126 Ky. 670 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1907
Opinion of the Court by
Affirming.
These proceedings were instituted in the Daviess county court by the auditor’s agent to compel the listing by appellees of certain omitted property. The same questions are involved in each case, and they will be considered together. The - petition charges in each instance that the appellee therein referred to was the owner, on the 15th of' ¡September of the years 1899,1900,1901,1902,1903, and 1904, of money, certificates, bonds, mortgages, and stock in various corporations, none of which paid or was liable for a franchise tax, of the value of $125,000, and that none of said property was listed for taxation. After demurrers were overruled and certain preliminary motions were disposed of, answers were filed denying the allegations of the petitions. Upon the hearing, it developed that each of the appellees was the owner for the years mentioned of a large amount of stock in the Owensboro Wagon Company, a corporation organized under the laws of the state of Kentucky, and that this stock was worth more than par. The county court then adjudged that the premium alone on the stock holdings of each of appellees should be listed for the years 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, and 1904. Upon appeal, the judgment of the county court was reversed by the Daviess circuit court; the latter court holding that neither -the shares of stock nor the premiums thereon were subject to taxation, and that there had been no omission by either of the appellees in giving in their property for assessment for the
We know of no rule of law by which the premium on stock may be listed for taxation unless the stock itself is subject to assessment. A share of stock cannot be separated into premium and par value for the purpose of taxation. If the stock is subject to assessment at all, it should be listed at its fair market value, which necessarily includes the face value of the stock as well as its premium value, if it be selling above par. The real question before us is to determine whether or not, under the law and circumstances of these proceedings, the stock in the hands of appellees during the years mentioned should be listed for taxation by them. The Owensboro Wagon Company, whose stock is owned by appellees, is not a franchise corporation, but what is known as a business or wading corporation. The law applicable to such corporations is found in section 4085, Ky. St. 1903, which is as follows: “The property of all corporations, except where herein differently provided, shall be assessed in the name of the corporation in the same manner as that of a natural person, except that when legally called upon, the chief officer shall report a full statement of the property of such corporation for taxation, and for a failure, shall be subject to the penalties in this article provided; and so long as said corporation pays the taxes on all its property of every kind, the individual stockholders shall not be required to list their shares in said corporations.” It will be observed that the statute requires that the property of all corporations like the one in question shall be assessed in the name of the corporation in the same manner as that of a natural person. The primary liability is therefore placed
Judgment affirmed.