59 Vt. 516 | Vt. | 1887
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The plaintiff claims that promissory notes due him, secured by mortgages upon real estate in Massachusetts, are not taxable in this State, for that such real estate is set in the list in that state and taxed to him, the taxes being paid by him through his agent residing in that state, in whose custody the mortgages and notes are kept. Upon these facts he insists that the property was situated and taxed in another state, and so free from taxation here under subdivision 3, sec. 270, R. L., which exempts from taxation ‘ ‘ personal estate owned by inhabitants of this State situated and taxed in another state.” Was this property situated in Massachusetts? The general rule is that a debt follows the person of its owner and has its situs at his domicile, although in some instances- it may, for the purposes of taxation, have a situs elsewhere, e. g., where it is held in trust, as in Catlin v. Hull, 21 Vt. 152. In such case it may well be claimed that the trustee becomes a quasi owner of the debt. A debt is simply an obligation of the debtor; it only possesses value in the hands of the creditor; with him it is property, and in his hands it may be taxed. A debt simply can have no locality separate from that of the party to whom it is due. State Tax on Foreign-held Bonds, 15 Wall. 300. The situs of a debt is not affected by the locality of the security ; it is still with the owner.' Taxing the security makes the debt no less a debt than it was before such taxation. We do not intend to say that the plaintiff can
Holding that the property was not situated in Massachusetts renders it unnecessary to decide whether it was taxed there. We do not pass upon that question. It must be both situated and taxed there to exempt it here. If not situated there, it is taxable here.
II. The plaintiff claims that the list in question was illegally made, because there was not so much due upon the mortgage notes as the sum at which the listers appraised their value. This case is unlike Howes v. Bassett, 56 Vt. 141, and Rowell v. Horton, 58 Vt. 1, where no property was known to the listers. Here the property was found in specie. Its existence was admitted, and the listers appraised the same. The statute requires the listers, in case the taxpayer omits to make a satisfactory inventory, “ to ascertain as best they can the amount of the taxable property of such person.” Would it do to say that any error in determining the amount due upon a note would invalidate the list ? It would be substantially impossible to administer the law under such a rigid rule. No claim is made that the listers acted in bad faith, or were wanting in
Judgment reversed, and judgment for defendant. ■