237 Pa. 353 | Pa. | 1912
Opinion by
The question involved in this case relates to the taxation of the shares of stock of a trust company under the Act of June 13, 1907, P. L. 640. This act was intended to put trust companies upon practically the same basis as banking institutions for the purpose of taxation. Bank stocks are taxed under the Act of July 15,1897, P. L. 292, and the method of ascertaining
It is argued for appellee that the power to direct what shall constitute surplus and undivided profits is exclusively vested in the Commissioner of Banking by the Act of 1895, and that the Auditor General is bound in this respect by the rules and regulations of the banking department. We cannot accept this view of the law. It is true that prior to the creation of the banking department the Auditor General exercised certain supervisions in matters pertaining to banking institutions, and that all of these duties, except those relating to taxation, were transferred to the Commissioner of Banking
This brings us to the consideration of the only question in the case about which there can be any doubt, and that is, how shall the Auditor General determine what is the actual value of the capital paid in, the surplus and the undivided profits? If each of these elements of value was represented by cash on hand the question would be of easy solution, but in the conduct of a banking business this rarely, if ever, happens; or, if the funds were invested in securities worth their face value, no difficulty would arise. But where as in the present case good securities were purchased for much less than their face value for investment account, and carried as such, a different question is presented. The Act of 1907 is a revenue statute and in the.interpretation of its provisions this thought should be kept in mind. Technical, or etymological, definitions of words are of little if any help in determining what the legislative language means in a revenue statute, and for this reason the cases cited by appellee on the question of what constitutes undivided profits are not convincing authorities under the facts of the present case. Some one must ascertain and fix the value of capital
Judgment reversed and record remitted with directions to enter judgment upon the valuation of the shares as fixed by the Auditor General.