Spokane & Eastern Trust Co. v. Spokane County

Citations

• 70 Wash. 48
• 126 P. 54
• 1912 Wash. LEXIS 997

Syllabus

<p>Taxation —Constitutional Requirement — Uniformity — Bank Stock — “Property Tax.” The assessment of bank stock for the purposes of general taxation, under Rem. & Bal. Code, § 9134, requiring it to be assessed to the owners thereof at its full and fair value in money, is a property and not an excise tax, and hence is subject to the constitutional requirement that taxes be uniform and equal (overruling Pacific Nat. Bank v. Pierce County, 20 Wash. 675, 56 Pac. 936, and Ridpath v. Spokane County, 23 Wash. 436, 63 Pac. 261).</p> <p>Same — Uniformity—Arbitrariness—Relief—Equity. Const., art. 7, § 2, requiring a uniform and equal rate of assessment and taxation of property, is violated by the assessment of bank stock at 60 per cent of its value, when all other personal property is intentionally, and in pursuance of a fixed and definite policy, assessed at less than forty per cent of its value; and being arbitrary and a constructive fraud upon the rights of the property holder discriminated against, equity will grant relief.</p>