COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY. XXV

the stockholders. A tax upon this capital is a tax upon the Bank,
and we have held that where the capital was invested in the securities
of the Government, it could not be taxed, nor could the corporation
be taxed as the owner of such securities.

On the other hand, we have held that the shareholders or stockhol-
ders by which is meant the same thing, may lie taxed by the States, on
stock or shares so held by them, although all the capital of the Bank
be invested in Federal securities, provided the taxation does not vio-
late the rules prescribed by the Act of 1864."

The principle in these cases is, that the exemption of the capital,
which is the property of the corporation, does not exempt the shares
of the capital stock from being taxed as the property of the stockhol-
ders. And why ? Because the ownership is not identical. A tax on
the stockholders is not a tax on the corporation, and it follows for the
same reason, that a tax on the corporation or its property is not a tax
on the stockholder,

If a tax on the one is not a tax on the other, then the exemption of
the one is not an exemption of the other. The propositions are con-
vertible. And so the Supreme Court has decided in several cases,
besides those above referred to. All exemptions must necessarily have
reference to the person who is liable for the tax. If then a tax upon
the corporation is not a tax on the stockholder, it follows that the ex-
emption of the shareholders from taxation on their shares of stock
does not work an exemption of the corporation from taxation on its
property or business. This principle of law has the sanction of the
highest Courts in England and the United States, and has been
recognized and acted upon repeatedly by the Legislature of this
State.

I have endeavored to show from the plain meaning of the Declara-
tion of Rights, that it is the owner of property who is taxed in this
State, and not the property itself. That the latter is only the measure
by which to arrive at each person's taxes, because he receives protec-
tion from Government, in proportion to the amount of the material
interests he has to be protected, Whoever, therefore, is the owner of
property, is liable under our Declaration of Rights, to the payment of
taxes by reason of that ownership, and the Supremo Court says in the
case above quoted, that, as to the property of an incorporated Com-
pany, "the corporation is the sole owner."

For these reasons I have insisted that whatever may be the claims
of the stockholders of these large companies, to exemption from taxa-
tion on their shares of stock, the corporations themselves have not