Apple Valley Red-E-Mix, Inc. v. State Ex Rel. Department of Public SafetyApple Valley Red-E-Mix, Inc. v. State Ex Rel. Department of Public Safety
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- Before:
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The Minnesota Department of Public Safety appeals from an order for judgment entered by the Dakota County District Court declaring that the two-wheeled units operated by Apple Valley Red-E-Mix, Inc. (hereafter Red-E-Mix) are “trailers” within the meaning of
Red-E-Mix is a Minnesota corporation which produces and transports ready-mix cement and owns and operates 100 trucks with cement mixers mounted on the truck chassis. Approximately 50-60 of these trucks are equipped with a metal unit mounted on two wheels and attached to the rear of the trucks. The unit primarily serves to extend the wheelbase of the truck in order to carry a portion of the weight of the ready-mix cement (up to 12,000 pounds) which is loaded in the chassis drum. The unit is also designed and used for carrying rakes, shovels, and ready-mix chutes which weigh between 850 and 1,000 pounds. It is not motorized or self-propelled but is designed to be drawn by another towing vehicle to which it is attached with u-bolts and spot-welding. A separate steering system aids the handling of the unit around corners. Hydraulic lifts located in the cab of the cement mixer truck are employed to raise the unit up off the road surface. The pressure controls on the hydraulic lift are located outside the truck and, by law, must be preset so that the weight carried by the unit cannot be varied by the operator during transit.
For the past 7 years, the State of Minnesota has considered the units to be “trailers” for registration and taxation purposes under
The two statutes involved in this controversy are Minn.Stat. ch. 168, the Motor Vehicle Registration, Taxation, Sales and Dealers Act, and Minn.Stat. ch. 168, the Highway Traffic Regulation Act. In
There is no definition for “variable load axle”, or any other type of axle, to be found within chapter 168, the tax and registration statute. However, chapter 169, the regulation statute, defines three different types of axles.
See
Rather, the critical issue in this case is a legal question and one of statutory construction. The lower court held it was not inconsistent to tax the unit as a “trailer” under chapter 168 and to regulate it as a “variable load axle” under chapter 169. Because the language in each statute is unambiguous, we must determine if chapter 168 and chapter 169 must be construed together. If they must be applied in a complementary manner, as the state urges, then the most particular and more recent enactment of the chapter 169 definition of “variable weight axle”
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must prevail under accepted canons of statutory construction.
See
The general rule is that statutes in pari materia should be construed together.
Ausman v. Hoffmann,
208 Minn. 13, 17, 292 N.W. 421, 423 (1940). Statutes “in pari materia” are those relating to the same person or thing or having a common purpose. Black’s Law Dictionary (rev. 5th ed. 1979). The cases in Minnesota applying this rule to chapter 169 have all involved separate sections within the Highway Traffic Regulation Act.
See Martinco v. Hastings,
265 Minn. 490, 495-96 n. 2, 122 N.W.2d 631, 637-638 n. 2 (1963) (statutes dealing with rights and duties of emergency vehicle operators must be’ construed together);
Rogers v. Minneapolis Street Railway Co.,
218 Minn. 454, 458, 16 N.W.2d 516, 518 (1944) (“All the statutory provisions cited are part of the highway traffic regulation act * * * and consequently should be construed together.”)
In contrast, chapter 168 is a registration and taxation statute. Its purposes are different from those of the regulation statute and there is precedent for construing taxation statutes wholly separately from statutes involving the police powers. See, e.g., Jefferson Highway Transportation Co. v. City of St. Cloud, 155 Minn. 463, 466-67, 193 N.W. 960, 961 (1923) (license issued by the state under the statute granting taxation, licensing or registration authority evidenced the payment of a property tax, and was not a police measure as was the licensing and regulation of cabs by the city under ordinance). See also City of Duluth v. Northland Greyhound Lines, 236 Minn. 260, 266-67, 52 N.W.2d 774, 778 (1952) (describing the precursor to chapter 168 as both a property tax and a privilege tax; a property tax in lieu of other taxes and a privilege tax imposed for using, building and maintaining the public highways).
In
Anderson v. Lappegaard,
302 Minn. 266, 268, 224 N.W.2d 504, 506 (1974), we discussed the interaction between chapters 168 and 169. The owner of a truck carrier service was held liable under
Second, as in
As the trial court declared, it is highly unlikely that if the legislature intended to change this unit’s status as a trailer for taxation purposes, it would have approached the problem by adding a definition in a separate regulatory statute.
The Iowa Supreme Court described the purpose of Iowa’s axle weight regulation
The necessity for legislation limiting the axle load on trucks is very definitely shown in the report of the Maryland Truck Weight Commission to the 1951 General Assembly of that state. The findings of the commission were the result of a study made of the effect of the driving of trucks of varying axle loads on a particular strip of pavement in that state.
State v. Balsley, 242 Iowa 845, 847, 48 N.W.2d 287, 288 (1951). The court further declared that the apparent purpose of the statute was to prevent the overloading of trucks and the resulting deterioration of the paving, as well as to avoid danger to persons traveling on the highways. 242 Iowa at 850, 48 N.W.2d at 290. Accord Ross v. Alexander, 74 Mich.App. 666, 670-71, 254 N.W.2d 605, 607 (1977) (per curiam). While it can be said that this purpose can be accomplished by both a registration ahd a regulation statute, the Pennsylvania court in Commonwealth v. Dunn, 478 Pa. 35, 385 A.2d 1299 (1978), discriminated between “highway safety overweight” and “registration fee overweight” and held that “[o]ne could, of course, be in violation of both sections simultaneously.” 478 Pa. at 43, 385 A.2d at 1302.
The differing purposes of the two statutes, the lack of an explicit statutory mandate to construe the sections together and precedent for construing taxation statutes separately from other provisions of law argue for affirmance of the trial court’s holding. The unit is clearly a “trailer” within the chapter 168 definition. “We think that the statute is unambiguous, but even if it is open to two constructions the applicable rule is that it must be construed in favor of the taxpayer.” Mondale v. Commissioner of Taxation, 263 Minn. 121, 126, 116 N.W.2d 82, 86 (1962). Accord Charles W. Sexton Company v. Hatfield, 263 Minn. 187, 195, 116 N.W.2d 574, 580 (1962) (“We are not permitted to extend the scope of a tax-levying statute beyond the clear meaning of the language used.”) (Footnote omitted.) As we stated in Martinco, “[i]f there is to be a change in the statute, it must come from the legislature, for the courts cannot supply that which the legislature purposely omits or inadvertently overlooks.” 265 Minn, at 497, 122 N.W.2d at 638. (Citation omitted.)
The decision of the trial court that the two-wheeled units are trailers under
Affirmed.
Notes
. The “variable load axle” definition was enacted in 1981.
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