66 So. 47 | Ala. | 1914
In the case of Dauphine & La Fayette Street Railway Co. v. Kennerly, 74 Ala. 583, this court, speaking through Brickell, C. J., said r “It is an undoubted proposition that the burden of taxation, whether it be state or municipal, ought to- fall equally upon all persons, natural or artificial, who may be subject to it. ‘Taxation is the rule; exemption the exception.’—Cooley on Taxation, 146. When therefore it is claimed that by legislation any species of property, whether it be the property of natural persons, or of cor
While the above rule was announced in a case which was narrower than the one now presented, the quoted language evolves a safe and sound doctrine which our courts can, in cases presenting questions similar to the one now under consideration, follow with safety. In the instant case domestic insurance companies are claiming a commutation of taxes which are accorded to no other class of corporations in this state. Domestic insurance companies are, by the express words of our statutes, accorded commutation of taxes which are not ac
In the case of Louisiana Ry. & Nav. Co. v. Modere, supra, the Supreme Court of Louisiana construed a statute which provided that “there shall be exempt from taxation for a period of ten years from the date of it-s completion, any railroad or part of railroad that shall have' been constructed and completed subsequently to January 1st, 1905, and prior to January 1st, 1909,” and declared that the general temporary exemption includes all ad valorem taxes, but not local assessments, such as
The other cases which appear above as being taken from appellee’s brief have been by us carefully examined, and they do no more than construe statues which “exempt from taxation” the property of certain citizens —as soldiers of the line, etc., and in each instance the substance of the conclusion of the court was that the word “tax” is broad enough to cover state, county, and municipal taxes, and that the word would be so construed when the Legislature intended to use that word in its broad sense. In this state the rule is as we have above declared it to be, subject to the statement that when the court is called upon to construe a clause or provision in a revenue bill, as all of its sections and provisions became the law at the same time, the whole bill should be read, and each provision should be construed “as continuous sections of the same act, each in harmony with the others, so as to give effect to each without rendering nugatory any other if practical. The general rule, almost universal, in the interpretation of statutes in pari materia, is that the legislative intent, collected from all the statutes relating to the same subject, shall
In addition to this, it must he remembered that the presumption “against absurdity in the provision of a legislative enactment is probably a more powerful guide to its construction than even the presumption against unreason, inconvenience, or injustice.” — Endlich on the Interpretation of Statutes, § 264.
Section 4 of the present Revenue Bill (Acts 1911, pp. 163, 164) provides that: “Domestic insurance companies shall pay only one dollar less said return premiums on each one hundred dollars of gross premiums so- received by it in this state, and any such domestic insurance company paying a taw on its property or shares, may deduct the same from this tax.”
We have italicized that part of the quoted provision which is of interest in this case, and in this connection we may as well, at this point, direct attention to- the fact that in the above-quoted provision the Legislature was dealing with a privilege tax exacted by the state for the privilege of doing business in the state. Taxes are the equivalent paid the state for protection, and in the quoted clause the Legislature was dealing with that feature of taxation which pertains to the state. It was not then dealing with county or municipal taxes, but only with the amount which should be paid, to the state by domestic insurance companies for the privilege of doing business in the state and of having the right to demand by reason of that privilege that protection be accorded to them under its laws. As domestic insurance companies are domiciled in the state and for that reason are likely, in addition to paying a license tax, to pay to the state ad valorem taxes on their property,
Section 33-F of the Revenue Bill, which confers upon counties the authority to levy certain privilege taxes, thus refers directly to section 4 of the same bill. The two sections, by the exact terms of said section 33-F must be read together, or to be more specific, the above-quoted clause from section 4 of the Revenue Bill must be read into section 33-F of. said bill, and which section is an entirely new provision to our Revenue Law.
In addition to the above, section 4 of the Revenue Bill confers authority upon cities and towns in which a domestic insurance company does business to also1 lay a certain privilege tax upon such companies, and this provision must be read in connection with the clause which provides for the state premium tax. It may not also- be inappropriate to call attention to the fact that the right of the state, of each of its counties in which a domestic insurance company owns tangible property, and of each town and city in which it owns such property to lay an ad valorem tax upon such property is recognized and provided for by our revenue laws. If then we were to adopt the argument of appellee as the basis upon which to rest our conclusions, we would convict the Legislature of the absurdity of providing a state privilege tax and then providing a commutation of such tax by the ad
3. Appellee takes, as a handle for the argument that “a tax,” as used in the above-quoted clause, means ad valorem taxes paid the state, the counties, and, as to that matter, the cities and towns of the state, the fact that section 4570 of the Code of 1907, which was superseded by the Revenue Bill of 1911, provided that any insurance company paying “to the state a tax on its property or shares may deduct the same from this tax.” In other words, says appellee, the law, previous to the adoption of the present Revenue Bill, expressly limited the commutation under consideration to- state taxes, and, as the express limitation fixed by the words “to the state” does not appear in the present Revenue Bill, it must be presumed that the Legislature must be held to
In our opinion, therefore, the trial court, upon the agreed statement of the facts, committed reversible error in rendering judgment against the appellant. The judgment of the court below should have been for the appellant, and the judgment of the trial court is reversed, and a judgment is here rendered in favor of the appellant.
Reversed and rendered.