Crown Cork & Seal Co. v. State

Citations

• 87 Md. 687
• 53 L.R.A. 417

Syllabus

<p>Taxation—Patent Rights—Assessment of Shares of Stock in Corporations— Constitutional Law.</p> <p>Under the provisions of Code, Art. 81, relating to the taxation of shares of stock in corporations, the Tax Commissioner is directed to deduct from the aggregate value of all the shares, the assessed value of the real estate owned by the corporation, to divide the residuum by the number of shares, and the quotient is declared to be the taxable value of each share. The tax in such case is not levied upon the stock itself nor upon the corporation, but upon the owners of the shares, although the officers of the corporation are required to collect it. The shares are assessed according to their value without regard to what particular property or rights create that value.</p> <p>The fact that the capital stock of a corporation is principally invested in patent rights granted by the United States does not exempt the owners of the shares of stock from taxation upon the real value of such shares, or entitle them to claim that the value of the patents should be deducted from the aggregate value of the shares.</p> <p>A State tax levied upon the shareholders in a corporation owning patent rights, according to the value of the shares, is not in violation of the Constitution of the United States, Art. i, sec. 8, by which the Congress is authorized to promote the progress of science by securing for a limited time to inventors the exclusive right to their inventions.</p>