7 S.E.2d 181 | Ga. | 1940
This case is controlled in all material respects by Great Atlantic Pacific Tea Co. v. Columbus,
Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur.
The ordinance was attacked as unreasonable and void, because of its amounts in relation to the gross and net profits of the petitioner, and of the class in general to which the tax applied; because of its amounts by comparison with such taxes imposed by the city on other businesses; on account of its scheme of taxing stores in Augusta in amounts determined by the number of stores owned by a chain outside of the city; on account of the extreme difference in amount between the next to the last step and the last step in the tax schedule stated; and other reasons. The ordinance was attacked as also unconstitutional, because it made an illegal classification of businesses, was discriminatory, arbitrary, confiscatory, and for other reasons, in violation of the constitutions of the United States and of the State, as set forth in the petition.
While the petitioner, as an owner of "chain-stores," operated only 7 stores in Augusta, it had a total of more than 150 stores, and was taxed under the ordinance $1200 for each city store, a total of $8400 a year in addition to other city license taxes on each store ranging from $120 to $195; and other taxes including a State "chain-store" tax of $200 per store. The only other chain grocery store operating in Augusta was the Great Atlantic Pacific Tea Company, which had 8 stores in the city, and which, by its ownership of other stores, was also in the $1200 highest range of the tax. There was evidence for the petitioner as to amounts and the effect of the tax on the gross and net profits of the Augusta stores of these companies; and other evidence as to the nature and manner of operation of its business by the petitioner. The evidence as a whole on both sides was similar to that in Great Atlantic Pacific Tea Co. v. Columbus, supra.
In granting the interlocutory injunction against the city, the judge of the superior court held that the court had equitable jurisdiction to enjoin the alleged threatened prosecution or prosecutions and the enforcement of the tax, since the case fell within exceptions to the general rule; that the city had authority "to levy an *620
occupation tax;" that under the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Great Atlantic Pacific Tea Co. v. Grosjean,
The only exceptions before this court are those of the city to the rulings that equity had jurisdiction, and that the ordinance was void as unreasonable, and to the judgment granting the injunction.