Majority
Headnote
1. Collateral inheritance tax—Law regulating taxation ot corporations—R. S., PART 1, CHAP. 13, TIT. 1, § 1.—The collateral inheritance tax act, chapter 713, of the Laws of 1887, among other things, subjects to its provisions all property which shall pass by will to any “ body politic or corporate * * * other than to * * * "the societies corporations and institutions now exempted by law from taxation.”
Stephen M. Buckingham, a resident of Dutchess county, ■died December 1, 1887, leaving a will by which he gave a legacy of $50,000 to Trinity College, a Connecticut corporation incorporated in 1823, located at Hartford in that state, and a legacy of $10,000 to the St. Paul’s Protestant Episcopal Church of Poughkeepsie, a religious society in this ■state, incorporated under the general act for the incorporation of religious societies passed in 1813. The sole question is whether these corporations were at the time of the passage of the act of 1887, “exempted by law from taxation,” within the meaning of that act. There is no exemption from taxation of the property of religious corporations organized under the act of 1813, by any provision in the act of incorporation, and the property of St. Paul’s Church has not been exempted by any special statute.
By a law of the state of Connecticut, passed in 1882, Trinity College is exempted from taxation on the principal .and income of its invested funds, and on its real estate, within certain limits measured by income. In determining "the question presented, it will be convenient in the first instance to regard Trinity College as a domestic corporation, governed in respect to its liability to tax-ation, by the same -rules which apply to incorporated colleges in this state, not ■specially exempted from taxation by their charters or special acts. The law regulating the taxation of corporations, in the absence of special legislation, is to be found in the general statutes of the state. The general rule of taxation is declared in section 1, title 1, chapter 13, part 1 of the Revised Statutes' That section declares that “all lands and all personal estate within the state, whether ■owned by individuals or by corporations, shall be liable to taxation, subject to the exemptions hereinafter specified.” By this section all the real and personal estate of corporations is taxable, unless exempted in whole or in part by subsequent provisions of the chapter. When, therefore, a corporation not exempted from a taxation by its charter, or .some special enactment, but governed by the general law, claims exemption, it must be able to point to some provision in chapter 13, or to some amendment which takes it out of the general rule declared in section 1, or else its claim must be disallowed. The counsel for the defendant, con-ceding this to be the rule, insists that the personal property ■of incorporated colleges and religious societies in this state, .is exempted from taxation by the seventh subdivision of
It must follow, therefore, if" incorporated colleges, churches and elemosynary institutions are “incorporated, companies[1] ’ within the meaning of subdivision seven above quoted, as is claimed by the defendants, then the subdivision operates as an entire and complete exemption from taxation of all the personal property held by such institutions in this state. But on looking at the other subdivisions of section 4, we find -special and limited exemptions of personal property from taxation, which were wholly unnecessary if subdivision seven was intended to have the broad and sweeping construction which is claimed by the defendants. Subdivision three exempts buildings ‘[1] erected fertile use of a college, incorporated academy, or other seminary of learning; every building for public worship; every school house, court house and jail; and the several lots-whereon such buildings are situated, and the furniture belonging to each of them.” Subdivision four exempts- “ every poor house, alms house, house of industry, and, every house belonging to a company incorporated for the-reformation of offenders and the real and personal property belonging to or connected with the same.” Subdivision five exempts “ the real and personal property of every public library.” Subdivision six exempts all stocks owned by the state or by literary or charitable institutions. ” The limited exemptions in subdivisions three and six, and the complete exemptions in subdivisions four and five, of the personal property of incorporated institutions mentioned, was a work of supererogation if the legislature intended by subdivision seven to wholly exempt from taxation the personal property of all such institutions. But-coming more directly to the consideration of subdivision seven, and construing it in the light of the antecedent, legislation in this state on the subject of taxation, and also-in connection with chapter four, to which it refers, we are-of opinion that the words “incorporated companies” used.
The tax system in the Revised Statutes was a revision of previous legislation perfected by additional provisions recommended by the revisers or adopted by the legislature. Prior to the enactment of the Revised Statutes, the general system of taxation was prescribed by chapter 262 of the Laws of 1823. That act contained provisions for the taxation of corporations, which were to a considerable extent embodied in the Revised, Statutes. The second section partially exempted the property of colleges, incorporated academies, and also buildings for public worship, etc., from taxation. The fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth sections provided for the taxation of “ incorporated companies receiving a, regular income from the employment of capital,” ana other business corporations, using the phrase “ incorporated companies ” to designate business corporations only, as is manifest from a reading of these sections.
The general features of the act of 1853, for the taxation •of incorporated companies, were incorporated into the Revised Statutes as title 4, chapter 13. Chapter 4 is entitled, “regulations concerning the assessment of taxes on incorporated companies, and the commutation or collection thereof.” " It is sufficient for our present purpose to say that the general scheme of the legislature, as indicated by the provisions of this title, was to subject all moneyed and stock corporations to taxation on their capital, excepting, howevér, such of those corporations as were not in receipt of any profits or income (§ 9), and also all turnpike, bridge or canal companies, whose net annual income did not exceed fi.ve per cent of the capital stock paid in, or secured to be paid in (§ 12),' and manufacturing and marine insurance companies were permitted to commute their taxes when not in receipt of an actual income of more than five per cent on their capital (§ 11). Having in view this general scheme, it is quite obvious that the phrase “ incorporated companies,” used in the seventh sub-division of section 4, title 1, referred to business corporations which, by the provisions of title 4, were exempted from taxation on their capital because in receipt of no income, "or of income not beyond a certain amount.
These companies, although belonging to the class of moneyed or stock corporations, were not taxable on their capital, or on their stock, and the purpose of subdivision 7 was to exempt their personal property, ce nomine, from taxation, and thereby make the intention to exempt them from .taxation on personal estate in any form clear and unmis
This construction renders the different subdivisions of' section 4, harmonious and consistent. The acts, chapter 654, of the Laws of 1853, and chapter 456 of the Laws of 1857, repealing sections 9, 11 and 12 and other sections of title 4, chapter 13, of the Revised Statutes, greatly restricted the operation of the seventh subdivision of section 4, title 1, but this did not change the construction of the words, “incorporated companies” in that subdivision, or extend their meaning so as to embrace other corporations than those to which they originally referred.
The practical construction by the legislature is in accord with the view that the subdivision does not apply to religious, _ literary, or charitable corporations. The legislature has in numerous instances exempted the real and personal property of particular corporations of this character, from taxation. But this has been done under special laws designating the particular corporation intended to be benefitted.
Reference to a large number of statutes of this character, relating to charitable and other institutions in the city of Rew York, will be found in the valuable compilation of Mr. Davies in his work on “System of Taxation,” at page 288, and the statutes abound in instances of similar legislation affecting charitable and other institutions located in other parts of the state. These special acts were unnecessary so far as they exempted the personal property of the institutions mentioned from taxation, if they were embraced within the phrase, “ incorporated companies,” in subdivision 7 of section 4, title 1, of the Revised Statutes. It has never been the general policy of the state to wholly exempt the property, either real or personal, of incorporated churches, colleges or.charitable institutions from taxation.
There was a limited exemption of real estate and personal property in the Revised Statutes. ' The • policy of complete exemption, where adopted, has been accomplished through special acts applicable to particular and specified corporations. We know of no general statute exempting the personal property of religious societies or colleges from taxation, and we are of opinion that neither St. Paul’s Church nor Trinity College was “exempted by law from taxation” within the collateral inheritance act of 1887.
Trinity College, as has been stated, is exempted from taxation by the law of Connecticut. It has no exemption under the laws of this state, and it seems plain that the words “now exempted by law,” in the act of 1887, refer
We think the judgment is right and it should be affirmed.
All concur.