118 Ky. 131 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1904
OPINION OP THE COURT BY
REVERSING.
The appellee, the Union Refrigerator Transit -Company, Is a corporation organized under the laws of this Commonwealth, having its home office in Crescent Hill, Jefferson connty, Ky., and its principal place of business in St. Louis, Mo. It is the owner of 2,000 refrigerator cars, which it leases out to parties needing them for the preservation of their goods while in transit throughout the United States, Mexico, and Canada. These cars are of about the value of $200 each. This proceeding was instituted by the auditor’s agent of Jefferson county under section 4241, Ky. St., 1903, for the purpose of forcing appellee to list its ears for State and county taxation. This was resisted by' the appellee before the county court, with the result that & judgment was rendered requiring it to list such a propor
There is no complaint in this record of a want of regularity •in the proceedings, the question for adjudication being whether or not all of the cars owned by appellee, whether in or out of this State, are subject to taxation here. It is insisted by appellee that such of its cars as are used in foreign commerce are not subject to taxation in Kentucky, under the language of the statute, and that, if they are so taxable, then the statute is void, because violative of the State Constitution and of the fourteenth amendment of the federal Constitution. Of these, in their order.
The following sections of the Kentucky Statutes of 1903 are applicable to the subject in hand:
“Section 4020. All real and personal estate within this State, and all personal estate of persons residing in this State, and of all corpoi'ations organized under the laws of this State, whether the property be in or out of this State, including intangible property, which shall be considered and estimated in fixing the value of corporate franchises as hereinafter provided, shall be subject to taxation unless the same be exempt from taxation by the Constitution, and shall be assessed at its fair- cash value, estimated at the price it would bring at a fair voluntary sale.”
“Section 4022. For the purpose of taxation, real estate shall include all lands within this State and improvements thereon; and personal estate shall include every other species
The slightest examination of these sections shows that they leave nothing for construction. * Appellee being a corporation organized under the laws of this State, its personal property, whether tangible or intangible, and whether in or .out of the State, must be taxed here, by the terms of the law.
With the question of whether or not the modern tendency of legislative enactment and judicial-construction is to trench upon the legal maxim, moMUa sequuntur personam” we •have nothing to do; and it may be therefore freely conceded, for the purposes of this case, that all that is said in this regard by counsel for appellee is true.. Our State upholds and enforces the ancient fiction in all its original severity, and we do not understand that it is open to us to destroy by construction the integrity of a statute, the words of which are so plain that “lie' who • runs may read.” And whatever may be said as to the judicial utterances of other jurisdictions, our-court has uniformly held that, for the purpose of taxation, the situs of personal property of every description is the domicile of the owner. The case of Wren v. Boske, Sheriff, 72 S. W., 279, 21 Ky. Law Rep., 1780, presented this state of facts: The appellant, Wren, resided in Scott county. He owned a farm in Kenton county, upon which he- had horses, mules, cattle, .and sheep, which had been there for eight years. This personal property he listed with the assessor of Scott county, where he resided, but, notwithstanding this, it was assessed for taxation in Kenton county, and he instituted an action to restrain the sheriff of Kenton county from selling it for taxes. This court said: “It is conceded that the stock had obtained a situs in Kenton county; and, if personal property in this State which has obtained a situs in a county other than that of the owner’s residence
In the case of Langdon-Creasey Company v. Trustees of Owenton Common School District, etc., 116 Ky., 562, 76 S. W., 381, 25 Ky. Law Rep., 823, it appears that the corporation had its domicile in Covington, Ky. It also had a retail grocery store in Owen county, Ky., where its goods were sought to be taxed: for local purposes. This court held • — approving Wren v. Boske, Sheriff — that the personal property of the corporation was only-taxable in the county of its residence. It was said: “As appellant corporation has a legal residence, and not being in the class of corporations! which are required to report to the auditor, it must be assessed in the same manner as that of a natural person. It seems to us that there is no escape from this conclusion. The Legislature has the unquestioned authority to fix the situs of property for the purpose of taxation. . . . 'The case of Wren v. Boske is made to turn upon the legislative intent, and this case is likewise made so to turn.” In the case of Gates v. Barrett, 79 Ky., 295 2 R., 318, it is said: “In general, movable property is to be assessed for taxation at the place of the owner’s residence.” See, also, Boske, Sheriff, v. Security Trust & Safety Vault Company, 56 S. W., 521,
It is urged, however, that the statute which requires movable personal property situated in a different jurisdiction to be taxed at the domicile of the owner is invalid as being in contravention of the provisions of section 171 of the Constitution, which is as follows: “The General Assembly shali provide by law an annual tax, which, with other resources, shall be sufficient to defray the estimated expenses of the Commonwealth for each fiscal year. Taxes shall be levied and collected for public purposes only. They shall be uniform upon all property subject to taxation within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, and all taxes shall be levied and collected by general laws.” It is said that the language, “They shall be uniform upon all property subject to taxation within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax,” limits the power of taxation to property actually within the territorial limits of the taxing jurisdiction. This we think is erroneous. The subject-matter of the language in question is uniformity. There is no attempt to enumerate the subjects of taxation. Nor can the language be read as if it was said that taxes shall be uniform upon all property within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax. The language is that taxes shall be “uniform upon all property subject to taxation,” leaving the question as to what property is subject to taxation undetermined. 'Section 172, however, does 'provide what property shall be taxed. It is as follows: “All property, not exempted from taxation by this Constitution, shall be assessed for taxation at its fair cash value, estimated at the price it would bring at a fair voluntary sale. . . .” This language needs no construction, and it requires that all property of which the State has jurisdiction, except that which is exempted, shall
Nor can it be maintained that the statute is invalid for the reason that it denies to the owners of such personal property “the equal protection of thedaws.” This precise question arose in the case of Coe v. Errol, 116 U. S., 524, 6 Sup. Ct., 476, 29 L. Ed., 715, There the question was whether certain logs which were situated within one State could be taxed therein, when they were also taxed in the State where the owner resided. And it was said by the court: “We have no difficulty in disposing of the last condition of the question, namely, the fact, if it be a fact, that the property was owned by persons residing in another State, for, if not exempt from taxation for other reasons, it can not be exempt by reason of being owned by nonresidents of the State. We take it to be a point settled beyond all contradiction or question that a State has jurisdiction of all persons and things within its territory which do not belong to some other jurisdiction, such as the representatives of foreign governments, with their.houses and effects, and property belonging to or in the use of the government of the United States. If the owner of personal property within a State resides in another' State, which taxes him for that property as part of his general estate attached to his person,, this action of the latter State does not in the least affect the right of the State in which the property is situated to tax it also. It is hardly necessary to cite authorities on a point so elementary. The fact, therefore, that the owners of the logs in question were taxed' for their value in Maine, as a part of their general stock in trade, if such fact were proved could have no influence in the decision of the case, and may
In the case of Kidd v. Alabama, 188 U. S., 730, 23 Sup. Ct., 401, 47 L. Ed., 669, the question was whether or not the Ascal laws of Alabama, which undertook to tax shares of stock in railroads held by residents of the State (the railroads being situated in other States), were inimical to the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States. In answering the argument that they were invalid, the court said: “We say that the State, in taxing stock, may take into account the fact that the property and franchises of the corporation are untaxed, whereas in other cases they are taxed; and we say untaxed because they are not taxed by the State in question. The real grievance in a
It is said that the fact that all of appellee's cars are taxed, whether in this State or not, while in assessing the property of railroads the cars in use out of the State are omitted, is an unjust discrimination against it, and is violative of the fourteenth amendment as to the “equal protection” of the laws. Railroad corporations occupy a unique position in our, fiscal system. They are by the express language of the Constitution, taken out of the category of other property as lo the manner in which they are taxed; but, in so doing, it is not .intended to violate- the fundamental principle of the Constitution as to uniformity in taxation, but, on the contrary, to enforce and secure it, and it is confidently believed that the system devised does accomplish the end desired as nearly as may be. We will not
For the reasons indicated, the judgment is reversed for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Response of Judge Barker to petition for rehearing:
As the record shows, without contradiction, that appellee owned 2,000 cars, of the value of $200 each, on the assessment day of each year in which they are sought to be taxed by this proceeding, the opinion is extended so as. to require the lower court, upon the return of the case, to enter a ■judgment against appellee for the amounts due upon the above named property for taxes for the respective years at the legal rate of taxation for each year, with legal penalties.
The petition for rehearing is overruled.