The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1898-11-15
The Banks Sued.

leges the banks owe the city, but which
the banks claim ey do not owe.
THE News has abstained from all
comments upon the controversy be-
tween the Council and the banks be-
cause it hoped that moderation and con-
servatism would govern the Council In
its dealing with the question and that an
amicable settlement satisfactory TO al
parties would be reached without an ap-
peal 10 the courts.
Nearly all of the cities IN Central
Kentucky have settled with their banks
on substantially the same terms AS those
named in the proposition OF the Paris
banks to the City Council.
The NEWS is confident that there is,
especially am )ng the business men and
tax-pavers of the City, who have
g:eater interest In the question than any
others, no disposition to persecute the
banks or to deal barshly or unfairly
!
man does or could require is that they
/ he taxed the same as individuals are
taxed-no more and no less-and that
for such years as they have paid all the
taxes that could be required of them I'D
der the law as then interpreted by the
highest court in the State they have
right to claim exemption from the pay
ment of other taxes which during those
years could not be collected from them
| ty law.
AS we understand it, the position of
the banks in the controversy is briefly
this
Before the adoption of the new Con-
stitution they paid tax under what was
known as the Hewitt Law, which re-
quired them to pay into the State Treas
ury seventy-five cents on each share of
stock of the par value of one hundred
dollars, besides a certain tax on the sur
plus, and this was all the tax they had
to pay. The Hewitt Law was under
stood by the state, by the banks and by
the general public to be a contract
which should last as long as the banks
continued to do business under the
charters they had when the law was
enacted. But after the adoption of the
new constitution the question as to
whether the banks should continue to
pay tax under the Hewitt Faw or be
required to pay under the new law lin
which event they wonld be subject to
City and County as we'll as state taxes
was taken in:O the courts and was de-
cided by the Court of Appeals in June,
1895, in a decision rendered by Judge
Pryor, in which that court held the
Hewitt Law to be an irrevocable con-
tract and that banks must pay taxes as
| required by that law as long as they
continued to do business rnder the
charters held by them at the time the
Hewitt Law was enacted. Before this
decision was rendered the banks had
paid taxes to the State under the new
law, under protest, at the rate 421
cents on each one hundred dol
| lars of assets for the years
1898 and 1894. After the decision the
State authorities demande3 and the
banks were required TO pay the differ
ence between the 423 cents which the
State had collected and the rs cents on
each share which the court had decided
| they must pay for the years 1898 and
1894. Afterwards, while this decision
was still in force. the banks paid as re-
quired by that decision all taxes due
from them for the years 1895 and 1896.
A subsequent decision of the same court
practically reversing the Pryor decision
was rendered by Judge Paynter in
| April, 1897. Under this last decision,
from which an appeal has been taken to
the Supreme Court of the United States,
it was held that the banks will be re-
quired to pay tax under the new law.
Before this decision was rendered,
| however, and while the first decision
| w as oIllI III lOICO dS lu0 interpretation OF
the law by the highest Court in the State
the banks paid all the tax which they
owed for the years 1898, 1894, 1895 and
1896. They had thus performed every
obligation that could be required of
them under the law governing their
taxation and had done so relying upon
the validity and authority of a decision
of the Court of Appeals of Kentucky
prescribing and defining their duties in
the matter of paying taxes Certainly
they had right to rely upon this de-
cision and should be protected from
harm or loss by reason of such reliance.
We are informed that for the four
years 1898 40 and g the banks of Paris
paid into the State Treasury nearly
$14 900. 90 in excess of what they would
have had 10 pay but for that decision,
and that the banks of Kentucky paid