United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

People v. Weaver, 100 U.S. 539 (1879)

People v. Weaver

100 U.S. 539

Syllabus

1. The provision in sec. 5219 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, that state taxation on the shares of any national banking association shall not be at a greater rate than is assessed on other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens of the state, has reference to the entire process of assessment, and includes the valuation of the shares as well as the rate of percentage charged thereon.

2. The statute of a state, therefore, which establishes a mode of assessment by which such shares are valued higher in proportion to their real value than other moneyed capital, is in conflict with that section, although no greater percentage is levied on such valuation than on that of other moneyed capital.

3. The statutes of New York which permit a party to deduct his just debts from the valuation of all his personal property, except so much thereof as consists of such shares, tax them at a greater rate than other moneyed capital, and are therefore void as to them.

The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court.

Mr. George F. Edmunds and Mr. Matthew Male for the plaintiff in error.