THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

OF TEXAS 

May 2,4, 1958 

Hon. Boyd Newman' Opinion No. WW-439 

County Attorney 

Orayson County Re: Proper method of 

Sherman, Texas taxing asset8 of a 

bank under subDear Mr. Newman: mitted facts. 

We quote the following excerpt from your letter requesting the opinionof this office on the above-captioned 

matters: 

it appears that real estate upon which 

h&iea have been constructed since World War II 

have been assessed at 35% of Its value, whereas 

all houaee constructed before such time and all 

personal property in the county have been a8- 

seased at 60% of Its value. 

"It is further our understanding that the tax 

a88e88or ha8 been aaaesalng bank8 ueing a 

standard of 60% of capital Stock, aurplu8, 

and undivided profits, and that the,reaerve 

for contingency fund8 has 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 'funds 18 not included in the evaluation." 

You have furnlahed u8 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 

following provision: 

II 

. . Each share in such bank ahall be taxed 

o;ly for the difference between It8 actual cash 

value &nd the proportionate amount per 8haTe 

at which its real estate 18 assessed. . . .' 

You state that in determining the value of bank 

8toCk, the aeaeesment should be baaed upon the fair 

cash market value of the stock, Article 7149 and 7174, 
Han? Boyd Newman, Page 2, Opinion No. WW-439 

V.C.S. ,l and that such stock value would be the market 

value of the stock rather than the value that would be 

obtained by adding the value of the capital stock, the 

amount of surplus, undivided profits 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, 'true and full value,' wherever 

used shall be held to mean the fair market value, 

in cash, at the place where the property to which 

the term is applied shall be at the time of assessment, being the price which could be obtained therefor at private sale, and not at forced or auction 

sale." 

Article 7174 reads inpart as follows: 

,I 

. . . 

"In determining the true and full value of real 

and personal property,the amesaor shall not 

adopt 8 lower or different standard of value 

because the same is to serve a8 a ba818 of taxation, nor shall he adopt a8 a criterion of 

value the price for which such property would 

sell at auction or a forced sale or In the aggregate with all the property in his county; but 

he shall value 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 been held that there Is no mb8tarItlal difference in the terms (1) market value, (2) fair market 

value, (3) cash market value, (4) fair cash market value 

and (5) reasonable cash market value as these terms are 

used in the various Constitutional and statutory provisions pertaining to value for the assessment of taxes. 

West Texas Hotel Co. v.City of El Paso, 83 S.W. 2d 772 

-(%ZTivx,1935,error dism.). 
Hon. Boyd Newman, Page 3, Opinion No. WW-439 

It has been uniformly held by the courts that although 

the law contemplates that all property, in a county may be 

assessed at 100% of Its fair cash market value, Sec. 20, 

Art. VIII, Tex. Const.; still there is no objection where 

a lesser percentage is uniformly applied to all property, 

both real and personal, since the equality and uniformity of 

taxation required by Section 1 of Article VIII of the Texas 

Constitution has 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, error ref. 

. . . . 

Therefore, If the county is asseseing property for taxation at 60% of its actual cash value, 6046 of the value of 

the bank stock less 60s of the proportionate amount per 

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'determinlng the value of bank stock 

for county ad valorem taxee, the asseesment 

should be based upon the actual cash value 

of the stock lee8 the value of the proportionate amount per. chars-of*the-real eatate 

owned by the bank. If an evaluation of less 

than 100% is u8edr the smaller percentage. 

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