual value of the shares of stock, if they have no market value.

“ (4). 'The aggregate market value, or actual value as the case may be, of all outstanding stock.

“ (fi). The total bonds of the corporation secured by mortgage or deed of trust on property belonging to the company, and the aggregate market value, or actual value, of such bonds. •

“(6). The assessed value of all real estate owned by the corporation.

“(7). The assessed value of all tangible personal property owned by the company and assessed under § 9904.

“The sum of items four and five, less the sum of items six and seven, shall be held to be the value of the intangible property of the corporation, and shall be listed and assessed by tbe corporation, as agent for its shareholders, under the heading, ‘Intangible Property.’

“The return prescribed by this section is required in addition to that required by § 9904, and its purpose is to secure the assessment of the intangible property belonging to the corporation.

To sustain his right to collect the tax, the Attorney General relies upon our decisions construing the act under consideration and our earlier acts providing for the assessment of the intangible property of corporations. State ex rel. v. Bodcaw Lumber Co., 128 Ark. 505; State ex rel. v. Ft. Smith Lumber Co., 131 Ark. 40; Crossett Lumber Co. v. State, 139 Ark. 397; and State v. Gloster Lumber Co., 147 Ark. 461.

These decisions were dealing with the power of the State to’ tax the intangible property of domestic corporations. It is contended, however, by the Attorney General that the act is sufficiently broad and comprehensive to include foreign corporations, and that foreign corporations authorized to do business in this State fall under the provisions of the statute and must comply with its terms.

If the provisions of the statute are to be extended to apply to foreign corporations, it is apparent that the statute would be unconstitutional, at least so far as it applies to foreign corporations.

The Supreme 'Court of the United States has uniformly held that a State may not, consistently with the due process provision of the Fourteenth Amendment, include, at least as against any foreign corporation, any part of its tangible property lying without the State for purposes of taxation. Louisville & Nashville Rd. Co. v. Greene, 244 U. S. 522; Looney v. Crane Co., 245 U. S. 178; and Union Tank Line Co. v. Wright, 249 U. S. 275.

In the case-last cited it was expressly held.that a State cannot tax the property of a foreign corporation which has never come within its borders.

Again, in Wallace v. Hines, 253 U. S. 66, it was. .said that the only reason for allowing a State to look beyond its borders when it taxes the property of foreign corporations is that it may get the true value of the things within it, when they are part of an organic system of wide extent, that gives them a value above what they otherwise would possess. In that case the court was considering the unit system of taxation as applied to' railroad companies carrying on business in two or more States.

It has also been held that a State cannot tax the property of a foreign corporation outside the State, regardless of whether the corporation is a carrier or trading company. International Paper Co. v. Massachusetts, 246 U. S. 135; and American Bauxite Co. v. Board of Equalization, 119 Ark. 362.

The Attorney General seeks to uphold the validity of the statute on the ground that the general rule of the unit system of taxation in cases of railroads and other public service corporations carrying on business in two or more States should be applied to oil companies organized in another State and doing business in this State. ''

In Cooley on Taxation, 4 ed., vol. 2, § 811, it is said that it is properly held that the unit rule should not be applied to mining companies, oil companies, or the like. Continuing, the author said that this doctrine never has been applied, nor can it justly be applied to manufacturing or other similar plants or industries which are under common ownership but used or operated, in different States. Our case of American Bauxite Co. v. Board of Equalization, 119 Ark. 362, is first cited. That ease in principle sustains the text.

In discussing the method of arriving at the value of property for taxation under our Constitution, it was said that property is assessed in this State whether it produces income or not, and property is not taxed according to its income, and indeed the question of income is of importance only as it relates to and affects the value.

In discussing the uses made of the ore after it was shipped out of the State, for any purposes other than to determine the value of the land from which it was mined, the court said: “After property is taken out' of this State it ceases to be subject to taxation within this State, and no attempt is made by the Constitution or laws of this State to impose upon such property any of the burdens of taxation.”

In Standard Oil Co. v. Howe, 257 Fed. 481, it was held that the Civil Code of Arizona providing for the unit rule of value in the taxation of private car lines, railroad property, and telegraph and telephone lines, does not authorize the unit rule valuation for taxation of the property of a foreign oil company.

Again,in Utah-Idaho Sugar Co. v. Salt Lake County (Utah), 210 Pac. 106, 27 A. L. R. 874, it was held that a.

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Bluebook (online)
284 S.W. 33, 171 Ark. 209, 1926 Ark. LEXIS 424, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-attorney-general-v-lion-oil-refining-co-ark-1926.