77 Pa. Commw. 575 | Pa. Commw. Ct. | 1983
Memorandum Opinion by
Petitioner, American Trucking Associations, Inc. and two foreign-based motor carriers,
On June 18,1980, Title 75 of the Vehicle Code was amended by Section 4 of the Act 1980-68 which added, inter alia, the requirement that an identification marker be affixed to every motor carrier vehicle subject to the provisions of the Motor Carriers Road Tax Act (Act).
Before Section 1 of the Act of December 8, 1982, P.L. 842, No. 234 amended Section 2102(b) of the Vehicle Code lowering the marker decal fee to $5.00 effective April 1, 1983,
(b) Pee. — The fee for issuance of an identification marker shall be $25, except that for vehicles registered in this Commonwealth, the vehicle identification marker fee shall be deemed a part of and included in the vehicle registration fee.
The marker decal levy is a tax imposed for the privilege of using Pennsylvania roads. One-fifth of the tax pays the administrative costs of issuing a decal, the remainder is expended for highway maintenance and construction. Unlike the owners of foreign-registered vehicles who actually paid the $25.00 marker decal fee for 1981 and 1982 (payments totaled ap-. proximately ten million dollars in 1981), owners of
Petitioners assert that the Legislature by “deeming” the marker decal fee to be part of and included in the Pennsylvania vehicle registration fee, intended to impose the full tax burden on Petitioners and their class, and therefore exempt the owners of Pennsylvania-registered vehicles from paying the tax. Section 2101(b), Petitioners contend, is therefore unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, Art. 1, §8, and the Privileges and Immunities Clause, Art. IY, §2, in that the provision facially discriminates against foreign-registered vehicles, and in favor of Pennsylvania-registered vehicles, by exempting the latter from any financial burden under the marker decal fees system. Respondents assert that since Act 1980-68 introduced the $25.00 marker decal fee and increased registration fees for the different weight classes of motor carrier vehicles by varying amounts, each of which exceeded the $25.00 marker fee amount, Section 2102(b) passes constitutional muster. The contemporaneous legislative history of Act 1980-68 and Respondents consistent interpretation of the marker decal fee requirement as raising revenue solely from foreign-registered vehicles, however, belies this contention.
A review of the contemporaneous legislative history
Senate Bill No. 10 (Printer’s No. 965), the precursor of Act 1980-68, when first reported from the Transportation Committee on June 25, 1979, significantly raised registration fees without including a marker decal fee provision. When the $25.00 marker decal fee requirement was first introduced in Senate Bill No. 10 (Printer’s No. 1834), as reported from Conference Committee on May 27,1980, not only were the registration fees not increased to reflect the added marker decal fee requirement, but the registration fees for vehicles of two weight classes were actually decreased.
Further, the Respondents have consistently interpreted Section 2102(b) as raising revenue exclusively from out-of-state carriers. By stipulation, marker decal fee revenues for the year beginning April 1, 1981, equalled $10,553,654.00. (Stipulation of Fact No. 70.) This amount is roughly equivalent to the sum total of marker decal expenditures by Petitioners and their class for that period.
It is apparent from the contemporaneous legislative history that the Legislature intended to exclusively tax foreign-registered vehicles, and from the Stipulation of Facts that the Commonwealth has treated the marker decal tax receipts as coming solely from out-of-state carriers. Section 2102(b), therefore,
A state tax on interstate commerce does not offend the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, Art. 1, §8, if that tax [1] is applied to an activity with a substantial nexus with the taxing state, [2] is fairly apportioned, [3] does not discriminate against interstate commerce, and [4] is fairly related to the services provided by the state. Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Brady, 430 U.S. 274 (1977). Section 2102(b) facially fails the third prong of the Complete Auto standard which prohibits discrimination against interstate commerce. Notwithstanding legislative legerdemain in the insertion of the obfuscating term Adeemed,” Pennsylvania-registered vehicles were exempted from, and foreign-registered vehicles were subject to, the marker decal fee. “The commerce clause forbids discrimination, whether forthright or ingenious.” Best & Co. v. Maxwell, 311 U.S. 454, 455 (1940) (footnote omitted).
Since Section 2102(b) facially discriminates against foreign-registered vehicles and in favor of Pennsylvania-registered vehicles in violation of the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, Petitioners’ additional arguments need not be addressed.
OrdíBE,
And Now, this 17th day of October, 1983, it is hereby declared that the $25.00 identification marker fee imposed upon interstate motor carrier vehicles pursuant to Section 2102(b) of the Vehicle Code, 75 Pa. C. S. §2101 (b), violates the Commerce Clause to the United States Constitution.
Refunds of payments for identification markers for the year beginning April 1, 1982, shall proceed
By order of Judge MacPhail, dated May 18, 1982, Petitioners were certified as representative parties to a class action. Petitioners’ class was defined as “all interstate carriers whose motor cárrier vehicles are registered outside of Pennsylvania and are subject to the road tax identification marker requirement of Section 2102 of the Vehicle .Code and who now or may in the future become liable for payment of the yearly marker fee of $25.00 on account of such motor carrier vehicles.”
Petitioners were also certified to represent a subclass of affected “interstate carriers whose motor carrier vehicles are registered in any of the states or provinces with which Pennsylvania has entered into bilateral apportioned registration reciprocity agreements.”
A “motor carrier vehicle” is defined as “[a] truck, truck tractor or combination having a gross weight or registered gross weight in excess of 17,000 pounds.” Section 102 of the Vehicle Code, as amended, 75 Pa. C. S. §102.
Act of June 19, 1964, P.L. 7, as amended, 72 P.S. §§2617.1-2617-26, The Motor Carriers Road Tax is a levy on certain liquid
Petitioners do not challenge the constitutionality of Section 2102(b), as amended, which imposes a $5.00 marker fee, because the amount equals the stipulated cost of administering the marker decal system.
Section 1921(c)(7) of the Statutory Construction Act, 1 Pa. C. S. §1921 (e)(7), permits resort to the contemporaneous legislative history of an act when, as here, the words of a statute are not explicit.
The registration fees for vehicles weighing between 21,001-26,000 pounds and 68,001-73,280 pounds were decreased by $2.00 and $41.00 respectively. (Compare Senate Bill No. 10, Printer’s Nos. 1834 and 1952.)