116 Ky. 951 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1903
Opinion of the court by
— Affirming.
Samuel T. Bailey, the sheriff of Greenup county, Kentucky, instituted this proceeding in the county court of Green-up, under section 4241 of the Kentucky Statutes, authorizing the sheriff to list omitted property. The proceeding was commenced by filing in the Greenup* county court a statement, in the form of a petition, which sets forth substantially the following: That the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company consists* of three corporations: First, a corporation created by the laws of the State of Virginia; second, a corporation created by the laws of the State of West Virginia; and, third, a corporation created and existing under, and by virtue of the compliance with, sections 194 and 211 of the Kentucky Constitution, and sections 571 and 841 of the Kentucky Statutes. That these corporations have one or more places of business in Greenup county, with an authorized agent or agents thereat, upon whom process can be served; and, by their compliance with the Constitution and statutes of Kentucky, they, as well •as the stockholders, agreed and undertook to submit to the laws of this Commonwealth, and especially that the situs of the stock in the corporations should be for the purpose of taxation within this Commonwealth. That these three corporations jointly own and possess and operate a line of railway beginning at Covington, and running along the Ohio river, through Greenup county, to Ashland, Kentucky, and through the State of West Virginia to Newport News, in the State
It is the theory of appellant that, because the corporations have failed to list and pay taxes due upon the corporate property, therefore all of the individual stock held by ■the stockholders in the corporations becomes at once liable for taxation in Greenup county, Kentucky, without refer
“See. 4020. All real and personal estate within this State, and all personal estate of persons residing in this ■State, and of all corporations! organized under the laws of ■this State, whether the property be in or out of this State, . . . shall be subject to taxation, unless the same be exempt from, taxation by the Constitution and shall] be assessed at its fair value estimated at the price it would bring at a fair voluntary sale.”
“Sec. 4088. The individual stockholders of the corporation which are, by this article, required to report and pay taxes upon its corporate franchises, shall not be required to list ■their shares in such companies, so long as the corporation pays the taxes on the corporate property and franchises, as herein provided.”
By these sections it is contended that the stock of the individual stockholders, upon the failure of the corporation to pay its just taxes, at once becomes liable to taxation in any county through which the road runs, and in which it has an agent upon whom process can be served.
Sections 4077 to 4086, inclusive, of the Kentucky Statutes, contain an elaborate and thorough system for the assessment and collection of taxes from a large class of the important corporations of the State, including railroads, both foreign and domestic. By this system the Board of Valuation and Assessment is established, whose duty it is, upon information obtained in the manner therein set out, to assess the franchises of these corporations, and to certify to ■the various counties, municipalities, and taxing districts the amounts liable to them, respectively, for local taxation. Conceding it to be true, for the purposes of this case, that by
As this was the conclusion reached by the trial' judge, the judgment is affirmed.