JARVILL, Petitioner, v. CITY OF EUGENE, et al, Respondents. LICHTY, Petitioner, v. CITY OF EUGENE, et al, Respondents. CITY OF EUGENE, Respondent, v. GREAT WESTERN SCHISM, INC., Petitioner.
CA 8516, SC 26299
Supreme Court of Oregon
Argued and submitted October 1, 1979, affirmed as modified May 28, 1980
petition for rehearing denied July 2, 1980
157 | 613 P2d 1
HOWELL, J.
Leslie M. Swanson, Jr. Eugene, argued the cause for respondents. With him on the briefs were Orval Etter and Johnson, Harrang & Mercer, Eugene.
James A. Redden, Attorney General, and Ira Jones, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Salem, filed an amicus curiae brief for the Department of Revenue.
These three cases, consolidated for trial and appeal, involve a comprehensive challenge to the validity of a charter amendment and various ordinances enacted by the City of Eugene (“City“) to revitalize its downtown core area. Eugene, like many other cities, became concerned that its downtown business area was not economically competitive with outlying shopping areas for various reasons, including the lack of adequate parking facilities.
In July, 1973, the voters approved an amendment to the charter conferring on the city council the power
“To establish, and from time to time to change the boundaries of, a downtown development district; for purposes of public parking facilities for vehicles in the district, of public transportation in, to, and from the district, and of economic promotion and development for the district, to tax persons, property, and economic enterprise in the district; and to establish one or more agencies to assist the city in the exercise of those powers.” Eugene City Charter, ch. VII, § 48(70) (1973).
Pursuant to the charter amendment, the council enacted ordinances which provided free parking within the Downtown Development District (“District“), but which restricted parking by employers and employees of District businesses, by District residents, and by District hotel or motel guests. In order to finance and administer its economic development and its free parking programs, the City enacted ordinances for the levying of certain taxes. An ordinance allowed for an ad valorem real property tax by the City on real property in the District;1 another ordinance provided for a tax of $2.50 per $1,000 of gross retail sales and receipts from nonprofessional businesses within the District; and a third imposed a tax of $40 on professional businesses within the District for each
In 1974 Jarvill and Lichty filed complaints for declaratory judgments in the Circuit Court of Lane County alleging that the City ordinances are unconstitutional. In 1975 the City sued Great Western Schism, owner of a retail store located within the District, to recover unpaid gross sales and receipts taxes levied in the District. Because Great Western Schism raised defenses identical to the complaints of Jarvill and Lichty, the circuit court consolidated the three cases.2
In the trial court and in the Court of Appeals the plaintiffs have raised numerous contentions challenging the validity of the charter amendment and the City ordinances relating to the District taxes. Generally, plaintiffs contend that the taxes are unlawful or beyond the City‘s power. Plaintiffs also contend that the ad valorem property tax and the professional and nonprofessional business taxes violate the separate guarantees of equality found in
The trial court upheld the charter amendment and the taxing ordinances in all respects. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court except that the Court of Appeals sua sponte held that the tax court and not the circuit court had jurisdiction over plaintiffs’ challenges to the validity of the ad valorem property taxes. 40 Or App 185, 594 P2d 1261 (1979).
We will first discuss the issue of whether the circuit court or the tax court had jurisdiction over the challenges to the ad valorem real property tax levied by the City on property within the District.
I. CIRCUIT COURT JURISDICTION
The exclusive jurisdiction of the tax court extends to “all questions of law and fact arising under the tax laws of this state.”
The Court of Appeals reasoned that, because ad valorem property taxation in Oregon is comprehensively governed by state law, the City‘s property tax was levied under the tax laws of this state, and the challenges to the City‘s property tax presented questions of state tax law that are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Oregon Tax Court.5
Unfortunately the tax court jurisdiction statute has never been a picture of statutory clarity.
“(g) ORS chapter 767 relating to motor carrier taxes.
“(h) ORS chapter 319 relating to motor vehicle and aircraft fuel taxes.
“(i) ORS title 39 relating to motor vehicle and motor vehicle operators’ license fees and boat licenses.
“(j) ORS chapter 578 relating to wheat commission assessments.
“(k) ORS chapter 562 relating to racing taxes.
“(l) ORS chapter 657 relating to unemployment insurance taxes.
“(m) ORS chapter 656 relating to workers’ compensation contributions, assessments or fees.
“(n) ORS chapter 579 relating to potato commission assessments.
“(o)
ORS 311.420 ,311.425 ,311.455 ,311.650 ,311.655 and ORS chapter 312 relating to foreclosure of real and personal property tax liens.“(2) The tax court, the circuit courts and district courts shall have concurrent jurisdiction to try actions or suits to determine the priority of property tax liens in relation to other liens.
“(3) Except as permitted under section 2, amended
Article VII, Oregon Constitution , this section andORS 305.445 , no person shall contest, in any action, suit or proceeding in the circuit court or any other court, any matter within the jurisdiction of the tax court.”
The first tax court jurisdictional problem encountered by this court involved the question whether the tax court had authority to issue a writ of mandamus to require a county assessor to extend a particular levy upon the county tax rolls. In Woodburn v. Domogalla, 238 Or 401, 395 P2d 150 (1964), we stated:
“The jurisdiction of the tax court is nowhere expressly defined.
ORS 305.410 * * * is not helpful in defining the court‘s jurisdiction. It simply provides that in cases within its jurisdiction, whatever that may be, the tax court has the exclusive and final authority to adjudicate questions arising under the tax laws of this state.” 238 Or at 405 (emphasis in original).
We held that the tax court‘s original jurisdiction to hear tax questions was limited and that mandamus cases were not “cases within its jurisdiction” under
The legislature responded to the Woodburn decision by amending the tax court statutes to provide the tax court with general (not limited) jurisdiction and the same powers as a circuit court to exercise all
Presumably to further clarify its expansion of tax court powers,6 the legislature changed the language of
The City contends that tax laws enacted by a city government are “tax laws of this state,” because a city‘s authority ultimately comes from the state. We do not agree.
On the other hand, we find no evidence that the legislature intended that tax laws enacted by a city government are “tax laws of this state” subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the tax court by virtue of
We therefore hold that, by the phrase “tax laws of this state,” the legislature intended that the tax court have exclusive jurisdiction to decide questions that arise under tax laws enacted by the state government. Plaintiffs challenge the City charter amendment and City ordinances that impose the City property and business taxes. Because these tax laws were enacted by the City, they are not “tax laws of this state.” The questions presented by these challenges were properly litigated in the circuit court.
But the City contends that, because plaintiffs challenge the City property and business taxes as violative of
We do not believe that the legislature intended the application of
In the instant case, plaintiffs challenge taxes imposed by the City pursuant to its home rule authority. All questions presented by their challenge are within the jurisdiction of the circuit court and were properly litigated therein. We therefore hold that the circuit court had jurisdiction over plaintiffs’ challenges to the ad valorem property tax12 and the other City taxes.
II. MUNICIPAL AUTHORITY
Before we discuss plaintiffs’ constitutional challenges to the City‘s property and business taxes, we should answer plaintiffs’ contentions that the City was without authority to establish the District and to impose taxes within the District. Plaintiffs argue that no state statute or case exists which will support the City‘s charter amendment and the City‘s creation of the District. They also argue that no state statute authorizes a city to select a portion of its citizens for unique and special tax treatment.
We agree with the Court of Appeals and the circuit court that the District was validly established. The
The courts below also correctly held that the City had authority to impose taxes within the District. A municipal corporation may assume powers to impose taxes and to select the kinds of taxes most appropriate in order to provide governmental services. See, e.g., Horner‘s Market v. Tri-County Trans., 256 Or 124, 131, 471 P2d 798 (1970); Davidson Baking Co. v. Jenkins et al, 216 Or 51, 55-59, 337 P2d 352 (1959). The power to impose taxes in the District is expressly provided in the following language of the charter amendment: “for the purposes of public parking ***, of public transportation ***, and of economic promotion and development for the district, to tax persons, property and economic enterprise in the District; * * *.” (Emphasis supplied.) We interpret the charter amendment to provide express, implicit and essential authority for the property tax, the professional business tax, and the nonprofessional gross sales and receipts tax levied by the City. Robertson v. Portland, 77 Or 121, 126-28, 149 P 545 (1915).
The plaintiffs also contend that the City acted beyond its authority because the revenues from the District taxes—which the Downtown Development Board budgets for a free parking program and for an advertising program partially administered by the Eugene Downtown Association—are not used for a public purpose and are used to invest public funds in
The City of Eugene established the District to finance and administer “a program of economic promotion and development” within the city‘s central business district. Eugene Code, §§ 2.380, 2.381 (1971). The City‘s objective is to revitalize the central business district by promoting business in the area, by increasing downtown property values, by encouraging downtown shopping, and by improving services within the downtown area.14 We agree with the circuit court that the City has shown that there would be a general benefit to the economy of the City as a result of the economic improvement of the City‘s central business district. Thus the City‘s program of free parking and District advertising serves a legitimate public purpose. See Carruthers v. Port of Astoria, 249 Or 329, 341, 438 P2d 725 (1968). We also agree with the trial court‘s finding that the City‘s arrangements for the free parking and advertising programs do not expose the taxpayers to any of the risks contemplated by
III. UNIFORMITY OF TAXATION
We shall now discuss plaintiffs’ contentions that the City‘s ad valorem property tax, professional
“* * *[A]ll taxation shall be uniform on the same class of subjects within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax.”
Plaintiffs argue that this constitutional provision requires that a city tax be uniform throughout the boundaries of the city levying the tax and that a city is prohibited from imposing a tax on an area within its boundaries smaller than the whole of its city limits.15 Plaintiffs thus argue that the taxes levied exclusively within the District, which is only a portion of the city, violate the requirement of territorial uniformity found in
Plaintiffs contend, however, that the properties and businesses in the District cannot be considered a separate class from all other properties and businesses in the City because the only common characteristic shared by the properties and businesses in the District is their location.
The instant case therefore presents us with the question whether
Resolution of these problems requires us to review the history of
Territorial Uniformity Prior to 1917.
Originally, in the Oregon Constitution of 1859,
“The Legislative Assembly shall provide by law for uniform and equal rate of assessment and taxation; * * * ”
The simple language of these provisions was intended to prevent anyone from escaping his just share of the tax burden, and these requirements of “equal and uniform” taxation can be traced to a public distrust of state legislatures who were likely and willing to aid
Territorial uniformity was a judicial concept that appears to have developed from a strict interpretation of the requirements of uniformity and equality in taxation. Simply stated, the territorial uniformity concept required that a tax operate uniformly throughout the territorial limits of the government authority within and for which the tax was raised. In other words, it required that a tax levied by the state (for a state purpose) be uniform throughout the state, a tax levied by a county (for a county purpose) be uniform throughout the county, and so on. See, e.g., Yamhill County v. Foster, 53 Or 124, 99 P 286 (1909); Cook v. The Port of Portland, 20 Or 580, 27 P 263 (1891); City of East Portland v. County of Multnomah, 6 Or 62 (1876); Board of Comm‘rs of Jackson County v. State ex rel Shields, 155 Ind 604, 58 NE 1037 (1900); Watkins v. Barrow, 121 Va 236, 92 SE 908 (1917); Day v. Roberts, 101 Va 249, 43 SE 362 (1903); The People v. Salem, 20 Mich Rep 452, 474, 4 Am Rep 400 (1870); Knowlton v. Supervisors of Rock County, 9 Wis Rep 410 (1859); Exchange Bank of Columbus v. Hines, 3 Ohio St 1 (1853); Gray, Limitations of Taxing Power and Indebtedness 670, § 1351b (1906); Cooley, Constitutional Limitations 711, 726 (7th ed Lane 1903). See also Township of Pine Grove v. Talcott, supra; Gilman v. City of Sheboygan, 67 US (2 Black) 510, 17 L Ed 305 (1862). The concept was so widely accepted that, as one legal scholar observed, “[i]n some of the consti-
It is interesting to note, however, that decisions of this court prior to 1917 that recognized and applied the rule of territorial uniformity of taxation nevertheless permitted some territorially defined differentials in taxation. See, e.g., Johnson v. Jackson County, 68 Or 432, 136 P 874 (1914); City of East Portland v. County of Multnomah, 6 Or 62 (1876). Other state courts also permitted some exception to the requirement of territorial uniformity. See, e.g, Watkins v. Barrow, 121 Va 236, 92 SE 908 (1917); Daly v. Morgan, 69 Md 460, 16 A 287 (1888).
In one comprehensive study of constitutional provisions requiring uniformity of taxation, the author dismissed the importance of a territorial uniformity requirement in the following words:
“* * * A geographical connotation is a part of the complete idea symbolized in the term, and quite often the expression ‘within the
The requirement of territorial uniformity was altered when the
“The constitutional provisions of this State have been found in the past to be unnecessarily rigid. Apparently by tacit consent they have been waived in certain instances. For instance, for many years exemptions have been allowed, not permitted by the constitution, of one class of property or another, ***.
“Of recent years there has been a growing tendency in this State, in common with many other States of the Union, to divorce one class of property from another for the purpose of raising revenue for state purposes as distinguished from local. * * *
“However, this principle has been extended almost as far as now seems possible, inasmuch as under our present constitutional provisions such taxes, ordinarily designated as specific taxes, must be entirely supplemental to the general property tax contemplated by the constitution. Unless our constitutional provisions be made more elastic it is difficult to see how this principle can be further extended. * * * Your Commission has drafted the following amendments to the constitutional provisions quoted, which it believes are sufficiently elastic to permit the selection of the classes of taxable property by the legislature, the assignment of one class of property for either the territorial limits of the taxing authority’ occurs in the constitutions; but geographical uniformity is not a primary basis for limiting the taxing power, either of the states or the federal government. Its purpose is to create what may be thought of as an administrative rule for the uniform execution of such tax legislation as the legislature may enact, and logically falls outside the expressed concern of this discussion.” Matthews, The Function of Constitutional Provisions Requiring Uniformity in Taxation, 38 Ky L J 31, 56 (1949).
application of the property tax or the specific tax beyond the privilege tax, and yet will maintain the present requirements of uniformity and equality within each class itself. * * *” Report of Tax Commission 8-9 (1906). (Emphasis supplied.)
The Commission then recommended that
“* * * * [A]ll taxation shall be equal and uniform upon the same class of subjects within the territorial limits of the authority levying the taxes.” Id. (Emphasis in original.)
And the Commission recommended that
“* * * The legislative assembly shall provide by law for uniform and equal rate of assessment and taxation upon the several classes of subjects of taxation within the territorial limits of the authority levying the taxes; * * *.” Id. (Emphasis in original.)
These recommendations appear to have been the first proposals in Oregon for amending
Although the primary purpose of the 1917 amendments was to permit classification, the use of the phrase “within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax” raised the principle of territorial uniformity to that of an express constitutional requirement. But the drafters intended a requirement of territorial uniformity within each class of subjects taxed. Thus Standard Lumber Co. v. Pierce et al, supra, in discussing the 1917 amendments to
“* * * sufficiently elastic to permit the selection of the classes of taxable property * * *, and yet * * * maintain the present requirements of uniformity and equality within each class itself.” Report of Tax Commission 9 (1906) (emphasis supplied).
Thus, once a taxing authority selects a class for taxation, the tax must apply uniformly among all objects
Territorial Classification
Plaintiffs contend that
Past decisions of this court have recognized the role of the judiciary in reviewing the constitutionality of tax classifications, but we have also recognized and expressly held that a taxing authority has a wide range of discretion to classify subjects of taxation. See, e.g., Huckaba v. Johnson, 281 Or 23, 25-26, 573 P2d 305 (1978); Tharalson v. State Dept. of Rev., 281 Or 9, 16, 573 P2d 298 (1978); Dutton Lbr. Corp. v. Tax Com., 228 Or 525, 539, 365 P2d 867 (1961); Smith etal v. Columbia County et al, 216 Or 662, 341 P2d 540 (1959); Wittenberg et al v. Mutton et al, 203 Or 438, 280 P2d 359 (1955); Garbade and Boynton v. City of Portland, 188 Or 158, 191-92, 214 P2d 1000 (1950).
In previous decisions we have upheld the legislature‘s classification of income for taxation (McPherson v. Fisher, 143 Or 615, 622, 23 P2d 913 (1933)); the legislature‘s classification of occupations for taxation (State v. Winegar, 157 Or 220, 225, 69 P2d 1057 (1937)); a municipal corporation‘s classifications of various kinds of businesses, trades and professions for a license tax (Garbade and Boynton v. City of Portland, supra at 192); the legislature‘s separate tax treatment of nonresidents for income tax (Berry v. Tax Commission, 241 Or 580, 397 P2d 780, 399 P2d 164 (1964)); and the legislature‘s classification for inheritance tax purposes of property on the basis of its location either inside or outside the state (Tharalson v. State Dept. of Rev., supra at 15-17). See generally Etter, Municipal Tax Differentials, 37 Or L Rev 1 (1957).
As noted above, in the present case the city is levying its business and property taxes on all businesses and property within a geographical area. Therefore, the City is not singling out any fixed group of persons; anyone might change or move his business or his property investments in and out of the District. Cf. Tharalson v. State Dept. of Rev., supra at 17. The persons subject to the City taxes are subject thereto because they own property or operate a business within the District. Therefore, the tax classification would be constitutional as long as the geographical area defined as the District is a valid class.
In his article on municipal tax differentials, Etter notes that location is not a proper basis for classifying property. Etter, supra at 41. But he goes on to explain:
“This does not mean *** that classification which is based on valid factors but which happens to apply to property of a given locality only is thereby rendered invalid. * * *” 37 Or L Rev at 41.
There may be two types of qualitative differences that might justify singling out a geographical area for tax treatment. One type might be described as natural qualities. These would be qualities that exist in the land by reason of nature, for example, swamp land, or land with less than 20 inches rainfall, or a flood plain. The second type might be described as politically imposed qualities. These would be qualities that exist in the subterritory by political decision, commitment and action, and they may well result because of economic factors or human conditions. Thus the wider significance of the present analysis is that
The Court of Appeals reasoned that the businesses within the District are a distinct and valid class because they all share the same conditions unique to a downtown urban core area. As the court explained,
“* * * the persons subject to the District taxes share more than a common geographical boundary. They are also likely to share common conditions of transportation, difficulty of access, scarcity of parking, density, degeneration of physical plant, loss of consumer patronage, esthetic depreciation, concentration of polluting agents, declining value and other conditions of modern life which characterize the downtown core area of many cities in Oregon and elsewhere. It is the economic and physical factors of contemporary urban life, not a boundary, which provide the rational basis for the taxes at issue. * * *” 40 Or App at 196.
Although this analysis alone might adequately validate the territorial classification, we find an additional compelling reason why the District is uniquely and qualitatively different from the remainder of the city.
In addition to the fact that the businesses and property within the District presently share, and in the past have shared, the conditions unique to being in a downtown urban area, the City is taxing the District for the purpose of creating a unique area in the future. The City has committed itself to provide a package of special services not provided elsewhere in the city, including free motor vehicle parking, an economic promotion and development program, and a public transportation program. In this regard, the qualities that distinguish the District from the rest of the City are politically imposed. The District is unique not only because it contains the only downtown area in the city, but also because the City has committed itself to providing services and programs that patently and physically distinguish the District from any other area of the city.
Equality and Uniformity Within the District
Plaintiffs also contend that the property and business taxes are not being levied uniformly and equally within the District itself. In addition to arguing that the taxes violate
Plaintiffs argue that the property tax is discriminatorily imposed within the District because certain properties receive tax credits while similar properties do not. They argue that the business taxes are also discriminatorily imposed because professional businesses are taxed at a flat rate, while nonprofessional businesses are taxed on their gross receipts and sales.
Properties within the District have been subclassified according to whether the property is within the Tenth and Oak Overpark Assessment District (which is located within the Downtown Development District), or according to whether the property is devoted partly or entirely to automobile parking facilities open to the general public on a first-come-first-served basis, free of charge and under control of the Downtown Development District. Properties that provide District-controlled free parking receive a credit that reduces their District property taxes in an amount that reflects the proportion of the property devoted to such public parking. The sum of all the deductions for these properties is then apportioned to all other properties in the District in accordance with their respective assessed valuations. Next, the properties that contributed to the Overpark Assessment District receive a credit equal to their assessment, and that amount is deducted from their District property taxes. The sum of all the deductions for the Overpark assessment is apportioned finally to all the properties in the District in accordance with their respective assessed valuations, except the properties whose adjusted property tax does not exceed their Overpark assessment.
Plaintiffs contend that the classification for tax credit of properties located within the Overpark Assessment District is an unconstitutional territorial classification. These property owners, however, do not receive credits because they are located in the Overpark Assessment District. They receive credits because they are assessed by the Overpark Assessment District and thus, like the property owners who provide District-controlled parking, they are already financing public parking within the District.
Finally, plaintiffs contend that taxing professional businesses in the District at a flat rate while taxing nonprofessional businesses in the District according to their gross sales and receipts violates the constitutional requirements of equal protection and uniform taxation. We disagree.
For the same reasons, the City‘s tax scheme does not grant any citizen or class of citizens a privilege or immunity that is not equally available to all on the same terms (
IV. DISTRICT PARKING RESTRICTIONS
Plaintiffs contend that the city ordinances that restrict parking by those persons employed, resident or lodged within the District while in their place of employment or while in their lodging or residence constitute a denial of equal privileges or immunities under
Plaintiffs contend that
We therefore conclude that the terms of the parking ordinance do not violate
CONCLUSION
Plaintiffs raise many other challenges to the City‘s ordinances; for example, that the ordinances prohibiting parking are void for vagueness, and that the parking program violates the
We conclude that the circuit court had jurisdiction over the challenges to the ad valorem property tax. We also conclude that the City‘s charter amendment and ordinances are lawful and constitutional.
Affirmed as modified.
The majority reaches a result which many would agree is socially, politically and economically desirable. But the decision in this case turns not on social desirability, political wisdom or economic need. This case is determined by
Article I, section 32 , by its clear terms, prohibits a taxing authority from creating a class of subjects determined by geographical lines.- A policy underlying the “territorial limits” clause of
Article I, section 32 , is to prevent a majority from imposing tax burdens that should be uniformly distributed upon all, upon a minority within the territorial limits of the taxing authority. The imposition of a tax burden only upon those owning property or operating businesses within a geographical area, when similar property exists outside the geographical area but within the taxing district, is improper and violates the uniformity clause.
1.
“* * * * * [A]ll taxation shall be uniform on the same class of subjects within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax.”
The phrase “all taxation shall be uniform on the same class of subjects” was contained in a 1917 amendment to
The inclusion in 1917 of the words “all taxation shall be uniform on the same class of subjects” permitted “the classification of property in respect to its nature, condition or class, and the imposition thereon of different rates of taxation upon different classes of property.”2 The framers of the 1917 amendment thus guaranteed that (a) among members of a class, uniformity would exist, and (b) that within the taxing district, territorial uniformity would also exist.
In this case, the “authority levying the tax” is the City of Eugene, not the Downtown Development District. For the purposes of this case, the constitutional provision should be read as follows:
“* * * [A]ll taxation shall be uniform on the same class of subjects within the territorial limits of the [City of Eugene].”
Applying the plain language of the constitution, this requires that all property of the same class within the city be taxed uniformly. There is no claim in this case that properties of the type found in the district are not found elsewhere in Eugene.
The majority upholds the creation of a class determined by geographical location because
“* * * a classification based on or defined by geographical location is nevertheless constitutionally permissible if it is also based upon qualitative differences that distinguish the geographical area from other areas within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax. * * * [I]f the subterritory is different in quality compared to the rest of the territory, then article I, section 32, does not prohibit a
taxing authority from defining the subterritory as a separate class. * * *” 289 Or at 180.
The majority concludes that a tax classification based upon geographical location is valid if the territory is “qualitatively different,” either because of (1) natural characteristics such as “swamp land, or land with less than 20 inches rainfall, or a flood plain,” or (2) politically imposed qualitative factors such as those resulting from human conditions or the economy of the area. The majority states:
“* * * [W]e find an additional compelling reason why the District is uniquely and qualitatively different from the remainder of the city.
“In addition to the fact that the businesses and property within the District presently share, and in the past have shared, the conditions unique to being in a downtown urban area, the City is taxing the District for the purpose of creating a unique area in the future. The City has committed itself to provide a package of special services not provided elsewhere in the city, including free motor vehicle parking, an economic promotion and development program, and a public transportation program. In this regard, the qualities that distinguish the District from the rest of the City are politically imposed. The District is unique not only because it contains the only downtown area in the city, but also because the City has committed itself to providing services and programs that patently and physically distinguish the District from any other area of the city.” 289 Or at 181.
The majority‘s conclusions do not withstand critical analysis. The “natural characteristics” approach, under which a class of subjects may be determined by the “qualities that exist in the land by reason of nature,” may well be a valid approach, if the law defines the class by the natural characteristics and not by location. But that approach was not used by the City of Eugene to define the class and the subdistricting cannot be upheld on that basis.
As to (b), clearly this is a bootstrap approach under which any taxing body could impose additional taxes upon any area because of planned improvement in order to create “a unique area in the future.” Under this concept, a slum area consisting of modest homes, owned by their occupants, could be slated for urban renewal “in order to create a unique area in the future.” Taxes to renew the area could be imposed solely upon the homeowners. The property owners’ inability to pay the increased taxes might well compel them to sell their homes to investors who could afford to pay the higher taxes in anticipation of increased land values after the qualitative improvements had been made. Such a tax, under the majority‘s reasoning, would be valid. It would also, in a real sense, be confiscatory.
The city‘s classification of the District, if valid at all, can only be valid because the property within the District shares unique qualities—qualities which are unique to it, and to it only. But there is no evidence in this case that properties of similar type, similar construction and similar use do not exist outside the geographical area.
The only truly unique feature of the District is its location.3 In no other way can it be said that the conditions in the District are totally unique to it.
Orval Etter, one of the attorneys for the City of Eugene in this case, is well known as an authority on Oregon municipal law. The lead article in the 1957 Oregon Law Review was written by Mr. Etter on the subject “Municipal Tax Differentials.”4 On the subject of classifying property for tax purposes on a geographical basis, Mr. Etter‘s conclusion leaves no room for doubt—classification based on location is impermissible.
“(2) Location Not a Proper Basis. Before specific permissible bases for classifying property for purposes of taxation are listed, it is appropriate to eliminate one basis which is generally not regarded as
permissible and which apparently is ruled out explicitly and completely by the requirement of territorial uniformity in the Oregon constitution. This basis is location. ‘Location of land,’ says Cooley [citing 1 Cooley, Taxation 718 (4th ed 1924)], is ‘not a proper basis for classification.‘” 37 Or L Rev at 41. (Footnotes omitted.)
Mr. Etter hastens to add that, by creating a special taxing district, with authority to levy taxes, taxes can be validly imposed within a subdistrict. He writes:
“Closely related to benefits as a basis for tax classification is the special taxing district in which property in an area is specially taxed to defray the cost of one or more public services specially benefiting that property. Such special taxing districts have been set up innumerable times without violating constitutional requirements that taxes be equal and uniform. Sometimes the rationale for their creation has been that the charges levied in the district have been special assessments and not taxes. Yet the charges have sometimes been called taxes, and the differentiation between the two is not always clear, or at least is sometimes not made explicit. Whatever the proper differentiation between the two, so long as these taxing districts are set up on a reasonable basis, with boundaries that are not wholly arbitrary, they afford a constitutional approach to the problem of classifying property for purposes of public charges. The classification can be based on the benefits received from expenditure of the revenue derived from the charges. Sometimes, indeed, the courts seem to speak interchangeably of classifying property and of including it in a special taxing district.
“The very purpose of these districts is ‘to make taxes for certain purposes equal and uniform.’ To tax all persons in an area [quoting from 1 Cooley, supra at 671, 672, 674]
“‘for improvements of a local character may produce the very inequality which is forbidden by state constitutions; and hence the creation of taxing districts for such improvements, so as to place the burden on those specially benefited, creates equality and uniformity rather than destroys it.
“* * * different taxing districts, for the same general purpose, may be thus created where there are peculiar reasons why one part of the public should bear a proportion of the burden greater than that which should be borne by another, and a greater rate of taxation be imposed on some districts than others.’
“These districts ‘may be as numerous as the purposes for which taxes are levied.‘” 37 Or L Rev at 44-45. (Footnotes omitted.)5
Another way of achieving the goal sought would be to amend the constitution to permit a city to tax some districts differently than others. Oak Park Federal Savings & Loan Association v. Village of Oak Park, 54 Ill 2d 200, 296 NE2d 344 (1973), illustrates this point well. There,
The governing body of Oak Park, Illinois, enacted a series of ordinances “for establishing areas for the providing of special services and provided that the president and board of trustees of the Village of Oak Park shall be the governing body of the special
For reasons not relevant to this opinion, the action of the village board was held to be invalid. The case illustrates, however, the point that in order to achieve a subdistricting scheme similar to the one involved in this case, a constitutional amendment was required.
The constitutions of other states contain provisions similar to
Monaghan v. Lewis, 21 Del (5 Penne) 218, 59 A 948 (1905), is a case involving a law passed by the Delaware legislature which recited:
“* * * whereas, all that portion of the city of Wilmington, bounded by Seventh Street on the south, Twelfth Street extended on the north, Woodlawn avenue on the east, and Greenhill avenue on the west, the same having but two dwelling houses erected thereon, and deriving no benefit from being within the limits of the said city, and will not derive any benefit for years to come * * *”
The law imposed taxes on the described area at a rate “not exceeding one-fourth of the regular rate levied on persons and estates in the remaining parts of the said city.”
Essex County Park Commission v. Town of West Orange, 77 NJL 575, 73 A 511 (1909) involved an act which exempted selected public lands from taxation. The
The New Jersey court struck down the law, saying:
“To form a class with reference to the accident of the location of the property is to ignore the fact that differences in the amount of ratables in every taxing district make differences in the amounts assessed for township, county, and state taxes. Whether all property similarly used and possessing the same characteristics is included in the ratables should be the test of the generality of the law. * * *
“Classification according to the location of the property is not a classification according to any feature inherent in the property itself, but with reference entirely to chance of location, a circumstance quite as disconnected with the characteristics of the property itself as its ownership * * *.” 73 A at 513.
Accord, Baldwin Construction Co. v. Essex County Board of Taxation, 16 NJ 329, 108 A2d 598 (1954), which held that increased assessments in selected areas determined by “arbitrarily fixed geographical boundaries of necessity worked discrimination in respect of comparable properties immediately beyond the unreasoned and artificial borderline.” 108 A2d at 603.
The record in this case also reflects arbitrary decisions made without reference to any objective criteria. A group of “business people” whose properties were within one block of the northern district boundary requested to have their properties included in the district. According to one of the city planners, these properties did not meet the “distance from the mall criteria [sic],” but the properties were included in the district, nonetheless. Other property owners whose properties met the criterion were excluded from the district because they did not want to be within the district.
I will concede that these variations may be minor. But a classification, the applicability of which depends upon such whims, cannot be valid.
I believe that the majority strains to reach a desired result because it is persuaded that the Eugene City Council has taken a dynamic step toward the solution of a problem chronic to our cities—core area decay—in order to achieve a socially desirable result. I am sympathetic with the goal sought to be attained. Unfortunately,
A policy underlying the “territorial limits” clause of
The primary reason justifying the action taken by the city is that a general benefit to the city will result. The majority, at 289 Or 170, states:
“* * * We agree with the circuit court that the City has shown that there would be a general benefit to the economy of the City as a result of the economic improvement of the City‘s central business district. Thus the City‘s program of free parking and District advertising serves a legitimate public purpose. * * *”
In a very real sense, only the property owners, merchants and business people in the District are being taxed and deprived of their parking in order to create a “benefit to the economy of the City as a result of the economic improvement of the City‘s central business district.”
Some contend that the burden of taxes should be imposed according to the benefit which each taxpayer receives from the protection afforded by the government. But almost universally, the public policy of uniformity prevails over the public policy of taxation according to the benefit received.
“But notwithstanding the rule of uniformity lying at the basis of every just system of taxation, there are doubtless many individual cases where the weight of a tax falls unequally upon the owners of the property taxed. This is almost unavoidable under every system
of direct taxation. But the tax is not rendered illegal by such discrimination. Thus every citizen is bound to pay his proportion of a school tax, though he have no children; of a police tax, though he have no buildings or personal property to be guarded; or of a road tax, though he never use the road. In other words, a general tax cannot be dissected to show that, as to certain constituent parts, the taxpayer receives no benefit. Even in case of special assessments imposed for the improvement of property within certain limits, the fact that it is extremely doubtful whether a particular lot can receive any benefit from the improvement does not invalidate the tax with respect to such lot. * * *” Union Transit Co. v. Kentucky, 199 US 194, 203, 26 S Ct 36, 50 L Ed 150 (1905).
The district in this case was created by a vote of the voters of the entire city, and the tax was imposed by a vote of the elected representatives of the voters of the entire city. Beyond question, and in every sense, the majority is imposing a tax upon the minority which (to use the language of the majority opinion) will “benefit * * * the economy of the [entire] City.”6
Unquestionably, the essence of the democratic process is the sovereignty of the majority. The interests of the many are preferred to those of the few.7 In that sense, the minority is subject to the will of the majority.
But it is equally well settled that the majority cannot, without restriction, impose economic, social, or political burdens upon the minority that are not common to all. The majority‘s holding permits the imposition of excessive tax burdens upon the minority.
“* * * [I]n political speculations, the ‘tyranny of the majority’ is now generally included among the evils against which society requires to be on its guard.
“* * * * *
“* * * All that makes existence valuable to any one, depends on the enforcement of restraints upon the actions of other people * * * ”8
The restraint placed upon the legislature is normally found in the state‘s constitution. Alexander Hamilton referred to restriction of popular government under a constitution so as to secure the protection of the individual‘s rights from the majority.9
The majority‘s recognition that the language of
The evils which
If a qualitative class is to exist, the class must be determined by qualitative factors. And if the classification is to have validity, those qualitative factors must be set forth in the law itself.
Justice Jackson, concurring in Railway Express v. New York, 336 US 106, 112-113, 69 S Ct 463, 93 L Ed 533 (1949), opined:
“* * * The framers of the Constitution knew, and we should not forget today, that there is no more effective practical guaranty against arbitrary and unreasonable government than to require that the principles of law which officials would impose upon a minority must be imposed generally. Conversely, nothing opens the door to arbitrary action so effectively as to allow those officials to pick and choose only a few to whom they will apply legislation and thus to escape the political retribution that might be visited upon them if larger numbers were affected. Courts can take no better measure to assure that laws will be just than to require that laws be equal in operation.”10
Strict adherence to
Lent, J., joins in this dissent.
Notes
“(1) Subject only to the provisions of
“(a)
“(b)
“(c) ORS chapter 477 relating to fire protection assessments.
“(d) ORS chapters 731, 732, 733, 734, 737, 743, 744, 746, 748 and 750 relating to insurance company fees and taxes.
“(e) ORS chapter 473 relating to liquor taxes.
“(f) ORS chapter 583 relating to milk marketing, production or distribution fees.”
Etter, Municipal Tax Differentials, 37 Or L Rev 1 (1957).“No county, city, town or other municipal corporation by vote of its citizens, or otherwise, shall become a stockholder in any joint company, corporation or association, whatever, or raise money for, or loan its credit to, or in aid of, any such company, corporation or association. * * * ”
“The Legislative Assembly shall, and the people through the initiative may, provide by law uniform rules of assessment and taxation. All taxes shall be levied and collected under general laws operating uniformly throughout the State.”
Plaintiffs do not distinguish between
The two provisions, however, are not identical. Although
Furthermore,
“* * * A requirement of uniformity does not mean that the rate of taxation shall be exactly the same in every subdivision of the state. The legislature may create taxing districts for special purposes and may levy taxes in those districts for purposes germane to the objects for which the districts are created.
“The rule only requires that taxation shall be uniform within the limits of the authority levying the tax, that is, that a tax levied for state purposes shall be uniform throughout the state, a tax levied for county purposes shall be uniform throughout the county, and so on. In some of the constitutions this rule is expressly stated, but where it is not thus expressly stated the constitutions are interpreted in conformity with it.
“There is uniformity and equality of assessment and taxation where the same basis of assessment is fixed for all property, and the same rate of taxation is fixed within the district subject to taxation. If it be a tax for state purposes, there is equality and uniformity where the rate is the same throughout the state; if for county or township purposes there is equality and uniformity where the rate is the same throughout the county or township. So long as this result is reached, it makes little or no difference by how many or by what agencies it is accomplished.” Gray, Limitations of Taxing Power and Indebtedness § 1351b at 670 (1906). (Footnotes omitted.)
See also, Cooley, Constitutional Limitations 726 (7th ed Lane 1903):
“* * * * The rule of apportionment must be uniform throughout the taxing district, applicable to all alike; but the legislature have no power to arrange the taxing districts arbitrarily, and without reference to the great fundamental principle of taxation, that the burden must be borne by those upon whom it justly rests. * * * ”
Thus, we did not hold that all taxation must be uniform throughout the taxing district; we merely held that a tax that is uniform throughout the taxing district is constitutional. Our statements in Malheur County, that a tax must be uniform within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax and that the rate of taxation must be uniform throughout the taxing district, were only dicta. We note in particular that Yamhill County, was decided prior to the 1917 amendments to“In our opinion, chapter 545 [the state statute in question] imposes a duty upon each county to levy a county tax. * * * Since the tax required to be levied is a county tax, and since the levy will be uniform within each county, there is a sufficient compliance with the provisions of the constitution requiring uniformity.” Id. at 412.
“No law shall be passed granting to any citizen or class of citizens privileges, or immunities, which, upon the same terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens.”
“No State shall * * * deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”