Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/86/490/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 20:17:50+00:00

Document:
1. Shares of stock in the national banks are personal property, and though they are a species of personal property which, in one sense, is intangible and incorporeal, the law which created them could separate them from the person of their owner for the purpose of taxation, and give them a sites of their own.
under state authority at the place where the bank is located, and not elsewhere -- did this.
3. This provision of the National Banking Act became a law of the property, and every state within which a national bank was afterwards located acquired jurisdiction, for the purposes of taxation, of all the shareholders of the bank, both resident and nonresident, and of all its shares, and power to legislate accordingly.
4. Nothing in Article IX in the Constitution of Illinois of 1848, and which was still existing in 1867, prevented the legislature of the state from providing for the taxation of the owners of shares of the capital stock of a national bank in that state at the place within the state where the bank was located, without regard to their places of residence.
5. The act of the said legislature passed June 13, 1867, so providing, was valid under the said constitution.
Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Northern District of Illinois in which court the Merchants' National Bank of Chicago -- a bank incorporated under the "Act to provide a National currency," &c., approved June 3, 1864, [Footnote 1] and having its banking house and carrying on its operations of discount and deposit in the Town of South Chicago, Cook County, Illinois -- filed a bill against one Tappan, collector of county and municipal taxes in the said Town of South Chicago, Cook County, to enjoin his collection of such taxes upon any of the shares of stock in the said bank assessed under a statute of Illinois passed June 13, 1867.
Some shares of the bank were held by persons resident in the said Town of South Chicago, Cook County, where, as already said, the bank itself was situated and where Tappan, the collector of taxes for that town, resided, but many were held by persons who, though residing in Illinois, did not reside in the Town of South Chicago or in the County of Cook at all, but resided out of both, and many were held by persons who did not reside in the State of Illinois at all, but resided in other states altogether.
that therefore, under that constitution, which required uniformity of taxation in respect to persons and property within the jurisdiction of the body imposing the same, there were no taxes laid on the shares of any persons resident in the Town of South Chicago or in the county of Cook, and of course therefore no taxes on any shareholders resident anywhere in Illinois, and as the Act of Congress authorizing a taxation by the state of shares in the national banks owned by persons who were not residents of such state declared that there should be no tax imposed on them which was not imposed on residents of the state, there was no tax laid on any shareholders anywhere.
The whole matter, it is thus obvious, turned upon the validity of the tax laid under the state act of June 13, 1867, upon the shares of residents of Illinois who resided out of Cook County and out of the Town of South Chicago.
"SECTION 2. The general assembly shall provide for levying a tax by valuation, so that every person and corporation shall pay a tax in proportion to the value of his or her property, such value to be ascertained by some person or persons to be elected or appointed in such manner as the general assembly shall direct and not otherwise."
"SECTION 5. The corporate authorities of counties, townships, school districts, cities, towns, and villages, may be vested with power to assess and collect taxes for corporate purposes, such taxes to be uniform in respect to persons and property, within the jurisdiction of the body imposing the same. And the general assembly shall require that all the property within the limits of municipal corporations, belonging to individuals, shall be taxed for the payment of debts contracted under authority of law."
"SECTION 12. The capital stock of any association formed under this act shall be divided into shares of $100 each, and be deemed personal property and transferable on the books of the association."
"SECTION 40. The president and cashier of every association shall cause to be kept at all times a full and correct list of the names and residences of all the shareholders in the association and the number of shares held by each, . . . and such list shall be subject to the inspection of all the officers authorized to assess taxes under state authority."
"SECTION 41. Nothing in this act shall be construed to prevent all the shares in any of the said associations held by any person or body corporate from being included in the valuation of the personal property of such person or corporation in the assessment of taxes imposed by or under state authority, at the place where such bank is located and not elsewhere, but not at a greater rate than is assessed upon other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens of such state."
Subsequently to the passage by Congress of this National Banking Act, the State of Illinois passed the Act of June 13, 1867, under which the tax now resisted was laid.
"No tax shall be assessed upon the capital of any bank or any banking association organized under the authority of this state or organized under the authority of the United States and located within this state."
"But the stockholders in such banks or banking associations shall be assessed and taxed on the value of their shares of stock therein in the county, town, or district where such bank or banking association is located, and not elsewhere, whether such stockholder reside in such town, county, or district or not, but not at any greater rate than is or may be assessed upon other moneyed capital in the hands of individuals in this state. "
"That the words 'place where the bank is located and not elsewhere' in section 41 of the 'Act to provide a National currency,' approved June 3, 1864, shall be construed to mean 'the state within which the bank is located.' And the legislature of each state may determine and direct the manner and place of taxing all the shares of national banks located within said state, subject to the restriction that the taxation shall not be at a greater rate than is assessed upon other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens of such state. And provided always that the shares of any national bank owned by nonresidents of any state shall be taxed in the city or town where said bank is located, and not elsewhere."
entitled to protect their interests; and that a sale of their stock would prejudice the bank in the public mind and work damage to it incapable of remedy at law.
The court below on demurrer to the bill for want of equity -- disregarding the technical objection (for which Dows v. City of Chicago [Footnote 6] was cited as authority), that the bank had no power to interfere in the way in which it had done, in behalf of its stockholders -- and considering that the law of Illinois laying the tax was in violation of its constitution, decreed an injunction. From that decree this appeal was taken.
We are called upon in this case to determine whether the General Assembly of the State of Illinois could, in 1867, provide for the taxation of the owners of shares of the capital stock of a national bank in that state at the place, within the state where the bank was located, without regard to their places of residence. The statute of Illinois under the authority of which the taxes complained of were assessed was passed before the Act of Congress approved February 10, 1868, [Footnote 7] which gave a legislative construction to the words, "place where the bank is located, and not elsewhere," as used in section forty-one of the National Banking Act, [Footnote 8] and permitted the state to determine and direct the manner and place of taxing resident shareholders, but provided that nonresidents should be taxed only in the city or town where the bank was located.
The power of taxation by any state is limited to persons, property, or business within its jurisdiction. [Footnote 9] Personal property, in the absence of any law to the contrary, follows the person of the owner, and has its situs at his domicile. But for the purposes of taxation, it may be separated from him and he may be taxed on its account at the place where it is actually located. These are familiar principles, and have been often acted upon in this Court and in the courts of Illinois. If the state has actual jurisdiction of the person of the owner, it operates directly upon him. If he is absent and it has jurisdiction of his property, it operates upon him through his property.
them from the person of their owner for the purposes of taxation, and give them a situs of their own. This has been done. By section forty-one of the National Banking Act, it is in effect provided that all shares in such banks, held by any person or body corporate, may be included in the valuation of the personal property of such person or corporation in the assessment of taxes imposed under state authority, at the place where the bank is located, and not elsewhere. [Footnote 11] This is a law of the property. Every owner takes the property subject to this power of taxation under state authority, and every nonresident, by becoming an owner, voluntarily submits himself to the jurisdiction of the state in which the bank is established for all the purposes of taxation on account of his ownership. His money invested in the shares is withdrawn from taxation under the authority of the state in which he resides and submitted to the taxing power of the state where, in contemplation of the law, his investment is located. The state, therefore, within which a national bank is situated has jurisdiction, for the purposes of taxation, of all the shareholders of the bank, both resident and nonresident, and of all its shares, and may legislate accordingly.
is insisted that sections two and five of Article 9 of the Constitution of 1848, which was in force when the Act of 1867 was passed, contain an implied prohibition.
"The general assembly shall provide for levying a tax by valuation, so that every person or corporation shall pay a tax in proportion to the value of his or her property, such value to be ascertained by some person or persons to be elected or appointed in such manner as the general assembly shall direct, and not otherwise."
"The corporate authorities of counties, townships, school districts, cities, towns, and villages may be vested with power to assess and collect taxes for corporate purposes, such taxes to be uniform in respect to persons and property within the jurisdiction of the body imposing the same. And the general assembly shall require that all property within the limits of municipal corporations belonging to individuals shall be taxed for the payment of debts contracted under authority of law."
The corresponding provisions of the Constitution of 1870 are in substance the same.
The object of these sections is to secure uniformity of taxation. That, it is said in Bureau Co. v. C.B. & Q. R. Co., [Footnote 12] is to be regarded as the cardinal principle, the dominant idea of this article of the constitution. But uniformity in this connection is only another name for equality, for the provision is for "levying a tax by valuation, so that every person and corporation shall pay a tax in proportion to the value of his or her property." The value of the property being ascertained, the same rate of taxation must be laid upon all.
the property. Neither does it prescribe any rules by which it is to be fixed. That is left to the general assembly, for the provision in that respect is "such value to be ascertained by some person or persons to be elected or appointed in such manner as the general assembly shall direct, and not otherwise." The mode and manner in which the persons appointed to make the valuation shall proceed are left to the discretion of the general assembly. In fact, the whole machinery of taxation must be contrived and put into operation by the legislative department of the government.
As part of this machinery, taxation districts must be created. All property within the district must be taxed by a uniform rate. If property is actually within a district, it is but proper that the legislature should provide that it should be listed, valued, and assessed there. In fact, the last clause of section five, Article 9, seems to make that a duty, for it provides that the general assembly shall require that all property within the limits of municipal corporations belonging to individuals shall be taxed for the payment of debts contracted under authority of law.
This power of locating personal property for the purpose of taxation without regard to the residence of the owner has been often exercised in Illinois, and sustained by the courts. [Footnote 13] Since the adoption of the Constitution of 1870, which did not enlarge the powers of the general assembly in this particular, very extended legislation has been had with a view to such location. Thus, livestock and other personal property used upon a farm must be listed and assessed where the farm is situated; property in the hands of agents at the place where the business of the agent is transacted; watercraft where they are enrolled, or, if not enrolled, where they are kept, the property of bankers, brokers, merchants, manufacturers, and many other classes of persons specially enumerated, at the place where their business is carried on. This became necessary in order that the burdens of taxation might be equally distributed among those who should bear them.
We do not understand the counsel for the appellee to dispute this power where the property is tangible and capable of having, so to speak, an actual situs of its own, but he claims that if it is intangible, it cannot be separated from the person of its owner. It must be borne in mind that all this property, intangible though it may be, is within the state. That which belongs to nonresidents is there by operation of law. That which belongs to residents is there by reason of their residence. All the owners have submitted themselves to the jurisdiction of the state, and they must obey its will when kept within the limits of constitutional power.
The question is then presented whether the general assembly, having complete jurisdiction over the person and the property, could separate a bank share from the person of the owner for the purposes of taxation. It has never been doubted that it was a proper exercise of legislative power and discretion to separate the interest of a partner in partnership property from his person for that purpose, and to cause him to be taxed on its account at the place where the business of the partnership was carried on. And this too without reference to the character of the business or the property. The partnership may have been formed for the purpose of carrying on mercantile, banking, brokerage, or stock business. The property may be tangible or intangible, goods on the shelf or debts due for goods sold. The interest of the partner in all the property is made taxable at the place where the business is located.
he might be taxed there on account of his interest in the partnership. It is not easy to see why, upon the same principle, he may not be taxed there on account of his stock in an incorporated bank. His business is there as much in the one case as in the other. He requires for it the protection of the government there, and it seems reasonable that he should be compelled to contribute there to the expenses of maintaining that government. It certainly cannot be an abuse of legislative discretion to require him to do so. If it is not, the general assembly can rightfully locate his shares there for the purpose of taxation.
"In view of this legislation, it must be apparent that a system of taxation for bank shares was designed peculiar to itself and independent of the general revenue laws of the state,"
and the authority of the law was sustained and enforced.
Again, it is said the law in question destroys the uniformity of taxation, because it provides for the collection of the taxes assessed on account of this kind of property in an unusual way. The constitution does not require uniformity in the manner of collection. Uniformity in the assessment is all it demands. When assessed, the tax may be collected in the manner the law shall provide, and this may be varied to suit the necessities of each case.
Since the decree was rendered in the circuit court, the Supreme Court of Illinois has passed upon this same question and declared the law of 1867 to be constitutional. We might have contented ourselves by acknowledging the authority of this decision, but we are willing not only to acknowledge its authority but to admit its correctness.
Decree reversed and the cause remanded with instructions to proceed in conformity with this opinion.
13 Stat. at Large 99.
13 Stat. at Large 102.
Opinions of the Justices of the Supreme Court, 53 Me. 594.
Markoe v. Hartranft, 6 American Law Register, N.S. 490; Austin v. Aldermen, 14 Allen 364.
15 Stat. at Large 34.
82 U. S. Pennsylvania), 15 Wall. 319.
13 Stat. at Large 102, § 12.
13 Stat. at Large 112.
City of Dunleith v. Reynolds, 53 Ill. 45.
McVeagh v. Chicago, 49 Ill. 329.

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