Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 6.djvu/431

 ALBANI CITY NAT. BANK i;. MAHER. 419 �other taxation upon their stock and personal property in such corporations, while the act for the taxation of banks provides for a tax upon the shareholders, and an assesement on the value of the shares, and its operation is to impose a much heavier tax ; and the bill alleges that the stockholders of the complainant are now taxed under that act at the rate of $3.60 on the par value of their shares, making the tax of ail the stockholders of the bank the sum of $9,191, while under the general act the tax of ail the stockholders would be but $450. �The national banking act permits the shares in any national bank to be inoluded in the valuation of the personal property of the owner of such shares for the purposes of tax- ation under the laws of the state where the bank is loeated, but grants this right of taxation subject to the restriction that -the taxation "shall not be at a greater rate than is assessed upon other moneyed capital in the hands of indi- vidual citizens of such state;" and the true construction of this restriction is that it prohibits an assessment based upon a valyation which discriminates unfairly against bank shares, and is not merely intended to secure equality in the rate of the tax after the assessment bas been made. People V. Weaver, 100 TJ. S. 539, If, therefore, the laws of this state prescribe one mode of assessment for the moneyed capital of individuals invested in ordinary corporations and joint-stock companies, and another for that invested in national banks, the practical resuit of which is to impose a higher assessment and heavier tax upon the latter, these laws are encountered by the restriction upon the taxing power of the state which the laws of the United States have prescribed. But I am of opinion that the complainant can- not prevail upon this theory, and that shareholders in na- tional banks are not subjected to a discrimination or rule of assessment which does not obtain as to stockholders in other corporations, because the act for the taxation of corporations generally does not exempt individuals from assessment or taxation upon their personal property or moneyed capital invested in the shares of such corporations. This act exempts ��� �