132 Ala. 58 | Ala. | 1902
— This is a petition for a mandamus filed by the appellee against the appellant, who is the tax collector of Jefferson county, to compel him 'as such tax collector to receive from the petitioner his poll tax for the year 1901. The court below awarded the man-da.) in ls, and from that judgment the present appeal is prosecuted.
The facts are undisputed, and they show that the petitioner, Peevey, is a resident citizen of the city of Birmingham, county of Jefferson, State of Alabama, and subject to the payment of a poll tax, and that he owes the poll tax for the year 1901, and that the same is past due and payable; that Francis is the State and county tax collector, and Gambill is the city tax collector; that Peevey duly offered to pay the tax to Francis, and ¡that he, Francis, refused to receive the same. The petitioner prays for a writ of mandamus “to be directed to the said J. B. Francis as tax collector, commanding him as tax collector of Jefferson county, to accept the said one dollar and fifty cents tendered by petitioner ais poll taxes in order that petitioner may not lose his right to vote in tlie next general election.” As shown by the record, the refusal of the appellant was based upon the theory that under section 51 of an act. approved February 23, 1899, entitled “An act to establish a new charter for the city of Birmingham, Alabama,” which provides “¡that the mayor and aldermen of Birmingham shall have full
Section 1, Art. XI, of the constitution of the State of Alabama, which was in effect from, to-wit, December 6, 1875, until November 28, 1901, provides as follows: “All taxes levied on property in this State shall be assessed in exact proportion to the value of such property ; Provided, however} the general assembly may levy a poll tax, not to exceed one dollar and fifty cents on each poll, which shall be applied exclusively in aid of the public school fund in the county so paying the same.” Section 4, Art. XIII, of the same constitution provides as follows: “The general assembly shall also provide for the levying and collection of an annual poll tax, not to exceed one dollar and fifty cents on each poll, which shall be applied to the support of the public schools in the counties in which it is levied and collected.” In obedience to the mandate contained in the latter section of the constitution above quoted, the general assembly enacted section 3910 of the Code of 1896, which provides as follows: “There shall be collected from every male inhabitant of this State, over the age of twenty-one years, and under the age of forty-five years, not exempt by law, the sum of one dollar and fifty cents, as poll tax, which shall be applied exclusively in aid of the public school fund in the counties in which it is levied and collected.” So it will be seen that by this section a poll tax of one dollar and fifty 'cents was levied on every male inhabitant of the State over the age of twenty-one