The individual, unlike the corporation, cannot be taxed for the mere privilege of existing. The corporation is an artificial entity which owes its existence and charter powers to the state; but the individual's rights to live and own property are natural rights for the enjoyment of which an excise cannot be imposed. 26 R. C. L. Taxation § 208, p. 2:16; Cooley Taxation (4th Ed.) § 1676; In re Opinion of the Justices, 18;) Mass. 607, 84 N. IS. 488. Thus when the corporation pays 5 per cent. of its net income to the state in obedience to chapter 427, it has not paid an ad valorem tax based upon the value of its intangibles, or calculated upon the return from such possessions, but has discharged an entirely different tax imposed for a very different reason.
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