117 Ga. 969 | Ga. | 1903
Suit was brought by Kehrer against Stewart, in the city court of Atlanta. This suit was based upon the exaction by the defendant, who was tax-collector of the county, of a specific tax assessed against petitioner as agent, in Eulton county, “ of Nelson. Morris & Co., a packing-house doing business in this State.” This tax was alleged to be illegal and void as applied to the petitioner, who had paid it under protest and to prevent the
It is well established and sound law that where the burden of a tax falls on 'the thing which is the subject of taxation, the tax is to be regarded as laid on the thing rather than on the individ
From the petition, however, it appears that Nelson Morris & Co. are engaged also in a business which is subject to State taxation and control. Where property has been brought, into a State and has become itself subject to taxation therein, its sale in such State is not commerce between the States, but is purely intrastate. “While it is exclusively the province of' Congress to regulate commerce between the several States, and to protect the same from hostile State legislation, yet when products are shipped from one State and lodged in another, there to be offered for sale in open market, the business of selling them there is no longer interstate commerce, but assumes a domestic character and becomes subject to the laws of taxation of force in the State where such business is pursued. The property involved in the conduct of this business, having become