Nathan Clifford

“ Amount of the tax required to be paid by the defendant corporation is a sum equal to three-fourths of one per cent. on the total amount of deposits in the institution on the first day of July in each year. Reference is evidently made to the total amount of deposits on the day named, not as the subject-matter for assessment, but as the basis for computing the tax required to be paid by the corporation defendants. They enjoy important privileges, and it is just that they should contribute to the public burdens. ”

“ Private corporations engaged in their own business and pursuing their own interests according to their own will are as much subject to the taxing power of the State as individuals, and it cannot make any difference whether the tax is imposed upon their property, unless exempted by some paramount law, or the franchise of the corporation, as both are alike under the protection and within the control of the sovereign power. ”

“ State tax laws cannot restrain the action of the national government, nor can they abridge the operation of any law which Congress may constitutionally pass. They may extend to every object of value within the sovereignty of the State, but they cannot reach the administration of justice in the Federal courts, nor the collection of the public revenue, nor interfere with any constitutional regulation of commerce. ”

“ Whenever the law imposes a tax on property in that State, it makes provision that the value of the property shall be ascertained by appraisement, and the requirement is that the tax shall be assessed on the appraised value of the property. Taxpayers are required to furnish to the assessors of the town in which they reside a schedule, under oath, of all their taxable property, and it is made the duty of the assessors to appraise the same, and enter the value thereof on the appropriate lists. ”

“ Corporate franchises are legal estates vested in the corporation itself as soon as it is in esse. They are not mere naked powers granted to the corporation, but powers coupled with an interest which vest in the corporation upon the possession of its franchises, and whatever may be thought of the corporators, it cannot be denied that the corporation itself has a legal interest in such franchises. ”

“ Power to tax is granted for the benefit of all, and none have any right to complain if the power is fairly exercised and the proceeds are properly applied to discharge the obligations for which the taxes were imposed. ”

“ They pay nothing for municipal and local taxes, either to the cities, towns, or districts in which they are located, and they are expressly exempted from all other taxation. Much weight is also due to the fact that the taxes are imposed directly by the legislature, without regard to investment or value, and if the amount was fixed by law, all, we think, would agree that the assessment was a tax upon the corporation, and not upon its property as contended by the defendants. ”

“ Municipal corporations as well as the State may levy taxes on the taxable property of the citizens, but all taxes, State and municipal, are collected by the collectors of the towns. Joint stock companies, and all chartered corporations, except banking, insurance, railroad, and savings corporations, &c., are subject to these regulations. ”

“ Like other corporations they may choose their own officers and may admit new members; and the charter also provides that they may sue and be sued, that they may take and hold real estate,o ther than such as is conveyed as security or in payment of debts, to a limited amount, and may vest their funds in the stock of the State banks or other public stock of the State or of the United States, and may dispose of the same from time to time in such amounts as will meet the demands for the deposits made in such institution. ”

“ Authority is vested in the corporation by its charter to receive such deposits in trust for the owner, and to loan, use, and improve the same, and to apply and divide the net income and profits thereof in just proportions among the persons making such deposits, subject to certain reasonable deductions as therein provided. ”

“ Where the deposit is general and there is no special agreement proved, it is doubtless true that the title of the money deposited in a bank passes to the bank, and the bank becomes liable to the depositor for the amount as a debt. ”

“ Such institutions are banks of deposit, but they have no capital stock or stockholders, and are without any authority to make discounts or issue any circulating medium. Money in limited amounts may be deposited in such banks for safekeeping and be withdrawn at the pleasure of the owner, under such regulations as the charter and by-laws may prescribe. ”