Salisbury Permanent Building & Loan Ass'n v. County Commissioners of Wicomico County

Citations

• 86 Md. 615
• 39 A. 425
• 1898 Md. LEXIS 14

Syllabus

<p>Taxation—Building Association—Deduction of Mortgage Investments from, Assessment of Shares of Stock—Amending Charter— Finality of Valuation of Shares of Stock by Tax Commissioner.</p> <p>The charter of the appellant, a building association organized under the general law, was afterwards amended and its powers enlarged by a special Act of Assembly. Under Code, Art. 23, sec. 99, the shares of stock of building associations incorporated under the general law were exempt from taxation to the extent of their investments in mortgages on real or leasehold property, but this exemption did not apply to corporations created by the special Acts. Part of the mortgages in which the funds of the appellant were invested were those authorized by Code, Art. 23, sec. 99, and another part were mortgages authorized by the special Act. The Tax Commissioner and the Board of Appeal assessed the shares of stock of the appellant for taxation, under Code, Art. 81, secs. 141, &c., but it did not appear specifically what mortgages of the appellant were deducted from the assessment, because exempt. Upon a bill to restrain the collection of the taxes so assessed, Held,</p> <p>1st. That so far as the appellant’s powers under the special Act are concerned, it is not a building association formed under the general law, and is not entitled to the exemption from taxation given to such building associations.</p> <p>2nd. That the investments of the appellant in mortgages of the description mentioned in the general law are not taxable, and the amount represented by them in the stock of the corporation must be deducted from the assessed value of the stock, but that mortgages not of this character should not be deducted.</p> <p>3rd, That in the absence of proof that the proper deduction was not made by the Tax Commissioner, the Court cannot assume that an error was committed.</p> <p>Under Code, Art. 81, secs. 141, &c., providing for the valuation of the shares of stock of corporations for taxation by t