Mayor of Havre De Grace v. Rouse

Pattison, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The question presented by this appeal involves the proper apportionment and distribution between the City of Havre de Grace and Harford County, Md., of the one per cent, tax on bank stock paid by the residents of said city. Section 167 of article 81 of the Code of 1924, or chapter 797 of the Acts of 1914, as amended by chapters 294 of the Acts of 1918, and 64 of the Acts of 1920, provides that upon the value “of the shares of stock of any bank, state or national, and trust company, located and doing business in this state” shall be paid a tax of “one per cent, and no1 more, in all for all county, city and municipal taxation, which said tax shall be distributed among the different jurisdictions entitled to tax the said shares, in the proportion which the rate of each jurisdiction bears to the aggregate of the rate of such jurisdictions, and said tax shall be in lieu of all other taxes whatsoever, for couuty and municipal purposes upon the shares of stock and the owners of stock in such banks or trust companies.” In the charter of Havre de Grace, chapter 680, section 359, of the Acts of 1916, is found the following provision: “The County Commissioners shall be relieved from the care of the roads, streets and alleys within the corporate limits of the City of Havre de Grace and the care of the same shall be transferred to the Mayor and 'City Council of Havre de Grace; and in consideration of said transfer all the property within the corporate limits of said city shall hereafter be exempt from taxation for public, district or county road pur ²¹⁹ poses outside of said corporate limits; but nothing in this section contained shall be construed as preventing or prohibiting the said County Commissioners of Harford County from making appropriations out of the general levy of the county for the use of the corporation of Havre de Grace or from levying for the same.” Heretofore the whole of this tax has each year been paid to the treasurer of Harford County, who has apportioned and distributed it between the county and the city, using as a basis for computation the county rate outside of the City of Havre de Grace for each of said years. This apportionment, as claimed by the city, was not made in compliance with section 167 of article 81 of the Code, considered in connection with the above stated provisions of its charter, its contention being that it was not the county rate outside of the City of Havre de Grace, but the county rate within the city, that should have been considered and used in apportioning the tax between the city and the county, and it was to recover the balance of the tax claimed to be owing for the years 3922, 1923, and 1924-, as a result of the alleged wrongful apportionment made in each of those years, that the suit in this case was brought by the city against the treasurer of Harford County.

The ease was tried by the court, sitting as a j ury, and, at the conclusion of the trial, the court was asked by the plaintiff “to rule as a matter of law that the basis for the computation of the amount of taxes due the plaintiff and the defendant, and collected by the defendant upon the shares of stock of banks and trust companies under the authority of section 167 of article 81 of the Code of Public General Laws, in which said plaintiff is entitled to share, shall be the aggregate of the tax rate of Harford County imposed upon property in the City of