Wasson v. First National Bank of Indianapolis. R. Hill, R. N. Lamb, A. L. Mason, R. B. Duncan, J. S. Duncan, C. W. Smith, J. R. Wilson and W. H. H. Miller, for appellee. ZOLLARS, J. It is well settled that this court will not grant a rehearing upon grounds not urged in argument preceding the decisions. Board, etc. v. Center Tp., 105 Ind. 422, and cases there cited. The main question presented by the record in this case is an important one. A rehearing was granted, and an oral argument solicited by the court upon that question. It is now urged that the complaint is technically defective. These objections were not urged in argument prior to the former decision, and as a rehearing would not have been granted on account of them, we think that in this particular case they should not enter into the decision. Without intending to commit the court in the way of a ruling, we may say in passing, that if we were to write upon those questions, as at present advised, we should feel constrained to hold that the objections are not well taken. If however appellant is correct in his contention he may make available what he now urges by way of an answer below. The one important question presented by the record is this: In the assessment and taxation of shares of National bank stock, are the owners thereof having no other credits or moneyed capital from which to deduct their bona fide debts, entitled to deduct them from the assessed value of such shares of stock? The law of this State provides that in the assessment and taxation of what in the statute is denominated credits, the individual tax payer, as owner thereof, may deduct therefrom his bona fide debts, except debts of certain designated classes. R. S. 1881, §§ 6332, 6333, 6336. The first question for decision is: From what credits may such debts be deducted by the individual tax payer, and what does the word "credit" include? The statute further provides that the assessor shall furnish to the tax payer blanks upon which he shall furnish a list of his personal property of every description owned by him on the 1st day of April. R. S. 1881, § 6330. Wasson v. First National Bank of Indianapolis. So far as material here, section 6332 is as follows: "In making out the statement, each person shall put down the credits due and owing from any person or corporation, whether in or out of the county, separately from the rest of his personal property; and every credit for a sum certain, payable either in money or labor, shall be valued at a fair cash value for the sum so payable; and if for any article of property, or for labor or for services of any kind, it shall be valued at the current price of such property, labor or services. In making up the amount of credits which any person is required to list, for himself or for any other person, company or corporation, he shall be entitled to deduct from the gross amount of credits the amount of all bona fide debts owing by such person, company or corporation to any other person, company or corporation, for a consideration received. Nothing in this section shall be so construed as to authorize any deductions allowed by this section to be made from the value of any other item of taxation than credits. In making out the statement he shall also exhibit to the assessor, for the purposes of valuation, a list of all notes, drafts, mortgages and judgments held or owned by him; and he shall also, for the information of the assessor, furnish him with a list containing the number and amount of all United States and State bonds, and notes and other securities of the United States not taxable, held or owned by him on said first day of April." * * * The tax payer is not allowed to temporarily convert his property and money into non-taxable securities for the purpose of escaping taxation. The above provision of the section is perhaps to insure good faith in that regard, by furnishing the assessor some data from which to determine as to whether or not the tax payer, by such conversion, has attempted to evade taxation. See also § 6335. The list furnished to the tax payer has two columns in which to set down the value of the articles of personal property or credits, etc. In one of these the tax payer is required to set down the value, and the other is designed to be used by the assessor for a like purpose. If the value affixed by the tax payer is satisfactory to the assessor he may adopt it; if it is not, he may disregard it, and affix a valuation of his own. It is required by the several sections of the statute, and especially by sections 6330 and 6336, that the tax payer shall put down upon the list furnished to him all of his personal property, including credits due to him, of every description. In putting down "the credits due and owing," the tax payer is not required to itemize, but may put down the sum of them all, and his estimate of their value. In this he may be mistaken, or he may intentionally underestimate their value. Wasson v. First National Bank of Indianapolis. For the purpose of enabling the assessor to detect and correct the wrong, it is provided in the latter part of section 6332, supra, that the tax payer shall exhibit to him a list of all notes, drafts, mortgages and judgments held or owned, etc. These are not to be furnished for the purpose of being listed by the assessor, but for the purpose of valuation. Of course, if the owner has neglected to list them, the assessor may do so, but the law contemplates a listing by the tax payer. This all shows that notes, drafts, mortgages and judgments are all credits within the meaning of that section of the statute, and hence credits from which the designated bona fide debts may be deducted by the tax payer. This, it seems to us, must be plain. The statute also provides the form of the schedule to be furnished by the assessor to the tax payer. § 6336. That schedule is full and specific, and was intended to, and does provide in detail the place and manner of listing for taxation all articles and items of personal property, including moneyed capital and credits of every description. These are to be put down opposite to numbers. The first five numbers or items are as follows: "1. Money on hand, or on deposit within or without this State, subject to my order, check or draft. "2. All moneys loaned by me, either on time or on call. "3. All bonds belonging to me or in which I have any interest, issued by bodies corporate, either within or without this State. "4. All bonds belonging to me or in which I have any interest, issued by public corporations, including State, county, city, town and all other bonds of this class. "5. All shares of stock in any corporation formed outside of this State; and also all shares of stock in any corporation formed in this State, and conducting its business outside of this State." From the above items the schedule makes no provision for deducting the desiguated bona fide debts of the tax payers. It will be observed also that the above items do not include the "credits" mentioned in section 6332, supra; nor do they include "money at interest," except as that may be included in and as meaning the same as money loaned. The only other number or item in the schedule material here is number or item 82, at the close of the schedule, which is as follows: Wasson v. First National Bank of Indianapolis. "82. CREDITS (by which is meant whatever is due to the party from any other person, company or corporation, in the shape of labor, property or money) amounting to..... ....... Less my bona fide indebtedness (substracted from the credits)...... Leaving a residue of credits, amounting to... .$.. .... " This item in the schedule is in perfect harmony with our construction of section 6332, supra, and embraces the same kind of credits, and none other, from which the bona fide debts may be deducted. It does not include the first two items in the schedule, money on hand or on deposit, and money loaned on time or on call, nor does it include the items of bonds and stocks. It therefore includes notes, drafts, mortgages and judgments held or owned by tax payers, except they are to secure money loaned; amounts due them for goods and various manufactured articles sold at wholesale or retail; for materials furnished; for work and labor; for professional services; amounts due upon public improvements; on account of lands sold, and all other credits of every description, due from any person, company or corporation, in the shape of labor, property or money, except amounts due on loans on time or on call. And this is so whether the notes, mortgages, judg ments and the other items of indebtedness draw interest or not. Judgments draw interest under the provisions of our law. As a usual thing, notes and mortgages draw interest, and so, as a general thing, other accounts for goods, raw material and manufactured articles sold, draw interest after the expiration of stated periods of credit. The fact then that the credits may draw interest makes no difference under the schedule and section 6332, supra. Section 6333, at first blush, seems to be in conflict with the above sections as we construe them. That section is by way of a limitation upon deductions to be made by the tax payer. It provides that "No person, company or corporation shall be entitled to any deduction from the amount of any bonds, stocks, money loaned or money at interest," etc. If "money at interest," as used in the section, means any thing different from "money Wasson v. First National Bank of Indianapolis. loaned," if, in other words, it means that because accounts, notes, judgments, etc., may draw interest, they are "money at interest," then clearly the section, that far, is in conflict with the schedule and section 6332, supra. It is a settled rule that in the construction of a statute, all of its various sections and provisions must be construed together, so as to ascertain the intention of the law-makers, and make the statute in all its parts consistent as a whole. Thus construing the statute, we have no doubt that "money at interest" was used as the equiva. lent of "money loaned." In ordinary parlance, "money at interest" has reference more to money loaned than to interest-bearing notes and accounts received for property sold. Section 6273, in giving a definition of the terms "personal estate" and "personal property," as used in the act, provides that they shall include, among other things, all rights, credits, choses in action, all bonds and stocks, all money at interest and all other credits and investments. Here evidently the term "money at interest" does not mean accounts and choses in action drawing interest, but money loaned. In section 6286, the term "money loaned" is used, and not the term "money at interest." Thus the terms "money loaned" and "money at interest" seem to be used in the act as convertible terms. If however there were an irreconcilable conflict between sections 6332 and 6336 which provides the schedule, the latter must govern. The schedule is the summing up and putting in shape for practical use what is provided in the preceding sections. The schedule has heretofore been regarded as controlling. It was so regarded under the Tax Law of 1852, as amended in 1869. Clark v. Carter, 40 Ind. 190. It was so under the Tax Law of 1872. Matter v. Campbell, 71 Ind. 512. It may be observed in passing that the act of 1872 is materially different from the act of 1881. And so the Supreme Court of the United States, in construing the Tax Law of 1872, placed its decision upon the schedule. Evansville Bank v. Britton, 105 U. S. 322; ante 48. Upon an examination of the whole statute, we are clearly of the opinion that the individual tax payer may deduct his bona fide debts, of the class designated in the act, from all his moneyed capital and credits, except from the classes specified in the first |