Lebanon Valley Farmers Bank v. Commonwealth

I respectfully dissent, as I would find that the Bank Shares Tax’s combination provision violates tax uniformity insofar as it has been interpreted to exclude out-of-state banks. I would not, however, affirm the Commonwealth Court’s decision, as I believe that its attempt to resolve the infirmity also leads to a non-uniform taxing scheme. Rather, I would construe the combination provision to subsume mergers with in-state or out-of-state banks equally. My reasoning follows.

Under Pennsylvania’s Uniformity Clause, see Pa. Const. art. VIII, § 1 (requiring all taxes to be uniform upon the same…