In re ASSESSMENT OF AMAZON FIRE INS. CO.

In re ASSESSMENT OF AMAZON FIRE INS. CO.
1918 OK 74
173 P. 655
67 Okla. 312
Case Number: 8193
Decided: 02/12/1918
Supreme Court of Oklahoma

Syllabus

¶0 1. Taxation--Graduated Registration Tax on Mortgages -- Exemption -- Constitutional Provisions.
Section 2, c. 246, Session Laws 1913, p. 684, providing that all mortgages of real property situated in this state, which are taxed by the act, and the debts and obligations which they secure, shall be exempt from ad valorem and all other taxation, the act substituting in lieu thereof a graduated registration tax on the mortgage, and the mortgaged real property being subject to ad valorem taxation at its full value, is not an exemption of property from taxation as prohibited by article 5, & 50 (Williams' § 140) of the Constitution.
2. Taxation--Ad Valorem Tax--Constitutional Provisions.
Article 10, § 8 (Williams' sec. 278) of the Constitution does not require that all property shall be taxed ad valorem, but only that property shall be assessed at its fair cash value, estimated at the price it would bring at a fair voluntary sale, when it is taxed ad valorem.
3. Taxation--Moneyed Capital of Corporation--Value of Realty Mortgages--Deduction.
The value of mortgages of real property and the debts and obligations which they secure, owned and held by a corporation, subject to and upon which the mortgage registration tax has been paid, should not be included in the computation of the value of the moneyed capital, surplus, and undivided profits of the corporation for assessment for ad valorem taxation.

Error from District Court Pottawatomie County; Chas. B. Wilson, Jr., Judge.

In the matter of the assessment of the Amazon Fire Insurance Company, a domestic corporation, for the year 1915. From the assessment fixed by the county board of equalization, the company appealed, and from a judgment of the district court fixing the assessment, the State appeals. Judgment and order affirmed.

Chas. W. Friend, Co. Atty. of Pottawatomie County, for the State.
Stanard, Wahl & Ennis, for appellee.
Chas. B. Selby, Co. Atty., of Oklahoma County, and Porter H. Morgan, Asst. Co. Atty., amici curiae.

MILEY, J.

¶1 Upon appeal by the Amazon Fire Insurance Company, a domestic corporation, from the assessment of its moneyed capital, surplus and undivided profits as fixed by the county board of equalization, the district court held that, under the provisions of chapter 246, Session Laws 1913, p. 684, the mortgage securities on real estate in the state of Oklahoma owned by the corporation, subject to and on which the registration tax provided by that act had been paid, were exempt from ad valorem taxation, and that the corporation was entitled to the benefit of the exemption in the computation of the assessment on its moneyed capital, surplus, and undivided profits, and rendered judgment, fixing the assessment accordingly. From this judgment an appeal is prosecuted on behalf of the state.

¶2 The only questions raised by appellant in this court are: First, that the portion of the act exempting such mortgages from ad valorem taxation is unconstitutional and void; and, second, that the corporation is not entitled to the benefit of the exemption in computing the assessment on the net value of the moneyed capital, surplus, and undivided profits. Both questions have been this day decided by this court adversely to the contention of appellant in the Matter of the Assessment of the Oklahoma National Life Insurance Company, 68 Okla. 219, 173 P. 376. The able briefs and arguments of the counsel in this case, and also of the amici curiae, were considered by the court in that case, and upon the authority thereof, the judgment and order of the court below is affirmed.