### THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS

May 2,4,1958
Hon. Boyd Newman' Opinion No. WW-439 County Attorney Orayson County Re: Propermethod of Sherman,Texas taxing asset8 of a bank under subDear Mr. Newman: mitted facts.
We quote the followingexcerpt fromyour letter requesting the opinionof this office on the above-captioned matters: it appears that real estateupon which h&iea have been constructed sinceWorld War II have been assessed at 

### 35% of Its value, whereas all houaee constructedbefore such time and all personal property in the countyhave been a8- seased at 60% of Its value.
"It is further our understanding that the tax a88e88orha8 been aaaesalng bank8ueing a standardof 60% of capital Stock, aurplu8, and undividedprofits, and that the,reaerve for contingency fund8has not been.taxed. Further the tax 888888Or 18 ai38e88lng..bank8 at 60% of It8 capital structure,regardlese o? whether the 8ame 18 for valua of Q+nk stock or real eetate except that the res&bve for contingency 'funds18 not included in the evaluation."
You have furnlahedu8 a copy of your opinion to the Coun$y Judge with regard to theae,mattera. You point out that' Article 

### 7166,Vernon'8 Civil Statutes, contains the followingprovision:

II

. . Each share in such bank ahall be taxed o;ly for the difference between It8 actual cash value &nd the proportionate amountper 8haTe at which its real estate 18 assessed.

. . .'
You state that in determining the value of bank 8toCk, the aeaeesment should be baaedupon the fair cashmarket value of the stock,Article 7149 and 7174,Han? Boyd Newman, Page 2, OpinionNo. 

### WW-439

V.C.S. ,l and that such stockvalue would be themarket value of the stock rather than the value that would be obtained by adding the value of the capital stock, the amount of surplus,undividedprofits or reserve funds and dividing this by the number of shares of stock. We concur In this view.

-- ' Article 7149 reads in part as follows: II

. . . "Value.' --the term, 'trueand full value,'wherever used shall be held to mean the fairmarket value, in cash, at theplace where theproperty to which the term is applied shall be at the time of assessment, being the price which could be obtainedtherefor at private sale, and not at forced or auction sale." Article 

### 7174 reads inpart as follows: ,I

. . . "In determiningthe true and fullvalue of real and personal property,the amesaor shallnot adopt 8 lower or different standard of value because the same is to serve a8 a ba818 of taxation, nor shallhe adopt a8 a criterionof value the price for which suchproperty would sell at auction or a forced sale or In the aggregate with all the property in his county;but he shallvalue each tract or lot by Itself, and at such swn and price as he believes the same to be fairly worth in money at the time such assessment 1s made."
It has beenheld that there Is no mb8tarItlaldifference in the terms (1)market value, (2) fairmarket value, 

### (3)cash market value, (4) fair cashmarket value and 

### (5)reasonable cashmarket value as these terms are used in the various Constitutionaland statutoryprovisions pertaining to value for the assessmentof taxes. West Texas Hotel Co. v.City of El Paso, 

### 83 S.W. 2d 772 -(%ZTivx,1935,error dism.).Hon. Boyd Newman, Page 3, OpinionNo. WW-439

It has been uniformlyheld by the courts that although the law contemplatesthat all property, in a countymay be assessed at 100% of Its fair cashmarket value, Sec. 20, Art. VIII, Tex. Const.; still there is no objectionwhere a lesserpercentage is uniformly applied to all property, both real and personal, since the equality and uniformity of taxation required by Section 1 of ArticleVIII of the Texas Constitutionhas been accorded. f El Paso et al v. Howse, 248 S.W. 99 (Tex.Clv. Ap , error ref.). Duvall Fi;k, 158 S.W. 2d 565 (Tex. Clv. App., 1942, errorref.

. . . . Therefore, If the county is asseseingproperty for taxation at 60% of its actual cash value, 6046of the value of the bank stock less 60s of the proportionateamountper share of the value of the real estate owned by the bank equals the value at which the bank 8toCk should be assessed.
SUMMARY In'determinlngthe value of bank stock for county ad valorem taxee, the asseesment should be basedupon the actual cash value of the stock lee8 the value of the proportionate amountper.chars-of*the-realeatate owned by the bank. If an evaluation of less than 100% is u8edr the smallerpercentage. muet be equally and uniformly applied to all taxpayer8 and al2 property, both real and pereonal, wlthln the county. Very truly your8,
WILL WILSON Attorney General of Texas
APPROVED: BY-N&%- Marietta McOregor Payne OPINION COMMITTEE: A8818taAt Oeorge P. Blaokburn, Chairman
Wallace Flnfrock Riley Eugene Fletcher Tom I. McFarllng
REVIEWED FOR TBBATTOBNEYOENERAL By: W. V. Oeppert