Ward Hunt

“ Thus, if an individual should make the city of Baltimore his agent and trustee to receive funds, and to distribute them in aid of science, literature, or the fine arts, or even for the relief of the destitute and infirm, it is quite possible that such revenues would be subject to taxation. The corporation would therein depart from its municipal character, and assume the position of a private trustee. It would occupy a place which an individual could occupy with equal propriety. It would not in that action be an auxiliary or servant of the State, but of the individual creating the trust. ”

“ It is no pecuniary burden upon the corporation, and no taxation of the corporation. The burden falls on the creditor. He is the party taxed.
In the case before us this question controls its decision. If the tax were upon the railroad, there is no defence. It must be paid. But we hold that the tax imposed by the 122d section is in substance and in law a tax upon the income of the creditor or stockholder, and not a tax upon the corporation.
The creditor here is the city of Baltimore, and the question then arises whether this tax can be collected from the revenues of that municipal corporation. ”

“ A similar tax was imposed by the statutes of Pennsylvania. The plaintiff claimed that as he was an alien non-resident, it was not in the power of Congress, or of that State, to tax him. The courts of Pennsylvania had sustained the deduction. Mr. Justice Nelson, in delivering the opinion of this court, and in remarking upon the decision of those courts, 'that the deduction from the prescribed income of the interest on these railroad bonds, when paid by companies, was regarded as simply a mode of collecting this part of the income tax,' says: 'We concur in this view. ”