— This suit involves the validity of an assessment for taxation, made, on appeal, by the state board of tax commissioners against appellees, Delavan Smith and Charles E. Williams, as partners, engaged in the publication of a newspaper, known as the Indianapolis Hews, under the name and style of the Indianapolis Hews Company.
We address ourselves first to the determination of the question whether the good-will of the Indianapolis News Company is subject to taxation. The power of taxation is one of the highest attributes of sovereignty. When society erects a state, creating the three great departments of government, — the legislative, the, executive, and the judicial,— it is not necessary to grant to the legislative department the power of taxation; for, in the absence of other restriction, that authority vests in the legislative department by virtue of the general grant of legislative power. State, ex rel., v. Smith,
If it be granted that good-will is property, yet it cannot be taxed unless the General Assembly has authorized it. Notwithstanding the constitutional requirement as to the taxation of property, such provision is not self-executing, and a tax can not be laid unless the General Assembly selects the particular species of property to bear the burden of taxation. Riley v. Western Union Tel. Co.,
We regard it as clear, however, that good-will is not in and of itself property, but that it is an incident that may attach to, or, in some cases, be connected with it. In Rawson v. Pratt,
In the case of a good-will attaching to real property, the good-will becomes an integral part of the value of such property, and, in the case of a corporation possessing a good-will, the value thereof may find a reflex in the value
Taxes are burdens that must necessarily be laid, and the government is not to be regarded as a public enemy in imposing them. Such laws ought not to be construed from the standpoint of the taxpayer alone or of the government alone. The real question is, what was the intent of the General Assembly. Whatever may be the rule in the construction of the federal revenue laws, where severe penalties and forfeitures are often attached, we think, that, under a revenue system like ours, it is the duty of the courts, even in construing statutes providing for taxation that go beyond the constitutional requirement that all property shall be taxed, to construe such statutes without bias or prejudice, and that in such cases the courts, should only lean towards strictness to the extent that it is justifiable on the ground that it is to be fairly and justly presumed that the General Assembly, which possesses a power so comparatively unrestrained in its force and searching in its extent as the power of taxation, has so shaped the law as, without ambiguity or doubt, to bring within it everything that it was meant should be embraced. United States v. Breed,
It is contended by the learned Attorney-General that the
As said by Mr. Justice Story, in United States v. Wigglesworth,
- It would be against usage to tax the good-will of a partnership or individual. It is to be presumed that the General Assembly was familiar with the fact that it had been the practice to omit to tax good-will in such cases, and, if it had been its purpose so to do in the enactment of the general tax law of 1891, the circumstances called upon that body to give clear expression to its purpose. Its omission in that particular can only be construed as an acquiescence in the practice that before obtained. State Board, etc., v. Holliday,
As to the element of appellees’ holding of shares of stock in the Associated Press, we are of opinion that if the case rested alone upon the complaint that appellees’ shares therein were taxed, no case would he presented for our interference. We do not doubt, if a number of newspapers enter into an agreement that each will provide the others with news, or that through a common agency such news is to he supplied to all, that the right under such contract is not a subject of taxation under existing statutes. Just what connection, if any, the shares of stock that appellees hold has with the privilege of receiving news, does not appear ; and we are not advised as to what service, if any, appellees perform as payment, in whole or in part, for the advantage that they receive. The fact, as pleaded, that the court of last resort in the state where such corporation is organized has held that it is bound to furnish its news to all who apply, on the same terms that it exacts from its members, may be an important element tending to depreciate the value of such stock; but we can not therefore say that the stock has no value, since a person who had regularly acquired stock in the corporation might thereby without contest receive the attendant privilege upon the terms fixed, while an outsider might have to vindicate his right, if any, by a long contest in the courts.
Section 8410 Burns 1901, that is quoted above, provides that all property within the jurisdiction of this State, not expressly exempted, shall be subject to taxation. The next section contains a definition of personal property for the purposes of taxation, and among other items of personal property therein mentioned is included “all shares in foreign corporations, except national hanks, owned by inhabitants of this State.” The listing of such shares is also provided for by the schedule. §§8460, 8463 Burns 1901. Mr. Cook, in his valuable work on Corporations, volume 2
It is not material that the shares of stock, as such, do not directly earn money. If the holding of such shares is the basis of a privilege that in and of itself is worth money, we see no reason why such value should not inhere in such shares. The fact that the right, if any, the stock represents can not be transferred without the consent of the Associated Press may take from the stock a market value, but it may have a value nevertheless. Section 8458 Burns 1901 provides that in determining the value of personal property the township assessor “shall be governed by what is the true cash value, such being the market or usual selling price at the place where the property shall be at the time of its liability to assessment, and if there is no market value, then the actual value.” We take it, however, that counsel for appellee would not dispute the proposition that if the shares of stock have any value they are subject to taxation. Counsel evidently rely upon the averment that the shares of stock “have no market value and no actual value.” If this were true, we admit that such shares ought not to be taxed. But whether they had or no is a question of fact that the state board — a body having quasi judicial
As said by Mr. Justice Magruder, in Burton Stock Car. Co. v. Traeger,
The questions involved in this case that have been argued by the respective parties have been questions that went to the merits of the right of the state board of tax com mi asi on - ers to tax the appellees, and, as the parties stand in the attitude of waiving all other questions, we have been disposed to consider, so far as we could properly do so, the substantial questions in the case, but it is insisted by an amicus curiae, who, by leave of court, has filed a brief, that the effort of such board to tax the good-will of appellees’ business ought also to be upheld, because this proceeding is a collateral attack on the action of the board. Although such board is composed of men who, for the most part, otherwise occupy high official station, and although such board performs duties of very great importance to the
have found that the property was not within the jurisdiction of the State, we have found the absence of an element necessary to the validity of the board’s action, and,, in such case, the action is void, and may be attacked collaterally.” The proposition that courts may relieve from assessments laid without jurisdiction finds support in the authorities without this State. Santa Clara County v. Southern Pac. R. Co.,
We think that in a case of this kind it is not proper to apply the rule that obtains when a judgment of a court of general jurisdiction is collaterally attacked,— that the infirmity must appear on the face of the record. These proceedings are summary and, to a large extent, informal, and there are no pleadings that tend to make the question decided certain. It is proper, in a case like this, where values have not been extended on the specific items of the taxpayer’s schedule, to show affirmatively that he was assessed with- an item that was not taxable under the laws of the State. This could be done without contradicting in any way the record that the board made, if we may assume that the averments of the complaint are true. The following eases, by implication, at least, support this view: Pittsburgh, etc., R. Co. v. Backus,
In Santa Clara Co. v. Southern Pac. R. Co.,
It is our conclusion, as it is alleged that the good-will of appellees’ business was assessed, and as there is no means of determining the amount of that portion of the increase that the state board of tax commissioners had authority to add, that the action of said board as an entirety, in so far as it added to appellees’ assessment, was properly held to be invalid.
Appellees’ counsel have argued the question as to' an unlawful discrimination against appellees in the administra
Judgment affirmed.
