35 Haw. 855 | Haw. | 1941
[EDITORS' NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.] *857 This is an appeal from a decision of the tax appeal court taken pursuant to the provisions of R.L.H. 1935, § 1950, as amended by Haw. Laws 1939, Act 208, Ser. A-33, § 12. It involves the constitutionality of an assessment levied by the tax commissioner, pursuant to the provisions of the "Hawaii Unemployment Relief and Welfare Act,"1 hereinafter referred to as the "Hawaii Welfare Act," upon the compensation received by Leo L. Yerian, Esquire, for the month of December, 1939, for services performed by him entirely within the Territory as the district manager of the Home Owners' Loan Corporation, an instrumentality of the United States, created and existing pursuant to the Act of Congress of June 13, 1933 (48 Stat. L., pt. 1, c. 64, p. 128, as amended, 12 USCA §§ 1463 et seq.). The taxpayer took a direct appeal from the assessment of the commissioner to the tax appeal court. The tax appeal court in a well-considered opinion sustained the assessment. From the decision of the tax appeal court came the present appeal to this court.
Appellant assigns as error in this court the following grounds: "1. That the Hawaii Unemployment Relief and Welfare Act is in contravention of the provisions of the Social Security Act of the United States and particularly of Subdivision 5, Section 1607 of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States. 2. That under the said Unemployment Relief and Welfare Act, the appellant is deprived of property without due process of law in violation of the 5th and 14th amendments to the Constitution of the United States. 3. That the said tax law is discriminatory *858 in that it subjects appellant, as a federal employee, to the penalty of fine and imprisonment, to which employees of private persons are not subjected. 4. That the said tax law is discriminatory in that it exempts federal employees of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, but does not exempt employees of other federal departments. 5. That the said tax law attempts to subject appellant to the burden of the tax but denies him its benefits. 6. That the government of the United States has not permitted the imposition of such a tax. 7. That the said Act is in conflict with the constitution and laws of the United States."
We assume that the particular section of the Internal Revenue Code, which appellant claims under ground one of his specifications of error that the Hawaii Welfare Act contravenes, is subdivision (6) of subsection (c) of section 1607,2 as amended, wherein is excepted from the *859 definition of the term "employment" in respect to the tax imposed on employers of eight or more under section 1600 of the Code "service performed in the employ of the United States Government or of an instrumentality of the United States which is (A) wholly owned by the United States, or (B) exempt from the tax imposed by section 1600 by virtue of any other provision of law."
The parties stipulated before the tax appeal court that the following facts were deemed to be established: "1. That appellant, Leo L. Yerian, is the District Manager of the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the Territory of Hawaii; 2. That appellant entered the employ of said corporation in the state of California, wherein he is domiciled and that he is not domiciled in this Territory; 3. That appellant arrived in the Territory of Hawaii during the month of November 1939 by reason of a transfer issued to him by the said Home Owners' Loan Corporation, which directed him to serve as said District Manager in the Territory of Hawaii; 4. That appellant has served as such District Manager in the Territory of Hawaii continuously since his arrival in the Territory in November 1939, and is still serving as such; 5. That appellant's residence in the Territory of Hawaii is for an indefinite period during which time his employment is and will be entirely within the Territory of Hawaii, and will continue at least until and unless he should be transferred to another station; 6. That appellant is subject to transfer to whatever station the said Home Owners' Loan Corporation may direct, if he wishes to remain in the employ of the Home Owners' Loan Corporation; 7. That the compensation involved in this appeal was received for services *860 as such employee of the Home Owners' Loan Corporation, performed entirely within the Territory; 8. That as such District Manager, appellant is in receipt of monthly compensation from said corporation in the sum of $300.00; 9. That such salary is paid to him by check directly from the head office of the Home Owners' Loan Corporation, which is in Washington, D.C.; 10. That upon the 8th day of January, 1940, appellant filed a return under the Hawaii Unemployment Relief and Welfare Act, as amended, for the month of December 1939, showing receipt during said month of $300.00 as compensation from the said corporation for services rendered as such District Manager; that upon the said return a tax was assessed by the Territory of Hawaii under the Unemployment Relief and Welfare Act, as amended, in the sum of $1.80; that he paid the said tax as assessed, under protest, and appealed from the said assessment to this Court; 11. That the Tax Commissioner has adopted, after due public hearing, and the Governor has approved, rules relating to the return and payment of the tax imposed by the Unemployment Relief and Welfare Act, as amended, a copy of said rules being hereto annexed and made a part hereof the same as if set forth herein at length; that said rules were duly published. * * * That this stipulation is entered into without prejudice to the right of each party to raise objections on account of incompetency, irrelevancy, immateriality, or any other ground whatsoever, and without prejudice to the right of each party to introduce evidence in his or its behalf." The attorney general objected before the tax appeal court to the competency, relevancy and materiality of the statements contained in paragraphs 2, 3 and 6 of the agreed statement of facts.
The Hawaii Welfare Act, at the time of the assessment involved in this case, imposed, in addition to a tax on dividends, a monthly tax of six-tenths of one per cent *861 upon the amount of all compensation not otherwise exempted received by any person during all or any part of such month. Section 3 of the Act, as amended, is quoted in the margin.3
All employers making payments to employees of compensation were required by section 4 of the Act to deduct and withhold therefrom the amount of the tax and pay the amount so withheld for each month within twenty days after the close of such month to the collector of the taxation division in which the employer had his principal place of business or to the commissioner at Honolulu if the employer had no place of business in the Territory.
The Act carries its own definition of the term "compensation," *862 as used in the Act, as amended.4 The term "employer," as defined in section 1 (a) of the Act, as amended, was further amended by Haw. Laws 1939, Act 241, Ser. A-44, § 2, to include "the United States and instrumentalities of the United States." By section 5 of the Act all employers were required on and before the 20th day of each month to make a full, true and correct return showing all compensation covered by section 4 paid by them during the preceding month and showing the tax due and withheld thereon. No returns of compensation received by individual employees were required of them except in the cases of those in receipt of compensation from employers who did not have a place of business in the Territory and did not have an agent within the Territory responsible for making the returns, withholdings and payments of taxes on compensation required by the Act and those in receipt of compensation from the United States or an instrumentality thereof who were required to file a return for each month and pay the tax due under the Act to the collector of the division in which he resided or was at the time present or might be required so to do by rules of the commissioner or, if he were not at the time within the Territory, with and to the commissioner at Honolulu. Section 8 of the Act, as amended, is quoted *863 in the margin.5 The rule in respect to returns by individual employees referred to in paragraph eleven of the agreed statement of facts is dated July 3, 1939, and became effective August 20, following. The material portions thereof are quoted in the margin.6 In addition *864 to making returns the individual employees so excepted were required to pay the tax pursuant to the return at the times and in the manner prescribed by section 4 of the Act in respect to employers.7 It was provided by the same section, as amended, that failure to comply with its provisions constituted a misdemeanor, the penalty upon the conviction of which was fixed by section 15. It was also provided by the latter section that if any individual liable under the provisions of the Act to make and file a return of compensation received by him should fail, neglect and refuse to make and file the same within the time prescribed by the Act, the commissioner might make a return for such individual from the best information obtainable and might levy and assess the tax upon such compensation shown by such return against such individual and, in addition to said tax and as a part thereof when finally assessed, a penalty not to exceed twenty-five per cent of the amount of said tax might, in the discretion of the commissioner, be added to and become a part of the tax.
The objects of the Hawaii Welfare Act are enumerated in Haw. Laws 1937, Act 242, Ser. D-164, §§ 24 to 27, both inclusive, as amended by Haw. Laws 1939, Act 238, Ser. D-182, § 2, R.L.H. 1935, c. 259 AI, pt. II, §§ 21 to 27, both inclusive. They include assistance to the aged, dependent children, child welfare services and to the blind. Assistance to the aged and blind is limited to those persons *865 who are in need and have not sufficient income or other resources to provide a subsistence compatible with decency and health and who have resided within the Territory for not less than five years during the nine years immediately preceding the date of application for old-age assistance.8 The disposition and expenditure of the tax imposed under the Hawaii Welfare Act, including grants-in-aid received from the United States, pursuant to the provisions of the federal Social Security Act are controlled by the provisions of Haw. Laws 1939, Act 238, Ser. D-182, §§ 7, 8, which are quoted in the margin.9 The condition contained *866 in the last paragraph of section 7 obviously has occurred; section 2 of the Act became effective and expenditures are made by the director of social security.
1. Under his first assignment of error appellant contends, as we understand his argument, that under the federal Social Security Act the source of grants-in-aid to the Territory for the assistance of the indigent aged, of dependent children, child welfare services and of the blind is the taxes imposed by the Act itself with respect to employment and to employers of eight or more; that from both taxes imposed employees of the United States government and of instrumentalities thereof are expressly exempted; that under the local unemployment compensation law employees of the United States and of instrumentalities thereof are similarly expressly exempted from the unemployment compensation tax thereby imposed; and that by reason of the express exemptions granted both by the national Social Security Act and local unemployment compensation law, employees of the United States government and of instrumentalities thereof are impliedly exempted from the tax imposed under the Hawaii Welfare Act.
The Social Security Act10 legislatively is, in reality, *867 the consolidation of a series of Acts arranged under eleven titles captioned as follows: title I, grants to States for old-age assistance; title II, federal old-age benefits;11 title III, grants to States for unemployment compensation administration; title IV, grants to States for aid to dependent children; title V, grants to States for maternal and child welfare; title VI, public health work; title VII, social security board; title VIII, taxes with respect to employment; title IX, tax on employers of eight or more; title X, grants to States for aid to the blind; title XI, general provisions. These titles fall naturally into three groups, viz., group 1 consisting of titles VII and XI, the provisions of which may be denominated as administrative; group 2 consisting of titles I, III, IV, V, VI and X, grants-in-aid; and group 3 consisting of titles II, III, VIII and IX, social insurance. Title III, judged by its purposes, is logically entitled to inclusion in both groups 2 and 3.
We are alone concerned with the grants-in-aid included in group 2 which affect indigent aged (title I), dependent children (title IV), child welfare services (title V, part 3), and indigent blind (title X) and the tax provisions included in group 3 in respect to taxes on employment (title VIII) and tax on employers of eight or more (title IX).
The grant-in-aid of administration of state unemployment compensation schemes under title III is supplementary to the unemployment tax imposed under title IX. The other grants-in-aid authorize federal grants to the States to assist them in financing designated state *868 activities, including general and special health service, child welfare activities and the assistance to the indigent aged, dependent children and indigent blind. In all but two cases,viz., child welfare agencies in rural areas and general public health services, state participation is mandatory. Titles I, IV, V, part 3, and X relate to the same subjects of relief as the local welfare Act. The grants-in-aid for the purposes of enabling the States to furnish financial assistance to the indigent aged,12 dependent children,13 child welfare services14 and to the blind,15 included in the Social Security Act, are not appropriations but are authorizations for future appropriations. In each instance, except child welfare services, the prerequisites to the receipt by the States of grants-in-aid are the submission by the State soliciting the grant, of a state plan of aid, containing the terms and conditions prescribed by the Act, in respect to the subject of assistance for which application for such aid has been made,16 and its approval by the social security board established by the Act. To the receipt by the States of grants-in-aid for child welfare services under title V, part 3, of the Act, a state plan is not a prerequisite. Of the grant-in-aid to each State a certain amount is allotted by the Secretary of Labor for use by cooperating state public welfare agencies on the basis of plans developed jointly by the state agency and the Children's Bureau and the remainder on the basis of such plans not to exceed such part of the remainder as the rural population of such States bears to the total *869 rural population of the United States. The prerequisite in respect to a state plan for indigent aged is typical of all in which state plans are required and is quoted in the margin.17 Under the Act the term "State" includes territories. *870
The Hawaii Welfare Act, as finally amended, unquestionably was designed, in addition to making provisions for general relief and for child welfare services, to establish and adopt a territorial plan to aid the indigent aged, dependent children and the indigent blind, which would satisfy the respective criteria upon the same subjects of relief required by the federal Social Security Act and thereby qualify the Territory for the receipt by it, from the national government, of the grants-in-aid provided by the federal Social Security Act in respect to the subjects of relief common to both. The use of the word "unemployment" in connection with the Hawaii Welfare Act, as amended, is a misnomer. While unemployment relief was formerly one of its purposes, it now has nothing to do with unemployment. That subject of social security is controlled by the Hawaii Unemployment Compensation Act.18 The local welfare Act has been submitted to and approved by the federal social security board.
Under title VIII of the federal Social Security Act a tax is imposed of a per centum (one per cent in 1939) upon the wages of a selected class of workers and a tax of an equal amount upon the employer for corresponding pay rolls.19 The employer must pay both taxes and is authorized to collect the tax due from his workers by deducting the amount of the same as and when wages are paid. No state plan for the imposition of similar taxes is required nor is any credit extended for the payment of *871 similar taxes to the State. These taxes when collected are payable into the United States Treasury as internal revenue collections. The provisions of title VIII are not applicable to federal agencies or instrumentalities nor, under the definition of the term "employment," as defined in the Act, to employees of the United States government or its instrumentalities.20 So much of the definition of the term "employment," as contained in title VIII of the Act as is material to our purposes, is quoted in the margin.21
Under title IX of the federal Social Security Act a pay roll tax of a per centum upon wages of a selected class of workers is imposed upon employers of eight or more.22 Against this tax up to ninety per cent of its total may be credited what is paid by employers to support approved unemployment compensation plans adopted by the States.23 In addition to this credit the grant-in-aid, under title III of the federal Social Security Act, to cover state administration costs, is available to States having an approved plan of unemployment compensation.24 The essentials of a suitable state plan of unemployment compensation are prescribed by the federal Social Security Act and are quoted in the margin.25 Otherwise the provisions *872 of the state plan are left to the discretion of the States. The provisions of title IX of the federal Social Security Act, similarly to those of title VIII, do not *873 apply to federal agencies or instrumentalities or to persons employed by the federal government or of instrumentalities of the United States. From the term "employment" are excepted services performed in the employ of the United States or any instrumentality of the United States, the same phraseology being employed in the definition of the term "employment" in title VIII.26 Taxes collected under title IX of the Act are deposited in the United States Treasury as internal revenue collections.27
The Hawaii unemployment compensation law was unquestionably equally designed to comply with the provisions of the federal Social Security Act in respect to the tax upon employers of eight or more and thereby to entitle the Territory to the grant-in-aid of administration expenses under title III of the federal Social Security Act and to qualify residents of the Territory, subject to both the federal and local unemployment compensation taxes, to the credit extended under the provisions of the former Act. The local unemployment compensation law similarly excepts agencies and instrumentalities of the United States and employees of the federal government and its instrumentalities from the provisions of the Act.28 The Hawaii unemployment compensation law, as amended, has been duly and regularly approved by the federal social security board and certified by it as such to the Secretary of the Treasury.
Under the Hawaii Unemployment Compensation Act all taxes collected by the Territory, together with all fines, penalties, interest, etc., are ultimately deposited with the Secretary of the Treasury to the credit of the account of *874 the Territory in the "unemployment trust fund" established and maintained pursuant to the provisions of section 904 of the federal Social Security Act.29
The term "exemption," as applied to taxation, presupposes a liability and is properly applied only to a grant of immunity to persons or property which otherwise would have been liable to assessment.30 The liability of employees of the United States government and its instrumentalities to an income tax such as imposed by the Hawaii Welfare Act is not open to question. Whatever conflict upon the question of immunity existed in the past was forever set at rest by the United States Supreme Court in the case of Graves v. N.Y. ex rel. O'Keefe,
Pending a final juridical determination of the question of immunity of federal employees from state taxes, the Congress of the United States had initiated legislation having for its object the consent of the federal government to the taxing by the States of compensation received by officers and employees of the United States, or any agent or any instrumentality thereof. This movement culminated in the Public Salary Tax Act, approved April 12, 1939 (53 Stat. L., pt. 2, c. 59, § 4, p. 574), the text of the material part of which is quoted in the margin.31 The *875
policy of Congress in respect to taxes upon compensation of employees of the United States is a subject of comment inO'Malley v. Woodrough,
A grant of exemption from taxation is never presumed. The presumption is the other way. Nor may exemptions be created from inferences drawn from doubtful language or mere silence.33 As said by Mr. Justice Peckham in Phoenix Insurance Co. v.Tennessee,
The inferences sought to be drawn by appellant in favor of exemptions are in conflict and irreconcilable with the terms and provisions of the federal Social Security Act. The several titles of the Act are separable and independent of each other. The taxes collected under titles VIII and IX of the Act are deposited in the Treasury of the United States as internal revenue collections. Although the objects of the taxes thus imposed obviously were to secure the additional revenue necessary for the execution in whole or in part of social insurance and grants-in-aid provided by the Act, they are as separate and distinct from each other as if the subject of separate Acts of the Congress upon the same subjects. The grants-in-aid are not present appropriations but merely authorizations for future appropriations from general revenues disconnected from tax realizations under the Act. In the only instance in which an inference could possibly arise, i.e., in respect to any tax laid under a state plan of unemployment compensation, the plan of unemployment compensation adopted by the Territory contains such exemption.
Moreover the tax imposed by title IX of the federal Social Security Act is an excise tax upon employers, while the tax with which we are concerned under the Hawaii Welfare Act is a tax upon income of employees to the extent of compensation received. The express exception of federal employees from the operation of title IX of the Social Security Act in respect to an excise tax upon employers could have no reasonable relation to a local *877 income tax upon employees to the extent of their compensation. And unless the federal Social Security Act supersedes all local legislation upon the subject of taxation for relief upon the same subjects covered by the federal Act, which it does not, all implications are neutralized by the express provision of the Hawaii Welfare Act including federal employees in the individuals subject to the tax.
Finally, the conditions imposed by the federal Social Security Act as prerequisites to the acceptance by the States of aid to indigent aged, dependent children and to the blind do not include any condition in respect to the source of the revenue necessary for state participation. Acceptance of the benefits of the grants-in-aid of the subjects named was optional with the States.34 Sections 2, 401 and 1001 prescribing the respective criteria for state plans for aid to the indigent aged, to dependent children and to the indigent blind are entirely silent upon the subject. The method to be adopted by the States to secure the necessary revenues for participation in relief was left to the discretion of the States.35 An implication of exemption cannot be predicated upon mere silence.
Appellant further urges, as a basis of implication of exemption, the deposit by the Territory of all taxes collected under the local unemployment compensation law, together with interest, penalties, etc., in the "unemployment compensation fund" in the Treasury of the United States. We fail to see the connection. Benefits payable under the local unemployment compensation Act have their source in the "unemployment trust fund." Moneys thus deposited by the Territory in the unemployment trust fund "are not public moneys in the sense that they are subject to appropriation other than as provided in the *878 act. The funds thus raised are in their nature a continuing appropriation for a specific purpose. * * * The federal government does not obtain title to the money but holds it in trust for the beneficiary — the state commission [in the case of the Territory of Hawaii the unemployment compensation board], which in turn is bound to administer it by the payment of benefits without diminution for administration purposes."36
2. Appellant contends that the Hawaii Welfare Act offends the due process clause of the fifth amendment of the Constitution in respect to property in that (a) the Territory has thereby attempted to levy a tax where it neither has jurisdiction over the person taxed nor the subject matter of the tax; and (b) that no benefit is afforded appellant under the Act for the reason that he as a nonresident cannot qualify as a recipient of its benefits. This last objection will be considered in connection with appellant's further contentions that the Act is discriminatory.
In the course of his argument appellant made the vague and indefinite suggestion that the jurisdiction to tax the income of nonresidents is coextensive with and no greater than the ability of the taxing power to collect the tax without extending its jurisdiction beyond its territorial boundaries. In that regard he said: "It [the tax] is in the nature of a proceeding in rem and the judgment obtained in such a tax case would not be a personal judgment against the individual but in the nature of a proceeding in rem. The principle of the jurisdiction over subject matter and its liability to processes of the state is merely an extension of the principle recognized in the leading case of Pennoyer vs. Neff,
The power of the Territory to tax is extremely broad.37 With certain exceptions with which we are not concerned, it is equally as broad as that possessed by the States. The exercise of the right to tax is an exercise of an attribute of sovereignty.38 "All subjects over which the sovereign power of a State extends, are objects of taxation."39 "These subjects [of taxation] are persons, property, and business."40
It is axiomatic that a State may not tax beyond the limits of its sovereignty.41 But where, as here, the tax is imposed upon compensation received for personal services performed by an employee for an employer entirely within the Territory it cannot be said that the jurisdictional *880 limits of the Territory for taxation purposes have been exceeded.
The tax imposed by the Hawaii Welfare Act is a special income tax.42 It is measured by the compensation received by an individual attributable to personal services performed by him within the Territory as an employee under the direction and control of an employer. Under the agreed statement of facts it is conceded that the compensation upon which the tax in question was imposed was received by the appellant for personal services performed by him entirely within the Territory as an employee under the direction and control of an employer. The Home Owners' Loan Corporation is unquestionably an "employer" within the meaning of that term as defined in section 1 (a) of the Act. No less clearly was the appellant an "employee."
The validity of the tax imposed by the Hawaii Welfare Act qua tax is not impugned. The Territory unquestionably possesses the right and authority to impose a tax upon employment within the Territory by citizens or residents of the Territory measured by compensation received. The taxation-benefit doctrine gives such tax ample constitutional support. It is the validity of the Act applied to a nonresident temporarily residing in the Territory that is assailed. But in reason and authority we see no difference in principle between the reciprocal relations existing between the Territory and its citizens or residents on the one hand and the Territory and nonresidents on the other in respect to employment, the services of which are performed by the latter entirely within the Territory. The situs of the employment and compensation is the Territory of Hawaii. Nonresident employees, similarly *881 as citizen or resident employees, while in the Territory, are subject to its sovereignty and control. Nonresidents while employed within the Territory receive the same protection in respect to person and property as afforded citizens or residents. Under the circumstances no legitimate reason exists why a nonresident, while pursuing his employment within the Territory, should not respond to the reciprocal duty imposed upon citizens or residents, of contributing to the support of social activities of the Territory to the extent at least of a tax upon compensation received for services rendered entirely within the Territory. There is no claim that the burden imposed by the tax upon nonresidents is more onerous than that imposed upon citizens or residents of the same class.
Obviously the source of the compensation is immaterial. The tax is upon employment, the services of which are rendered entirely within the Territory, and the compensation received therefor is simply the measure of the tax. To follow appellant's argument to its logical conclusion, evasion of the tax could be accomplished by the mere expediency of the contract of employment providing for payment of compensation outside of the Territory. Appellant, in support of his contention that nonresidents such as the appellant are not subject to the Hawaii welfare tax, cites cases in which domicile is the test of the validity of the Act.43 In these cases, however, the tax imposed was an income tax upon income which accrued outside of the taxing State. In this class of cases the test of validity is the domicile of the taxpayer. The rationale of validity is the correlation existing between taxation and the protection afforded by the domiciliary State. But the situation in the instant case is entirely different. The activity *882 giving rise to the imposition of the tax is exercised within the taxing jurisdiction and the test of the validity is not the domicile of the author of the activity but whether the tax comes within the sovereign power of the State in respect to subjects of taxation within the State. If the tax may be lawfully levied upon an activity, the author of which is a resident of the State, it possesses similar power to levy a similar tax upon a similar activity, the author of which is a nonresident and temporarily within the State. In the final analysis it is a question of the power of a State in respect to the subjects of taxation within the State. Just as the Territory may impose a tax upon compensation received by citizens and residents for services rendered by them entirely within the Territory as employees it may levy a duty of like character and not more onerous in its effect upon compensation received by nonresidents for services similarly rendered by them.
As said by Mr. Justice Pitney in Shaffer v. Carter,
Appellant attempts to draw an analogy between the status of the appellant as a nonresident in respect to local taxes and the status of a nonresident owner of land subjected to betterment assessment. And he cites in support thereof the cases ofNorwood v. Baker,
From what was said by the respective courts in the cases referred to, it is apparent that assessment for benefits is not a tax, as the latter term is ordinarily used in respect to taxes; that they do not support the analogy claimed; and, that in the final analysis they have no specific application to the situation existing in the instant case, due to the presence of the appellant within the taxing jurisdiction and the performance by him personally in the taxing jurisdiction of the services, compensation for which gave rise to the imposition of the tax.
3. The appellant further contends that the Hawaii Welfare Act is discriminatory for the reasons and upon the grounds (a) that by section 3(c) thereof, as amended, it exempts from taxation compensation received from the United States by officers and enlisted personnel for services *886 in the regular army, navy or marine corps of the United States; (b) that by section 4, paragraph A, of the Act it is incumbent upon all persons in receipt of compensation from the United States or an instrumentality thereof to file a return each month, failure of compliance with which constitutes a misdemeanor and may carry a penalty of twenty-five per cent of the tax, whereas no other individuals subject to the provisions of the Act, except persons who are in receipt of compensation from an employer who does not have a place of business in the Territory and does not have an agent in the Territory responsible for making returns, are required to make a return; and (c) that appellant could never hope to receive any of the benefits of the Act for the reasons (1) that he contributes to his own retirement fund; (2) that he could not become eligible for old-age assistance within the meaning of that term as employed in sections 12, 25 and 26 of Haw. Laws 1937, Act 242, Ser. D-164, as amended by Haw. Laws 1939, Act 238, § 2, pt. I, § 7, and pt. II, §§ 22 and 23; and (3) that he could not meet the residence requirement of those sections of the Act, as amended, which is a necessary prerequisite to the receipt of the special benefits therein provided.
A question of procedure requires preliminary attention.
Pending the hearing before the tax appeal court, the appellant filed an amended notice of appeal to that court from the assessment. This differed from his original notice of appeal to the tax appeal court by the addition of the fourth ground of the amended notice of appeal. (Specification of error number 4.) The Territory objected to such amendment but the objection was not ruled upon and the tax appeal court considered the notice of appeal as amended. The Territory now objects to a consideration of the fourth specification of error upon the ground that amendments of notices of appeal are only permitted in respect to appeals from assessments to a board of review, *887 citing R.L.H. 1935, § 1937, as amended by Haw. Laws 1939, Act 208, Ser. A-33, §§ 5, 8. It is true that in respect to the provisions of an appeal from an assessment to a board of review the statute expressly permits the amendment of a notice of appeal at any time prior to the board's decision, while in respect to appeals from assessment directly to the tax appeal court the statute is silent as to the right of amendment. But appeals to the supreme court from the tax appeal court are controlled not by the sections cited but by R.L.H. 1935, § 1950, as amended by Haw. Laws 1939, Act 208, supra, § 12, which expressly provides that the appeal shall be considered and treated for all purposes as a general appeal and shall bring up for determination all questions of fact and all questions of law, including constitutional questions involved in the appeal, and that the notice of appeal may be amended at any time up to the final determination of the tax liability by the last court to which an appeal may be taken. The appeal and notice of appeal filed in this case is in the form of a general appeal and no grounds of appeal are stated therein. In the case of a general appeal the statement of the grounds of appeal are unnecessary. Appellant, in his opening brief, pursuant to rule 3 (d) of this court, specified the fourth ground of his amended notice of appeal to the tax appeal court as one of the errors upon which he would rely and hence he is entitled to urge in this court the constitutionality of the Hawaii Welfare Act upon the ground included as ground four of his specifications of error. To return to a consideration of the merits.
Neither in his notice of appeal to this court nor in his specifications of error or otherwise has the appellant attempted to specify the provisions of the Constitution or its amendments of which the alleged discriminatory features of the Hawaii Welfare Act are violative. Hence *888 we are not in a position to say whether the appellant contends that the alleged discriminations of which he complains are violative of the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment or the due process clause of the fifth. The fifth amendment of the Constitution does not contain any express provision guaranteeing equal protection of the law45 and the Supreme Court of the United States has expressly refrained from admitting that the due process clause of the fifth amendment includes the concepts of the equal protection clause of the fourteenth, except where the discrimination "if gross enough is equivalent to confiscation."46 Both parties, however, have treated the objections to the alleged discriminatory features of the Hawaii Welfare Act as coming within the inhibitions of the fifth amendment against the deprivation of property without due process of law or of the fourteenth amendment in respect to equality or both and while not conceding the assumption we shall give it equal indulgence.
That an income tax law exempts from taxation or excludes from its application incomes of particular classes of persons does not render the law objectionable upon the ground of inequality where reasonable ground exists for the exemption or exclusion and the classification rests upon some difference which bears a reasonable and just relation to the provisions of exemption or exclusion and is not arbitrary or unreasonable.47 The legislature possesses a wide latitude in determining in its discretion to *889 whom partial or total exemption should be granted.48 The Hawaiian Organic Act contains no provision limiting the power of the legislature in respect to exemption from taxation except such as may be implied from the inhibition against granting to any corporation, association or individual "any special or exclusive privilege, immunity, or franchise without the approval of Congress" and the express provision that "all rightful subjects of legislation" to which the legislative power extends shall not be "inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States locally applicable."49 Neither provisions, however, inhibit classification for tax purposes where such classification has a rational basis and is not arbitrary and unreasonable.50
The most widely cited authority upon legislative power of exemption is that of Bell's Gap R'd Co. v. Pennsylvania,
3 (a). The exemption from taxation of compensation received from the United States by officers and enlisted personnel for services in the regular army, navy or marine corps of the United States, including the respective reserve corps of the United States, is not discriminatory. The relative administrative difficulty, inconvenience and expense involved in the levy and collection of a tax have uniformly been held to be sufficient justification for the difference between the treatment of small incomes and that accorded to others.51 The collection of the tax from the class exempted would necessarily be accompanied by great administrative inconvenience and expense. It would have to be collected from each individual member of the respective services included, since the United States cannot, under the Act, be required to withhold the tax at the source.52 The number of commissioned officers in the armed forces of the United States is proportionately small. Relatively the aggregate of their pay and allowances is less than received by others in civil life possessing no greater qualifications nor length of service. Reserve officers are called out for field services at infrequent intervals and are not entitled to pay or allowances except when on active duty. (10 USCA § 361, 37 USCA § 23.) The aggregate of the pay and allowances granted the enlisted personnel is extremely small. This is said not in criticism but in extenuation of their exemption. Considerations other than money are involved. In addition to the ability to pay, the extent of protection or benefit afforded is also a consideration justifying classification.53 *895
The respective services of the armed forces of the United States are self-sufficient, their posts, yards and cantonments subject to federal control. Domiciliary rights are restricted. Tours of duty are brief. Though a part of community life duty requires segregation divorcing them from the activities of civil life. The reciprocal duties and obligations in respect to taxation and protection do not exist in the same measure as ordinarily obtains between the State and its civil inhabitants. All of the services mentioned have their own retirement system. Honorably discharged soldiers and sailors of the United States as a class are not an uncommon subject of total or partial exemption from taxation. (Inhabs. of Mechanic Falls v. Millett,
Other reasons for exemption are conceivable but if, for the reasons assigned or for any other conceivable reason consonant with fair and reasonable classification, the action of the legislature can be justified, the courts may not interfere. As said by Mr. Justice Stone in the Carmichael case: "A state legislature, in the enactment of laws, has the widest possible latitude within the limits of the Constitution. In the nature of the case it cannot record a complete catalogue of the considerations which move its members to enact laws. In the absense of such a record courts cannot assume that its action is capricious, or that, with its informed acquaintance with local conditions to which the legislation is to be applied, it was not aware of facts which afford reasonable basis for its action. Only by faithful adherence to this guiding principle of judicial review of legislation is it possible to preserve to the *896 legislative branch its rightful independence and its ability to function." (p. 510.)
3 (b). The claim that the requirements of paragraph A, section 4 of the Hawaii Welfare Act, in respect to returns by employees of instrumentalities of the United States and the provisions of section 8 of the Act, as amended, and section 15 imposing penalties for the failure of the employee to make such returns contravene the constitutional inhibitions against inequality, is also without merit.
No claim is made that the tax does not operate equally upon all persons included in the class of which the appellant is a member. No claim is made that the provisions of law in respect to returns by employees and penalties for failure so to do are discriminatory in respect to any member of that class. Nor has our attention been directed to any incident of the requirement depriving appellant of "property" or of "due process." Under the circumstances the appellant has no cause for complaint.
The provisions of law in respect to returns by employees and to the penalties imposed upon their failure to comply with the same are administrative measures included in the system adopted for the collection of the tax and not to its levy or assessment. The constitutional rule of uniformity in respect to taxation has application only to the levy and assessment of taxes and not to the mode of enforcing their payment.54 The same may be said of the rule of equality as applied to taxation. "When assessed the tax may be collected in the manner the law shall provide; and this may be varied to suit the necessities of each case."55 *897
Equal protection of the law is not concerned with the mode and manner of collection of taxes. Obviously, where no legal obligation exists on the part of the employer to deduct the taxes at the source, it would be impossible for the taxing authorities, except with great inconvenience and expense, to personally inform themselves of the presence in the Territory of employees in respect of whom employers were not required under the law to deduct the tax at the source. Moreover, in the absence of such knowledge, loss in revenues would inevitably result. The requirement of a return by the employee himself under such circumstances is a simple and effective administrative expedient by which the taxing authorities are advised of the receipt of compensation subject to tax and, in the event of nonpayment, the persons liable therefor. The penalties attached to the failure to make returns are but a part of the system provided for the collection of the tax and their severity within limitations is something with which the courts are not concerned. The mode and manner of collection of taxes are matters entirely within the discretion of the legislature. "The mode of enforcing payment of taxes is wholly within legislative control."56 Where, as here, the provisions of law giving rise to the claim of discrimination affect the mode and manner of the collection of the tax and not the equality of its levy or assessment, the constitutional inhibition against inequality is not infringed.57
An interesting case involving a regulation analogous to the provisions of the Hawaii Welfare Act requiring employees to make a return is that of Mississippi State Tax Commission v. FloraDrug Co.,
In respect to the penalties imposed the situation is very similar to that developed in the case of Railway Co. v. MiamiCounty,
Under a statute of Wisconsin different penalties for nonpayment of taxes were imposed upon different classes of taxpayers. In sustaining the Act the Supreme Court of the United States said: "As to the particular means taken to enforce the collection of taxes, one rule may be adopted in respect of the admitted use of one kind of property and another in respect of the admitted use of another, in order that all may be compelled to contribute their proper share to the burdens of government. * * * The amount of the penalty was a matter for the legislature to determine in its discretion, and the Supreme Court refers to the imposition of penalties in other instances under the statutes of Indiana, varying according to particular subjects of taxation, apparently calculated to operate with quite as much harshness."58
Appellant cites the case of Bachrach v. Nelson,
3 (c). The objections to the constitutionality of the Hawaii Welfare Act, upon the grounds that appellant could never hope to receive any benefits of the Act for the reasons, first, that he contributes to his own retirement fund, and, second, that he could not meet the indigency and residence requirements of the Act, as amended,59 which are necessary prerequisites to the receipt of special benefits, resolve themselves into the single complaint of absence of future benefits to appellant.
Let us first consider the question from the standpoint of the relation of the tax to its objects as it immediately affects the appellant. Protection and payment of taxes are correlative obligations. And no doubt there are inequalities in the tax imposed by the Hawaii Welfare Act when measured by individual cases. But this is unavoidable. *901
"Perfect uniformity and perfect equality of taxation, in all the aspects in which the human mind can view it, is a baseless dream." Head Money Cases,
Only a plain abuse of the power of classification for taxation purposes will justify judicial interference.60
A tax is not necessarily invalid because it is unequal. A taxpayer is bound to pay his proportion of the school tax although he has no children. Similarly a police tax although he has no property to be guarded or a road tax although he never uses the road.61 Socially and economically the Territory under the Hawaii Welfare Act is merely the administrative agency performing the duty devolving *902
upon the appellant and others of the more fortunate of the community. And no doubt the percentage of those who never will require nor become eligible for relief afforded by the Hawaii Welfare Act was a consideration in originally fixing the rate of the tax and authorizing its subsequent reduction. In the case ofDane v. Jackson,
Holding as we do that the tax imposed is not unconstitutional by reason of the absence of present direct benefits to the appellant little need be said in respect to the objection that there is no likelihood of future benefits as far as the appellant is concerned. Our attention has not been directed to any specific provision of law supporting appellant's claim that he contributes to his own retirement fund nor are we advised of the legal rights of the beneficiaries thereunder which permit him to assert the impossibility of his ever becoming eligible for old-age assistance under the Hawaii Welfare Act. Nor are we persuaded that he could not meet the residence requirement to entitle him to the benefits of the Act. Whether he becomes a resident of the Territory is optional with himself. Much may be said of the charms of his native State and the advantages of citizenship thereof. A visitor to the Territory was once heard to remark, however, that *905 Hawaii had everything California thought she had. Moreover the advantages of citizenship are relative. And there is nothing to prevent the appellant from acquiring the necessary residential qualifications. All of these matters are entirely within his control. But assuming arguendo all of appellant's claims of impossibility of future enjoyment of benefits under the Hawaii Welfare Act to have support legally and factually, none of the objections advanced involved the validity of the tax. That the appellant from considerations of his own may never enjoy the benefits of the Act as an argument against its constitutionality is as unreasonable as the argument that the legislature may in its discretion at some future time repeal the Act.
The views herein expressed dispose of all of the errors assigned, which are entitled to consideration, and pursuant thereto the decision of the tax appeal court is affirmed.
"(b) Any such compensation paid (1) out of funds appropriated by, or furnished pursuant to the provisions of, any statute of the Territory or of the United States for the relief of unemployment or (2) to employees of the Territory employed in the County of Kalawao, shall be exempt from the tax imposed by this chapter.
"(c) Compensation received from the United States by officers and enlisted personnel for service in the regular army, navy, or marine corps, including the respective reserve corps of the United States, shall likewise be exempt." Haw. Laws 1933, Act 209, § 3, R.L.H. 1935, appendix, c. IV, § 3, am. Haw. Laws 1939, Act 238, Ser. D-182, § 6, am. Haw. Laws 1939, Act 241, Ser. A-44, § 3.
"Such portion of said assistance fund as may be necessary to be expended in order to secure the maximum payments or grants-in-aid from the federal government for dependent children, old age assistance, and aid to the blind shall be first expendable and thereafter any portion remaining shall be expendable for other public and general assistance (as defined in Act 242, Session Laws of Hawaii 1937, as the same may be amended), and for assistance to persons assigned to work on public projects pursuant to said Act, but not in excess of $900,000.00 per calendar year inclusive of administration costs of all activities provided for by said Act, which administration costs shall not exceed twelve and one-half per centum (12 I/2%) of the total funds expended for relief from all sources, without the necessity of securing the approval of the governor; any surplus in said assistance fund as may be determined by the governor to exist from time to time, over and above such portion, shall be allocated by the governor for expenditure for the following purposes: (1) for general assistance under said Act, for public assistance to dependent children, aged persons and the blind in excess of the amounts for which payments or grants-in-aid may be received from the federal government, and for relief of persons not covered by the classifications or definitions of the Social Security Act; (2) for aid to crippled children, in such manner as to comply with the Social Security Act, amounts not in excess of $25,000.00 annually; and (3) for unemployment relief measures in cooperation with any federal agency for the relief of unemployment.
"Unless and until Section 2 of this Act becomes effective, expenditures under this section shall be made by the board of public welfare, created by said Act 242 of the Session Laws of Hawaii 1937. When and if Section 2 of this Act becomes effective, expenditures under this section shall be made by the director of social security.
"Section 8. All grants-in-aid, reimbursements, assistance or refunds received from the federal government for the purposes of this Act are hereby reappropriated into the assistance fund provided in section 7 of this Act and shall be expended by the director without the necessity of approval of allocation by the governor for the purposes of this Act, and in conformity with the requirements of the Social Security Act."
"(b) The Board shall approve any plan which fulfills the conditions specified in subsection (a), except that it shall not approve any plan which imposes, as a condition of eligibility for old-age assistance under the plan —
"(1) An age requirement of more than sixty-five years, except that the plan may impose, effective until January 1, 1940, an age requirement of as much as seventy years; or
"(2) Any residence requirement which excludes any resident of the State who has resided therein five years during the nine years immediately preceding the application for old-age assistance and has resided therein continuously for one year immediately preceding the application; or
"(3) Any citizenship requirement which excludes any citizen of the United States." Social Security Act, tit. I, § 2, as amended, 42 USCA § 302.
"(1) All compensation is to be paid through public employment offices in the State or such other agencies as the Board may approve;
"(2) No compensation shall be payable with respect to any day of unemployment occurring within two years after the first day of the first period with respect to which contributions are required;
"(3) All money received in the unemployment fund shall immediately upon such receipt be paid over to the Secretary of the Treasury to the credit of the Unemployment Trust Fund established by section 1104 of this chapter;
"(4) All money withdrawn from the Unemployment Trust Fund by the State agency shall be used solely in the payment of compensation, exclusive of expenses of administration;
"(5) Compensation shall not be denied in such State to any otherwise eligible individual for refusing to accept new work under any of the following conditions: (A) If the position offered is vacant due directly to a strike, lockout, or other labor dispute; (B) if the wages, hours, or other conditions of the work offered are substantially less favorable to the individual than those prevailing for similar work in the locality; (C) if as a condition of being employed the individual would be required to join a company union or to resign from or refrain from joining any bona fide labor organization;
"(6) All the rights, privileges, or immunities conferred by such law or by acts done pursuant thereto shall exist subject to the power of the legislature to amend or repeal such law at any time.
"The Board shall, upon approving such law, notify the Governor of the State of its approval.
"(b) On December 31 in each taxable year the Board shall certify to the Secretary of the Treasury each State whose law it has previously approved, except that it shall not certify any State which, after reasonable notice and opportunity for hearing to the State agency, the Board finds has changed its law so that it no longer contains the provisions specified in subsection (a) or has with respect to such taxable year failed to comply substantially with any such provision.
"(c) If, at any time during the taxable year, the Board has reason to believe that a State whose law it has previously approved, may not be certified under subsection (b), it shall promptly so notify the Governor of such State. (Aug. 14, 1935, c. 531, Title IX, § 903, 49 Stat. 640.)" 42 USCA § 1103, I.R.C. § 1603.