175 S.E. 354 | W. Va. | 1934
This is an appeal from a decree of the circuit court of Kanawha County, sustaining a demurrer to, and dismissing, the bill, in the suit of a taxpayer to enjoin the State Tax Commissioner from levying and collecting a privilege or gross income tax.
The statute [sub-section (i), section 2, chapter
The bill discloses that plaintiff, during the year 1933, received income from (a) salary, (b) interest on loans, (c) rents and royalties, (d) profit on casual sales of stock, (e) dividends on corporate stock, and (f) income on gas sales; charges that subdivision (i) and related provisions of the Act are unconstitutional under (1) the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution, (2) section
The exemption of income from horticulture, agriculture or grazing is the basis of the first and second constitutional objections.
Plaintiff contends that the statute imposes a tax on all persons engaged in any form of business activity as a class, and that the farmer is therefore excepted not as a class but as part of a class. Whether farmers be treated as a class or as a part of a class, we believe the exception rests upon a reasonable basis of distinction or difference. The farmer not only produces commodities indispensable to human existence, but must trust to luck in the fluctuation of prices and the succession of unpredictable weather conditions. Realizing the plight of the farmer under existing economic uncertainties, the Federal Government in an effort to aid him, has gone to the extent of levying processing taxes, chargeable to the consumer, for his benefit. The people of the state have clearly indicated in the constitutional tax amendment the necessity of adjusting their system of taxation in respect to farming by authorizing the exemption of "the personal property, including live stock, employed exclusively in agriculture * * * and the products of agriculture * * * while owned by the producers" and limiting to fifty cents on each one hundred dollars value the rate of levy on "personal property employed exclusively in agriculture, * * * including horticulture and grazing, and products of agriculture while owned by the producer". It is argued that as approximately *278
one-half of the male population of the state is engaged in farming, the exemption will result in the loss of a large amount of revenue. According to available statistics, the revenue, which, but for the exemption, would have been derived from agriculture, horticulture and grazing is relatively small as compared with the revenue from other sources under the statute. The income from farming in this state, according to the capital invested and service employed, is doubtless less than that realized from any other productive enterprise, and many of the farmers must intermittently pursue other employment in order to earn a livelihood. West Virginia is an industrial state, primarily engaged in mining and manufacturing. InMoore v. State Board of Charities,
2. Does the exemption violate the tax amendment to the Constitution wherein it provides that "the legislature shall have authority to tax privileges, franchises and incomes of persons and corporations and to classify and graduate tax on all incomes according to the amount thereof, and to exempt from taxation incomes below a minimum to be fixed from time to time"? It is urged by counsel for plaintiff that as the amendment confers upon the legislature authority only to classify and graduate tax on incomes, it is without power to classify privileges and franchises. A sufficient answer to this contention is that the legislature is inherently vested with plenary powers in the absence of explicit constitutional inhibition. "Whether the legislature has a certain power (not directly withdrawn) is not to be decided simply by marshalling the reasons for and against and then determining on which side is the weight of argument. The negation of the power must be manifest beyond reasonable doubt." State Road Commission v.County Court of Kanawha County,
3. It is further contended that the purpose of the Act is not stated in the title thereof as required by section 30, Article VI of the State Constitution. The first part of the title provides for the repeal of sections 1 to 17, inclusive, article 13, chapter 11, Code 1931, and the enactment *284
in lieu thereof of sections 1 to 23, inclusive. The sections repealed pertain to business and occupational taxes, as disclosed by the title to the original act. As the sections substituted are, in our opinion, germane to and consistent with the title of the repealed sections, the title to the Act under consideration, as applied to sub-section (i), seems sufficiently comprehensive to meet the constitutional requirement. "If the provisions of an amendatory act are germane to the purpose expressed in the title of the original act and not inconsistent therewith, section 30, Article VI of the Constitution, will be satisfied by reference thereto in the title of the amendatory act." State v. Furr,
B. We reject the theory of plaintiff that income from loans and investments is not an income of a "business, profession, trade, occupation or calling" within the meaning of the statute, which provides that "business", as used therein, "shall include all activities engaged in or caused to be engaged in with the object of gain or economic benefit either direct or indirect." The lending or investing of money requires of one so engaged active and discriminate judgment.
The ruling of the circuit court is, therefore, affirmed.
Affirmed.