112 Ala. 546 | Ala. | 1896
The plaintiff, the appellant, sued to recover back certain money alleged to have been paid to the defendant as tax collector, under duress, to prevent the sale and sacrifice of property which had been levied upon by the defendant as tax collector. The case made by the abstract presents the legality of the assessment of the real estate of the plaintiff. It is contended by appellant, first, that the assessment was not made accord
Section 49, p. 1217, of the Acts of 1894-95, reads as follows :
‘ lBe it further enacted, That nothing in this act shall be so construed as to exempt from taxation any property now subject to taxation under laws of Alabama, not Specifically referred to, but all laws now in force designating the subjects of taxation, and all laws exempting property from taxation not inconsistent with the provisions of this act are continued in force and are not repealed.”
That the real property owned by the bank was the subject of taxation, cannot be controverted.
It will be seen by the amendment above cited to subdivision 8 of section 453 of the Code o'f 1886, that the shareholder is assessed upon the real value of his share, without the deduction of the value of the real estate and .personal property belonging to the bank as provided in said section 453, and without the privilege to deduct
It is contended by appellant that the enforcement of ' the law, as thus construed, imposes a double taxation on property, in that the value of the real estate enters / into and in large part constitutes the value of the share of the' shareholder which is taxed at its full value, while the real estate is also separately taxed at its full value. So every debt secured by a mortgage on real estate may f derive its entire value from the mortgage security, and/ yet no one ever supposed that the payment of taxes by the creditor upon the debt due him, as a solvent creditj released the mortgagor’s land from taxation. The sol-, vency of every credit is due to the ability of the debtor to pay, or the liability of his property to legal process. The question has been fully considered and settled, that the ownership of land by a corporation, is entirely separate from the ownership of shareholders of stock in the corporation. The former is realty, the latter is personalty under all circumstances. The corporation acting through the power conferred by its charter, disposes of its property absolutely. The shareholder disposes of his shares as he does of any other property he may own. The property of each which is taxable, is subject to tax-1 ation without regard to the other. The one may be-1 come insolvent, while the other is entirely solvent. A private corporation, like an individual, may invest its money in non-taxable property. When it does so, the property remains exempt from taxation. When the money of a private corporation is converted into or invested in taxable property, the property remains subject to taxation. — Desty on Taxation, 330 ; Ib. 371; Maguire v. Board of Revenue, 71 Ala. 401; VanAllen v. The Assessor, 3 Wall. 583. Many authorities might be cited to the proposition.
Affirmed.