Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 8.djvu/881

BVANSVILLE NAT. BANK ». BBITTON. 867 �EvANSviLiiB Nat. Bank, of Evansville, Indiana, v. Bmtton, Treas- �urer, etc. �(Oireuit Court, D. Indiana. 1881.) �L Nationaii Bakks— State Taxation — Revenue Law of Indiana of 1872— Rbt. St. f 5219. �By the revenue law of Indiana of 1872, capital represented by credits, which include money at interest within pr wlthout the state, Ib net taxed for its full or f air value, but only on the balance which may i^emain after deducting the amount of the tax-payer's bonafide indebtedness ; while capital represented by national bank stock is taxed according to its tair value^ without allowance for debts. Edd, that the law isin confiict with section 5219 of the Revised Stat- utes, and therefore invalid. Hdd, also, that only such shareholders are enti- tled to relief as are subject to taxation in the state upon their credits, and who, at the time of the assessment of taxes under this law, had debts which were not, deducted from their credits, beoause they had norie^ and which were not de- ductedfromthe valuation of the bank shares, because the state law would not permit it to be done. 2. Samb— IiiLBGAX Taxation — Partius — Injunction, �The bank, under the law of the state, is a proper party to institute a suit for the purpose of enjoiningthe collection of taxe? illegally assessed upon shares of its stock in the hands of the respective owners. �HabiiAN, Justice. The object of this suit is to bbtain a perpetuai in- jnnction against the collection of the state, county, road, and school tax assessed in Vanderburgh county, Indiana, for the year 1879, upon the shares, of complainant's stock in the hands of its respective owners. The suit proceeds upon the general ground that some of the provisions of the revenue statute of this state, passed in 1872, and under the authority of which the assessment in question was made, are in confiict with section 5219 of the Bevised Statutes of the United States, which perpiits, as did previous legislation, state taxation of national bank shares, subject to two restrictions, one of which is that such taxation "shall not be at a greater rate than is assessed upon other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens of such state." Some of the papers connected with the valuation of these shares indicate an assessment against the bank itself ; but an examination of all the papers satisfies me that the assessment waa intended to be, not against the bank, in its corporate capaoity, but against the several shareholders, upon the shares held by them re- spectively. Still, the right 'of the bank to institute the present suit cannot be dbubted. The state law imposes upon the bank officers the duty to retain, out of dividends belonging to the respective share- holders, a sum sufficient to meet the taxes assessed upon their shares; and the law further subjects the officer, who pays dividends to a ��� �