3 Foster 19 | Pa. | 1875
the opinion of the court, May 31st 1875.
We are of opinion that the tax imposed by the 7th section of the Act of April 24th 1874 is upon the corporate franchise of this company measured by its business, to wit: by the number of tons of coal mined or purchased and sold by it, and is not upon the coal itself. The tax thus imposed upon the franchise is uniform, it b.eing at the rate of three cents upon every gross ton. mined or purchased and sold. The argument against the tax must therefore deny the right of classification. The classification here is of incorporated coa.1 mining, and purchasing and selling companies, and the subject of taxation, their franchise or privilege of pursuing this business. Now, what is there to prevent the legislature from making this class ? It is not expressly forbidden in the first section of the ninth article of the constitution. It says: “All taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of subjects within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, and shall be levied and collected under general laws.” Clearly there is nothing in this prohibiting the power to classify. Will it be argued that persons, or the owners of property, cannot be classified? Eor example, can it be said that all single freemen cannot be required to pay a uniform tax ? Or that the owners of horses or mules, or of cattle, cannot be taxed upon their horses, mules and cattle, at a certain rate ? Or that the owner of unseated lands, or of farms, or mills, or houses and lots cannot be taxed at a uniform rate ? What difference is there between saying that all horses and mules shall be taxed a certain rate, and saying that the owners of these horses and mules shall be taxed at the same rate upon them? The distinction is evidently unmeaning. Persons pay taxes, not property. This is so even when the remedy for the recovery of the tax is in rem. The law only takes hold of the property as a means of enforcing the duty of the person. When the constitution enjoins uniformity of taxation, it is because of the right of the citizen, not of a right possessed by his property. Property is known to society and controlled only through its ownership, and even when by death or other cause it becomes common, the law immediately gives to it a new owner, and thereby prevents the strife which would attend appropriation by seizure and occupancy. Hence, when the constitution said that all taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of subjects within a given territory, it did not mean to
Judgment affirmed.