114 Kan. 267 | Kan. | 1923
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This proceeding is brought under the declaratory-judgment act by several banks against the state tax commission and its members for the purpose of obtaining an interpretation of the statutes relating to taxation. The defendants challenge the right of the plaintiffs to maintain it, but we shall assume without deciding that it is properly brought and determine the principal question presented, which turns upon the effect of the tax law involved. • .
Prior to the legislative session of 1921 the bank statute provided in effect that a state bank should not invest more than one-third of its capital and surplus in a bank building (Laws 1917, ch. 76, § 1), and the taxation statute provided that in estimating the value of its shares for use in determining the amount of taxes to be paid by its stockholders the assessor should deduct from the gross value of the shares the assessed valuation of such building to the extent of one-third of its capital and surplus. (Laws 1919, ch. 306, § 1.) In 1921 the bank statute above cited was amended by substituting
The judgment is that the plaintiffs have no just cause of complaint of the rule adopted by the tax commission.