75 N.J.L. 120 | N.J. | 1907
The opinion of the court was delivered by
These writs of certiorari bring under review the taxes levied by the state board of assessors for the year 1906 upon the main stem, franchise and tangible personal property of each of the several prosecutors, under the act of March 27th, 1888, entitled “An act to revise and amend ‘An act for the taxation of railroad and canal property/ approved April 10th, 1884, and the acts amendatory and supplementary thereto” (Pamph. Tj. 1888, p. 269; Gen. Slat., p. 3324), and a supplemental act approved April 5th, 1906, which is chapter 82 of the laws of that year. Pamph. X. 1906, p. 121. It appears that the state board, in obedience to the supplemental act last mentioned, made a valuation of the main stem and franchise, and also of tire tangible personal property of each of the prosecutors, so far as taxable under chapter 82, and
The reasons assigned for the reversal of these taxes include an attack upon the act of March 27th, 1888, as amended in 1906, for unconstitutionality, it being claimed to be in violation of paragraph 12 of section 7 of article 4 of the constitution of this state, which requires that “property shall be assessed for taxes under general laws and by uniform rules accoi'ding to its true value,” and in violation of the first section of the fourteenth amendment of the constitution of the United States, which provides that no state shall “deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor deny to anjr person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” It is asserted that the act, as it now stands, provides for an arbitrary segregation of a part of that class of property which is distinguished as “property used for railroad and canal purposes,” and requires that such segregated part be assessed for taxes by a special law and by rules differing from the rules prescribed for the assessment of all other property of said class; that three certain supplements passed in the year 1906 to the act of March 27th, 1888, to wit, chapters 8,2, 122 and 280 of the laws of 1906, are void because they destroy the classification of property for taxes theretofore existing under the act of 1888, and that these supplements provide a scheme for the valuation, assessment and taxation of property used for railroad and canal purposes by rules which are not uniform, and for its taxation otherwise than according to its true value.
It is further alleged in the reasons that the basis adopted for taxing the main stem, franchise and tangible personal property in the cases before us, and the rate applied, were unconstitutional, illegal and unjust, and that the taxes in question are arbitrary taxes, imposed without regard to the necessities of the state and in excess of its needs. Upon the argument, however, it was not at all claimed that the particular taxes under review were imposed otherwise than in accordance with the true intent and meaning of the several acts of the legislature in question. The entire argument was rested .upon the
The questions at issue were most elaborately argued with much learning, force and ingenuity, and counsel on both sides expressed the earnest desire that this court would give to them the fullest consideration, in spite of (perhaps because of) the avowed purpose to review our decision in the court of last resort, whatever the outcome here. In view of the very great importance of the subject we have endeavored to comply with the desire of counsel thus expressed.
The act of April 10th, 1884, for the taxation of railroad and canal property (Pamph. L., p. 142; Supp. Rev. 1886, p. 1002), was sustained as constitutional by the Court of Errors and Appeals in State Board, of Assessors v. Central Railroad Co., 19 Vroom 146.
The act of 1888; which took its place (Pamph. L., p. 269; Gen. Stat., p. 3324), preserves the same general scheme, eliminating, howeveT, certain features of the former act which had been held unconstitutional in Central Railroad Co. v. State Board, 20 Vroom 1, and Williams v. Bettle, 22 Id. 512.
The act of 1888 provides that all the property of any railroad or canal company not used for railroad or canal purposes shall be assessed and taxed by the same assessors and in the same manner and at the same rate as the taxable property of other owners in the same municipal division or taxing district; that all other property of any railroad or canal company shall be assessed and taxed as in this act directed, and that the tax imposed by this act shall be in lieu of all other taxation upon the property subject to taxation under the provisions of this act. It is made the duty of the state board of assessors to annually ascertain the true value of all property used for railroad or canal purposes of each railroad and canal company, including its franchise, and in such ascertainment to ascertain — first, the length and value of the main stem of each railroad and of the waterway of each canal, and the length thereof in each taxing district (“main stem” being declared to include the roadbed, not exceeding one hundred fust in width, with its rails and sleepers and passenger depot
By the act of 1888 the state board of assessors, having completed their valuation and assessment, were required to compute the taxes upon the entire assessed valuation of each railroad and canal company as thus ascertained; upon such valuation each company was required to pay to the state for general state purposes a tax at the rate of one-half of one per centum annuaEy, and also to pay a tax at the local rate (as fixed and assessed for county and municipal purposes upon other property in each taxing district) upon the valuation of its property in the several taxing districts other than main stem and waterway, but the last-mentioned rate was in no ease to exceed one per centum of the valuation of such property. The sum of these was to constitute the tax upon each company, and was to be paid into the treasury of the state. The general tax of one-half of one per centum was to be applied .to the uses of the state according to law, and the amounts received for taxes upon properties separately assessed in the different taxing districts (“second-class property”) were appropriated to the various taxing districts, giving to each district the amount derived from the property of each company therein. This allotment of the separate tax upon second-class property to the several taxing districts was provided for by section 11 of the act (Pamph. L. 1888, p. 276), which was amended by a later act of the same year (Pamph. L. 1888, p. 376; Gen. Stat., p. 3333, § 242) in a respect not now material.
Upon the argument herein it was fully conceded that the decision of the Court of Errors and Appeals in State Board of Assessors v. Central Railroad Co., 19 Vroom 146, which sustained the original act of 1884, establishes the constitutionality of the revised act of 1888 and its supplements thus far mentioned.
A further supplement, known as the Duffield act {Pamph. Tj. 1905, p. 189), changed the law with respect to the taxation of second-class property and with respect to that alone. It subjected such property to taxation by the state board of assessors at the local rate of taxation obtaining in each of the several taxing districts in which the property is situate, without limiting this tax to one per centum as formerly. It did awa]^ with the former tax of one-half of one per centum upon second-class property, originally imposed for state purposes and afterwards allotted to the several taxing districts by the act of 1897. And it changed the law in one further respect, viz., that while under the act of 1888 the local rate was to be determined by the other property in the taxing district (Williams v. Bettle, 22 Vroom 512, 515), under the Duffield act the second-class railroad and canal property was to be taken into the account in determining^ the local rate.
Since the argument herein the Court of Errors and Appeals has determined that the Duffield act is constitutional. Bergen and Dundee Railroad Co. v. State Board of Assessors, 45 Vroom 742.
We now come to the acts of 1906, which are the subject of the present controversy. They are all supplements to the act of 1888.
Chapter 82 {Pamph. L. 1906, p. 121), known as the “Average Rate law," provides for an annual valuation to be made by the state board of assessors of the main stem or waterway, tangible personal property and franchise of each railroad and canal company, and for the payment to the state of ¡an annual
Next in order is chapter 122, which was approved on April 8th. Pamph. L. 1906, p. 220. It merely modifies the definition of the term “main stem” of railroads, so that hereafter it shall be held to include “tbe roadbed, not exceeding one hundred feet in width, with its rails and sleepers, and all structures erected thereon and used in connection therewith, not including, however, any passenger or freight buildings erected tliereon.” Its most important effect is to exclude passenger depots, which, by ihc act of 1888, were included in main stem.
Then comes chapter 280, which was approved May 18th, 1906 {Pamph. L., p. 571), and is known as the Perkins act. Its first section declares that “the taxes which shall hereafter be assessed upon the property of railroad and canal companies, referred to in subdivision 2 of section 3 of the act to which this act is a supplement, shall be assessed and taxed in each taxing district in this state in the same manner and at the same rate as other property located in said taxing district is assessed and taxed, and the amount of tax derived therefrom shall be paid to the officer of each of the separate taxing-districts of the state as shall be by law entitled to receive tbe
As already mentioned, the taxes now under review are those imposed by the state board of assessors upon main stem, franchise and tangible personal property (commonly denominated first-class property) under chapter 82, the so-called “Average Rate law.”
Some of the reasons assigned for reversal may be briefly disposed of.
And first, it was not claimed in the argument that the taxing scheme in question deprives the taxpayer of property without due process of law within the meaning of the fourteenth amendment. The act of 1888, in its twelfth section (Gen. Stai., p. 3328), provides for a revision by the state board of their assessments at a time and place mentioned in the section, with opportunity to the taxpayer to present any complaint or grievance and have the same deliberately considered by the board, with compulsory attendance of witnesses and production of documentary evidence. No complaint that any company is assessed too low or that any property has been omitted is to be acted upon without notice to the taxpayer. And section 13 provides for a judicial review by certiorari in this court in cases where it .is claimed that the amount of tax is excessive, and also where it is claimed that the principle upon which tire assessment is made is erroneous. The rule established by repeated decisions of the United States Supreme Court is as expressed by Mr. Justice Brewer in Winona and St. Peter Land Co. v. Minnesota, 159 U. S. 537: “That a law authorizing the imposition of a tax or assessment upon property according to its value does not infringe that provision of the fourteenth amendment to the constitution, which declares that no state shall deprive any person of property without due process of law, if the owner has an opportunity to question the validity or the amount of it either before that amount is determined or in subsequent proceedings for its collection.” See, also, Kentucky Railroad Tax Cases, 115 U. S. 321, 331; Pittsburg, &c., Ry. Co. v.
It is contended by the prosecutors that the' Perkins act has the effect of subjecting second-class property to local taxation, subject to all the incidental features of the General Tax law of the state, now found embodied in the revised act of 1903 for the assessment and collection of taxes. Pamph. L. 1903, p. 394. Without stopping at the moment to discuss the bearing or want of bearing of that question upon the validity of the taxes assessed upon first-class property under the “Average Rate law,” it is sufficient to say that beyond question the General Tax law of the state gives ample opportunity for review, and does no violence to the “due process of law” clause.
Next, it was not claimed upon the argument that the rate of taxation imposed by chapter 82 — what is called the “average rate” of taxation, to be computed by the state board of assessors as in that chapter provided — is violative of the constitutional rights of the prosecutors. The act manifests an effort on the part of the legislature to approximate the annual burden of taxation upon first-class railroad and canal property to that which is borne generally by taxpayers throughout the state, and an intent to deal fairly with this class of property, not at all to discriminate against it in favor of other taxpayers. A Michigan statute, similar in principle, was sustained by the Supreme Court of the United States in Michigan Central Railroad Co. v. Powers, 201 U. S. 245. The contention of the railroad company was succinctly stated by Mr. Justice Brewer (at p. 293), as follows: “The first and principal matter of attack is the ‘average rated It is contended that the fixing of the rate of taxation is a legislative function; that in ascertaining the average rate by the method described there is no exercise of the legislative judgment, but that it is determined by the action of the various local assessing and taxing boards, who, though charged with no duty of inquiry as to the necessities of the state or the proper rate of taxation of railroad property, are, in fact, the only officials exercising any discretion and judgment.” After ably combating
Nor was any reliance placed in the argument upon such of the reasons assigned as challenge the taxes in question as being arbitrary, and imposed without regard to the necessities of the state and in excess of its needs. It is hardly necessary to say that the legislature is the proper judge of the amount of money required to be raised by taxation for the conduct of the government of the state, and that it is not obliged to determine in advance the necessity for raising any specific sum of money as is required in the case of some of the municipal governments.
This brings us to the controverted questions.
The principal contention made in behalf of the prosecutors is that chapters 82 (the “Average Rate law”) and 280 (the Perkins act), taken together, so modify the act of 1888 for the taxation of railroad and canal property as to destroy .the generality of the classification adopted in the act of 1888, and subject different sorts of property used for railroad and canal purposes to different rules and to rules that are not uniform within the meaning of our constitution. But chapter 82 does no more (except for some modifications relating to matters of administration, which will be dealt with further on) than to substitute for the annual tax of one-half of one per centum on “first-class property” for strictly state purposes a tax upon the same property for the same purposes at a different rate— a rate that is unexceptionable from the constitutional standpoint as already shown. And so the Perkins act is the chief subject of criticism. Manifestly this latter supplement modifies the scheme of the Duffield act so far as to require second-class property to be assessed by the local assessors (still at the local rate as in the Duffield act), and the tax thereon to be
It is, indeed, argued by the learned counsel for the respondents, and with much force, that if this act is unconstitutional it is simply void and of no effect, so that the prior legislation stands as if this supplement had not been passed; that since the Perkins act was enacted subsequent to chapter 82 (Pamph. L. 1906, p. 121), under which the taxes now in question were assessed, a declaration that the Perkins act is void would in nowise affect these taxes; that (leaving out the Perkins act) the duty of the state board was to assess both first and second-class property, while in fact they assessed first-class property only in the present cases, and that the circumstance that second-class property was omitted does not defeat the assessment upon first-class property at the instance of the taxpayer. We are inclined to agree with this view, which, if correct,
Now, as we understand the decisions of the Court of Errors and Appeals in State Board of Assessors v. Central Railroad Co., 19 Vroom 146, and in the recent case of Bergen and Dundee Railroad Co. v. State Board of Assessors, 45 Id. 742, they have the effect of settling every question that is here controverted about the subclassification of railroad and canal property that is adopted in the Perkins act and the other supplements of 1906. The act of 1884, which was sustained in 19 Vroom., subdivided property used for railroad and canal purposes into the same two sorts, commonly called first-class and second-class property. The line of demarcation between them was not changed by the act of 1888, and is not materially changed by chapter 220 of the laws of 1906. The act of 1884, by its third section (Supp. Rev. 1886, p. 1003), required these two sorts of property to be separately valued. It likewise required the value of second-class property to be separately valued in each taxing district. That decision not only upheld the main classification that distinguished railroad and canal property from other property in the state, but also the subclassification of railroad and canal property into main stem and waterway, on the one hand, and second-class property on the other. The act there sustained, like the present legislation, imposed different rates of tax, and taxes for different purposes, upon the two classes of property.
Passing this for the moment, what difference remains in essentials between the scheme of the Perkins act and those that have preceded it? Can it make the least difference that the tax on second-class property is -now to be paid directly to the taxing district, instead of being paid into the central treasury of the state and thence disbursed to the taxing district as formerly? Obviously not.- State ■ treasury and4 taxing .district alike are but agencies of the state. Under either arrangement the moneys collected from the-taxpayer are in a proper sense the-moneys of the state, set apart by the general legis
But while it is conceded that the decision of the Court of Errors and Appeals in 19 Vroom establishes that property may be classified for the purpose of taxation according to its use, and that property used for railroad and canal purposes may be set apart into a class by itself, it is insisted that any rule which is adopted by the legislature for the taxation of this class must be uniform as to the whole of the class, and that in 19 Vroom the act of 1884 was sustained only because it embraced all property devoted to railroad and canal uses. It is pointed out that the decision of the court was justified, in every opinion written to uphold it, upon the ground that the use to which property is devoted constitutes a legitimate basis for classification, and that in the act under consideration the classification embraced all the property devoted to a similar use. This is quite true with respect to so much of ihe reasoning of the judges as dealt with the discrimination
As we take it, the secondary classification, or subclassification, into first and second-class properties was equally vindicated by the decision. Bergen and Dundee Railroad Co. v. State Board of Assessors, supra.
But it is further argued, in effect, that this sub classification was sustained in the act’ of 1884 only on the ground that •the tax of one-half of one per centum upon first-class property, taken together with the tax at local rates (not exceeding one per centum) upon second-class property, together constituted but a single tax. This argument seems to be rested upon a single phrase in the opinion of Chancellor Runyon (19 Vroom, at p. 282), where he said: “The fact that only part of the property is taken into account in one part of the method (i. e., in making up the amount to be paid in respect of county and municipal taxes) is of no moment. The tax applied to state purposes and that applied to county and municipal purposes are one lax, and are to be so regarded.” But a reference to other parts of the opinion shows that the expression “one tax” was not used in the sense now attributed to it by counsel, but as meaning a single scheme of taxation. The learned Chancellor had already pointed out (Id., at p. 276) that the act of 1884 fixed the same rate of taxation for state purposes which had previously.. existed for many years, but assessed it upon the valuation of all the property of the company, used for. its .purposes, including the franchises,, and' provided, for local taxation on part only of such property. On .p. 278 he treated the scheme of the act as
If we are wrong in our view that the decision in 19 Vroom settles the question of the constitutionality of subdividing railroad and canal property into “first-class” and “second-class” property for the purpose of imposing separate and distinct taxes upon thé respective classes, then it seems to be necessary to discuss that question upon its merits. The recent decision sustaining the Duffield act seems to carry us no further than does 19 Vroom, for that act still required the valuation and assessment of second-class property to be made by the state board and the tax to be imposed by them and collected by the comptroller of the state; hence it is claimed that under the scheme of the Duffield act the combined taxes upon first-class and second-class properties constituted a “single tax” in every sense the same as before; whereas under the Perkins act the fax upon second-class property is to be kept entirely separate from that upon first-class property.
Treating the question as open, therefore, our view of it is as follows:
The fact that all property used for railroad and canal purposes may properly be set apart in a class by itself, as distinguished from the general mass of property in the state, for purposes of taxation, does not at all negative the propriety of subdividing this general class of property into minor classes for the purpose of taxation. Nor is the subclassification
The purpose of this subclassification is to designate a portion of the mass of real estate that is used for railroad and canal purposes, upon which portion taxes are to be levied for the support of local and municipal government, either together with or separate from taxes for the support of the general state government, leaving the residue of the property that is used for railroad and canal purposes to be subjected to taxation for general state purposes only. The line of demarcation between the two subdivisions is chosen with little reference to the use to which the property is devoted, but with especial reference to the location and situation of that which is to be locally taxed. Structures used in connection with the roadbed are placed on one side of the chosen line; buildings used for accommodating passengers or freight on the other. So far, the line of definition follows the use. Aside from this, use has little or nothing to do with it. Practically, the line of division is: “Main stem” within one hundred feet, waterway, towing-path, berme-banlc, on the one side; these are continuous, running from end to end of the railroad or canal; all other real estate used for railroad or canal purposes goes into the other division. Is this mode of division reasonably germane to the purposes of the classification? And why ?
In our legislation it has at all times been recognized that the land indispensable for the use of a railroad as a public highway is a belt or strip of limited width. To cite a few of the old special charters as typical instances: In that of the Camden and Amboy Railroad and Transportation Company (Pamph. L. 1830, p. 86, § 11) it was provided “that the said road or its branches shall not exceed one hundred feet in width on the surface of the road.” In the case of the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company (Pamph. L. 1832, p. 98, § 6) the corporation was empowered to survey, lay out
'At the same time it has always been recognized that railroad companies incorporated by special charter possess the incidental power to hold land outside of the limits fixed for its railroad, so far as such land is reasonably necessary or proper for the accomplishment of the objects of the incorporation. A power to this effect was expressly conferred by the General Railroad law of 1873, section 1 of which authorized companies incorporated thereunder “to purchase, hold and use all such real estate or other property as may be necessary for the construction and maintenance of its railroad, and the stations and other accommodations necessary to accomplish the objects of its incorporation.” And also “to lay out its road as hereby provided, .and to construct the same, and for the purposes of cuttings and embankments, to take as much more land as may be necessary for the proper construction and security for the road.” And section 17 of the same act authorized such companies tó hold real estate at or near the termini, or at any other point on the line of the road where
The distinction between the continuous belt of land, without which a railroad could not exist as a highway, and other sorts of railroad property, was early recognized as having something to do with the question of taxation. As pointed out in the opinion of the Chancellor in 19 Vroom, at p. 273, the legislature, prior to the adoption of the constitutional amendment that “property shall be assessed for taxes under general laws, and by uniform rules, according to its true value,” passed the act of April 2d, 1873 {Pamph. L., p. 112; Rev. 1877, p. 1166), the preamble of which recited that for the encouragement of railroad enterprise, laws creating and regulating railways in this state usually provided for the payment by them, in consideration of their chartered privileges, of a fixed rate upon their capital stock or the cost of their works, in lieu of all other public impositions, and that it was nevertheless contended that the property of such corporations, being largely acquired for or through the growth and extension of their prosperity, should contribute to the charges and expenditures for municipal and county purposes, and that it
And the General Eailroad law of 1873 (approved on the same day with the above act), in its nineteenth section, provided for an annual tax of one-half of one per centum upon the “cost, equipments and appendages” of the railroad, including the cost of the roadbed and such other taxes as might be assessed from time to time by a general law applicable to all railroads over which the legislature should have power for that purpose; and further provided, that the company should be regularly assessed and pay tax for the value of its real estate (excepting the roadbed one hundred feet in width), improvements thereon, and personal property as taxed in the cities or townships wherein it lies, at the same time and rate, and in the same manner, for the same purposes and by the same persons as other taxes assessed in said municipalities.
It will thus be seen that the distinction between the strictly essential “right of way,” so called, of a railroad — the strip of land without which it could not exist as a public highway
It seems to us entirely reasonable for the legislature, upon determining that property used for railroad and canal purposes should contribute directly to the cost of local government, to require the companies to contribute to the several taxing districts in a proportion based, with reasonable approximation to accuracy, upon the amount and value of the property held by them in the municipality. This was, in effect, done by the act of 1884 and by -the revised act of 1888. And the same thing is, in effect, accomplished by the supplements of 1906, including the Perkins act. No doubt the legislature might have turned over the main stem as well as the second-class property to the several municipalities for purposes of taxation. It might have reserved all railroad and canal property for taxation by the state board for state purposes. It’has chosen by the acts now under review to reserve-for taxation for strictly state purposes the indispensable main stem, and to remit the other railroad property to local taxation. '
Nor can it be said that the adoption of a width of one hundred feet as the limit of the main stem for the purposes of
It is argued that for the purpose of the distinction between first-class and second-class property the width of one hundred feet applies to canals as well as to railroads. Assuming this to be so, we do not think that the adoption of this limit of width for the waterway of a canal, in order to distinguish between first-class and second-class property, is so arbitrary as to demonstrate that the classification is illusory. Of course, canals, like railroads, are necessarily of limited width, and it is permissible for the legislature to adopt a width, any excess beyond which shall require a direct contribution, by way of tax, towards the support of local government.
It is strongly urged that at many points upon our principal lines of railroad, and more especially at their terminals, the roadbed actually occupied by tracks for the purposes of through traffic extends far beyond one hundred feet in width, and that there is no difference between the mode in which the strip called “main stem” is used and that in which the adjoining portions are used. It is pointed out that in the case of the Lehigh Valley railroad for miles at Jersey City, and at several other points, the railroad tracks cover the entire surface of the earth for several hundred feet in width, and are indistinguishable from each other by any physical marks; that they are all constantly used for railroad pur
Upon principle, therefore, as well as upon what we deem controlling authority, we are clearly of the opinion that the subdivision of railroad and canal property into two classes is based upon reasonable grounds that are fairly germane to the main purpose of imposing two separate and distinct taxes, one for strictly state uses at one rate upon one class, the other for local uses at local rates (either with or without a general state tax) upon the other class.
As amended in 1906, just as before those amendments, the act applies equally to all railroad and canal corporations, and treats all alike whose property is similarly circumstanced.
The law is therefore a general law.
But next it is insisted that the act of 1888, including the amendments in question, prescribes a rule for taxation which is not uniform within the meaning of our constitutional provision.
Now, with regard to the phrase “uniform rules,” as used by
These points are not much elaborated in the prevailing opinions in the Court of Errors and Appeals in the 19th Vroom case. They seem to have been taken for granted. Chancellor Runyon, however, touched upon the second point. At p. 279 he said: “The constitutional provision does not take away from the legislature the power of selecting the subjects of taxation. But it does require that all the members of the class selected shall be included in the Taxing law, and that the rule applied thereto shall be uniform as to the whole of the class ” &e. And at p. 282: . “A law which taxes a class of property separately is not unconstitutional if it embraces all property of that class, and applies to it uniform rules, and taxes it according to its true value.” Justice Seudder (at p. 290), referring to the definition of the word “uniform,” said: “As it stands in this paragraph of the constitution it means that rules must not be variable in their application to the subject of taxation included in the classification of property.”
The extract above quoted from Justice Parker (19 Vroom 298) shows that he recognized the first point. As to the second, he said (at p. 304) : “The uniformity of rules in taxation which the constitution requires is that uniformity which operates on the whole of a class.”
Justice Dixon (19 Vroom, at p. 310), referring to his own previous declaration in Stratton v. Collins, 14 Id. 562, that
Justice Reed’s dissenting opinion shows that he had both points clearly in mind. At p. 322 he said: “Must property be taxed at a uniform rate by reason of the requirement that property shall be taxed by uniform rules as well as by general laws? The constitution does not require that property shall be taxed by a single rule, but by uniform rules. If we assent to the proposition that property may be ranged into classes for any purpose of taxation, and also to the proposition that a law which includes all of a class is a general law, I cm unable to perceive how a rule thal also applies to a class lacles uniformity of operation. Judicial sentiment has been in favor of the view that the constitutional amendment was not intended to affect mere methods of procedure in levying or collecting taxes, but was designed to fix the rules by which the burden of taxation was to be distributed. Inasmuch as all property to be taxed is to be taxed at its true value by the express terms of the amendment, if it is also held that all property must be taxed at a, uniform rate, then the power of classification is a barren privilege.”
And Mr. Justice Depue, in his dissenting opinion (19 Troom, at p. 337), said, as to the first point: “The constitutional provision does not touch the machinery by which taxes shall be assessed or collected. Every system of taxation consists of two parts, the one relating to the assessment (the
Both points were fully conceded by Chief Justice Beasley in 19 Vroom (at p. 8), for he used this language: “We perceive no reason why the legislature may not create different agencies for the valuation of property and the assessment of taxes. * * * Nor do we think the present law, in mere point of instrumentality, is objectionable. * * * All that the constitution calls for in this particular is that the rule of assessment shall he uniform. It does not require uniformity of mind in the application of the rule.”
So, in Fidelity Trust Co. v. Vogt, Receiver (37 Vroom, at p. 90), Mr. Justice Van Syckel said: “Different methods of ascertaining true value may be prescribed in such classifications, and so long as the public burden is imposed substantially and proximately according to true value, there will be no infirmity in the declaration of the legislative will.”
The cases cited below from the United States Supreme Court speak to the same effect.
If, therefore, the subdivision of railroad and canal property into two classes for the main purpose of determining the rate at which it is to be taxed and the purpose for which the tax is to be levied is justifiable (as we have seen that it is), clearly the two subdivisions may be separately treated with respect to the rules that have reference to the mere machinery of assessment, collection and enforcement of the taxes. This disposes of the objections that were urged against chapter 88 respecting matters of administrative detail. It also disposes
Eor the same reason we find it unnecessary to determine the disputed question of construction above alluded to, viz., whether the Perkins act leaves second-class property still subject to the administrative features of the act of 1888, respecting the mode in which the assessments are to be reviewed, how payment of the taxes is to be enforced and the like; or whether in these and all other respects the Perkins act takes second-class property entirely without the scope of the act of 1888, and subjects it to the provisions of the General Tax law of 1903.
Counsel for the respondents seem prepared to concede that if the Perkins act has the latter effect, it is for this reason special, and, therefore, unconstitutional, because it relates to part only of the property used for railroad and canal purposes. Such a concession, we think, is unnecessary, for, as already seen, a justification of the classification for the main purpose of the act at the same time justifies the separate treatment of the two classes with respect to all matters of detail.
Nor are we prfepared to concede the soundness of the argument of the same learned counsel that the title of the Perkins act is so restrictive as to prevent its provisions from having the effect of subjecting any part of the property used for railroad and canal purposes to the operation of the Tax law of 1903. The suggestion is that all property used for railroad
It is, of course, entirely established that under our constitutional provision (art: 4, § 7, pi. 4) that “every law shall embrace but one object, and that shall be expressed in the title,” the title of a statute is not only an indication of the legislative intent, but is also a limitation upon the enacting part of the law. Hendrickson v. Fries, 16 Vroom 555, 563. But among the numerous reported cases in which our-courts have been called upon to recognize and apply this doctrine, we are unaware of a case in which it has been held that an act which is, by its title, a supplement to a former act, is limited in its scope to provisions that are consistent with the enacting part of the act to which it is a supplement. On the contrary, acts entitled “supplements” are the means commonly employed by our legislature to modify and amend previous legislation.
The title of the act of 1884 is “An act for the taxation of railroad and canal property.” The title of the act of 1888 is “An act to revise and amend ‘An act for the taxation of railroad and canal property/ approved April tenth, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four.” The title of the Perkins act (Pamph. L. 1906, p. 571) is “A further supplement to an act entitled ‘An act to revise and amend/” &c. (repeating the title of the act of 1888). No reason occurs to us why this supplement may not constitutionally include any provision for the taxation of railroad and canal property. Supplements (if constitutional) are, on familiar principles, to be read into
And as to the act of 1903, its title is “An act for the assessment and collection of taxes.” There is nothing in this to exclude property used for railroad and canal purposes from the purview of the act. The exclusion arises solely from the enacting part (Famph. L. 1903, p. 396, § 3, ¶ 8), xvhieh is, of course, amendable, not at all from the title.
However, the disputed question about the scope of the Per-la ns act is too important to be decided until the necessity arises, and we therefore leave it undecided.
Bxxt again, it is urged that the taxes imposed by virtue of the supplements of 1906 do not distribute the burden of taxation uniformly as between different railroad and canal companies, for two reasons. First, because second-class property must bear as many different rates of tax as there are taxing districts, so that one company may pay a higher rate, in the average, than its competitor whose second-class property lies in different taxing districts. But local rates necessarily depend upoix local conditions, and the benefits of local government presumably vary in the like proportion. Railroad and canal companies are in this respect now placed upon the same footing with other taxpayers. Secondly,, because the percentage of the entire property of each company that is within the second class varies as between different companies. It is pointed out that of the property of the Trenton and New Brunswick Railroad Company substantially all is “main stem,” while of the property of the Long Dock Company
There is no substance in either of these points.
The laws in question “operate uniformly upon all property of the class.” This is true of all property used for railroad or canal purposes, with respect to every rule that works a discrimination between such property and the remaining taxable property in the state. It is true of all property within each of the two subdivisions. All “main stem” and “waterway” property is treated alike. All other property used for railroad and canal purposes Is treated alike, subject only to differences arising necessarily from differences in local conditions and government, differences which likewise affect all land taxation according to the location of. the land.
Upon the whole, therefore, we entertain no doubt that the legislation of 1906 prescribes “uniform rules” for taxation, within the constitutional intendment. -
Is the third of our constitutional requirements- — -the adoption of the standard of “true value”- — excluded or rendered impossible of attainment by the necessary operation of this legislation? No more so, we think, than was the ease with the previous legislation that has been judicially sustained.
The adoption of different agencies for making the valuations, with different supervision and review, certainly does not exclude it, for all agencies and tribunals are to be guided by the same standard.
Nor does the circumstance that, in such cases as are above instanced, main stem and second-class property constitute parts of an indistinguishable whole render it impossible, either from the legal or from the practical standpoint, for the assessing officers to arrive at a true valuation of the re
Nor is the problem of valuing the roadbed separately from the superincumbent structure, and the structure separately from the roadbed, either novel or insoluble. It is a common and most usual practice for real estate experts, in computing the valuation of improved real estate oi^any kind, to estimate separately, first the land a-s it would be worth if vacant, and then the buildings and other improvements, and to combine
There is nothing, therefore, in the legislation before us that excludes — nothing, indeed, to interfere with — the standard of “true value.”
Having settled the questions thus far discussed, by showing that the laws under consideration do not deprive the taxpayer of his property without due process of law, and that they comply with the mandate of our own constitution respecting the assessment of property for taxes, it follows that they do not deny to the prosecutors or any person “the equal protection of the laws.” The “law,” to whose equal protec
In Kentucky Railroad Tax Cases, 115 U. S. 321 (at ¶. 337), Mr. Justice Matthews said: “The rule of equality, in respect to the subject, only requires the same means and methods to be applied impartially to all the constituents of each class, so that the law shall operate equally and uniformly upon all persons in similar circumstances.” And again, referring to the criticism that different modes of valuation and different procedure on appeal, existed as between railroad property and ordinary real estate, he said (at ¶. 338) : “We have already decided that the mode of valuing railroad property for taxation under this statute is due process of law. That being so, the provision securing the equal protection of the law does not require in any case an appeal, although it may be allowed in respect to other persons differently situated. This was expressly decided by this court in the case of Missouri v. Lewis, 101 U. S. 22, 30. It was there said by Mr. Justice Bradley, delivering the opinion of the court and speaking to this point, that “The last restriction, as to the equal protection of the laws, is not violated by any diversity in the jurisdiction of the several courts as to subject-matter, amount or finality of decision, if all persons within the territorial limits of their respective jurisdictions have an equal right, in like cases and under like circumstances, to resort to them for redress/ The right to classify railroad property as a separate class for purposes of taxation grows out of the inherent nature of the property and the discretion vested by the constitution of the state in its legislature, -and necessarily
In Pittsburg, &c., Railway Co. v. Backus, 154 U. S. 421 (at p. 427), Mr. Justice Brewer said: “Equally fallacious-is the contention that, because to the ordinary taxpayer there is' allowed not merely one hearing before the county officials, but also a right of appeal with a second hearing before the state board, while only the one hearing before the latter board is given to railroad companies in respect to their property, therefore the latter are denied the equal protection of the laws. If a single hearing is not due process, doubling it will not make it so, and the power of a state to make-classifications in judicial or administrative proceedings carries with it the right to make such a classification as will give to parties belonging to one class two hearings before their rights are finally determined, and to parties belonging to a different class only a single hearing.”
Winona and St. Peter Land Co. v. Minnesota, 159 U. S. 526, is a strong authority upon the point now under consideration, for the reason that the state law there under review based a classification of property for purposes of taxation upon the mere circumstance that it had been omitted from the tax-roll in some preceding year or years, and the law established a different procedure with respect to this class of property from that which obtained respecting property in general. At ¶. 538 Mr. Justice Brewer said: “With respect to the next inquiry, it is true there is a difference in the mode of assessment. * * * In the one case there is an assessment by one officer with a right to review his action; in the other there is an assessment by a different officer, and no provision for a review except as the matter comes before the court in the- proceedings for the collection of taxes. But there is nothing in this difference to affect the constitutional rights of a party. The -legislature may authorize different modes of
See, also, Bell’s Gap Railroad Co. v. Pennsylvania, 134 U. S. 232, 237, 238; Home Insurance Co. v. New York, Id. 594, 606; Pacific Express Co. v. Seibert, 142 Id. 339, 351; Adams Express Co. v. Ohio, 165 Id. 194, 228; S. C. on rehearing, 166 Id. 185.
Weyerhaueser v. Minnesota, 176 U. S. 550, sustained a statute which authorized the governor of the state to appoint a board to revalue and reassess property that had been grossly undervalued by the assessors for any county. Winona and St. Peter Land Co. v. Minnesota, 159 Id. 526, was relied upon and followed, Mr. Justice McKenna (176 Id., at p. 557), reiterating the declaration that there was nothing in the difference in the manner of assessment, and the successive opportunities for review given to the property owner in the'one case and not in the other, to affect the constitutional rights of a party, and that the legislature may authorize different modes of assessment for different properties, providing the rule of assessment is the same.
The taxes under review should be affirmed, with costs.