Fiction for fact;[News items];

              64 HASKINS & SELLS August
Fiction for Fact
A RECENT New York decision tends
to clarify the atmosphere somewhat
with regard to shares of stock without par
value. It appears that the State Tax Com­mission,
in an action brought by the Ter­minal
and Town Taxi Corporation, con­tended
that shares of stock without par
value should, for purposes of taxation, be
valued at $100 a share. Judge Kellogg of
the Supreme Court, Appellate Division,
decided on July 6, 1922, "the assumption
that non-par value stock has a value of
$100 per share for purposes of the license
tax (section 181) is unwarranted, and the
provision that for purposes of the minimum
franchise tax (section 214) non-par value
stock shall be deemed to have a face value
of $100, is unconstitutional."
In the case decided, Terminal and Town
Taxi Corporation vs. Tax Commission of
the State of New York, the plaintiff con­tended
for a value of $8.55 per share in­stead
of $100 per share. The Terminal and
Town Taxi Corporation was a foreign cor­poration
doing business within the State of
New York. It had an authorized capital
stock of 15,000 shares preferred, par value
$100, and 23,500 shares of common, with­out
par value. Of the preferred stock, only
6,947 shares at $100 were issued. The
amount paid in for these shares was $694,-
700. Of the common stock, 13,837 shares
were issued, and the amount received
therefor was $117,500, or about $8.55 per
share. Although the total paid-in capital
was $812,200, the State Tax Commission,
in computing both the license tax and the
minimum franchise tax, used as a basis in
each instance the sum of $2,078,400 as
representing the capital of the company
employed within the state, and in arriving
at the tax the commission considered the
common stock as having a value of $100
per share.
Mr. Page Lawrence has been appointed
by the president of the Kansas City Cham­ber
of Commerce to serve on a committee
which will organize a cost accountants'
group of the Chamber and plan future
activities for the group.
We note with pleasure that Mr. A. W.
Hauge, of the staff of the Minneapolis
Office, has successfully passed the C. P. A.
examinations held by the Minnesota State
Board of Accountancy in May, 1922.
Mr. C. M. Withus of the New York
Broad Street staff has been transferred to
the Havana Office, effective July 15, 1922.
PRESS OF WILLIAM GREEN, NEW YORK