94 Mass. 500 | Mass. | 1866
The nature and extent of the power granted to the legislature by that clause of the constitution, pt. 2, c. 1 § 1, art. 4, which confers authority to lay and assess taxes, have been recently very fully considered by this court. Freeland v. Hastings, 10 Allen, 570. Oliver v. Washington Mills, 11 Allen, 268. Dorgan v. Boston, ante, 223. In these cases it has been held that a just exposition of the language of the constitution as applied to the subject matter, while it leads to the conclusion that the power of taxation was not designed to be absolute or unrestricted, and that a clear excess or abuse of its exercise may 3e checked and controlled, likewise shows that it was intended to vest a very large discretion in the legislature, both as t<$ the purposes for which money may be raised by taxation, and as to the mo le in which certain public burdens requiring the expendí turc of money may be apportioned and distributed among the
Without again going over the reasons on which this interpretation of the clause of the constitution relating to the power of taxation vested in the legislature is based, it will be sufficient for the decision of this case to ascertain whether the petitioners have set forth and maintained any satisfactory grounds on which it can be held that the authority given to the town of Amherst by St. 1865, c. 195,16 to raise fifty thousand dollars for the Agricultural College,” is illegal and invalid, for the reason that it empowers the voters of the town to impose a tax which is not “reasonable and proportional,” in the sense in which these words, as judicially interpreted, are used in the constitution.
At the outset of this inquiry, it is important to understand the precise nature and character of the institution for which the money is proposed to be raised. By an act of the congress of the United States, U. S. .St. of 1862, c. 130, there was granted to each state of the Union an amount of public land, equal to thirty thousand acres for each senator and representative
This brief statement of the history of the origin of said college, and of the purposes for which it was designed, makes it apparent that, in accepting the grant or gift of the share or proportion of the public lands appropriated by the act of congress to this commonwealth, the legislature not only acted strictly within its constitutional authority, but also in accordance with the duty enjoined upon it by an express provision of the constitution, c. 5, § 2, by which it is ordained that it shall be !! the duty of legislatures in all future periods of the Commonwealth to cherish the interests of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries of them,” and to encourage “ public institutions for the promotion of agriculture, arts, sciences,” &c. But the acceptance of the gift or grant for a public purpose of this nature, especially with the conditions attached to it by the act of congress, involved the assumption by the state of certain duties and burdens which it was bound to perform and discharge. The gift was not an absolute one. It was upon certain trusts expressly set forth and declared, to the execution of which the state became solemnly pledged. No part of the funds derived from the sale of lands granted by the United States could be expended in the erection of buildings, and only a small portion thereof in the purchase of land. But expenditures of money to a large amount for these purposes were essential to the creation and establishment of the college which the Commonwealth was by the act of congress bound to provide within five years from the date of the acceptance of the grant of land. This, therefore, was a public burden or duty which the Commonwealth had taken upon itself, and was bound to discharge, in order that it might faithfully execute the trusts which it had' assumed, and thereby enable the people of the state to enjoy the benefits which were expected to flow from the bounty of the national government.
There can be no doubt that, as a general rule, where an expenditure is to be made for a public object, the execution of which will be substantially beneficial to every portion f th
In this view, it seems to us that the statute by which the legislature empowered the town of Amherst to assess on its inhabitants a tax of fifty thousand dollars, to raise money to be paid to the Massachusetts Agricultural College, was legal and valid, and within the scope of constitutional authority conferred on the legislative department of the government. In the fulfilment of
The argument urged in behalf of the petitioners seems to us to be based on incorrect premises. The proposition is not strictly true that the money to be raised by the tax is to be paid to a corporate body to be applied for purposes in which the town has no especial interest. A more accurate statement would be, that the money is to be raised to defray a portion of a public charge in fulfilment of a trust which the Commonwealth has rightfully assumed, and in which all the people of the Commonwealth have an interest, and that a proportional assessment of this common public charge requires that a greater share of the burden should be borne by persons and estates within a particular town than by those situated and being without its limits. Nor can it be justly said that because the benefit or advantage which may be derived from the location of the college will inure to individuals by increasing the value of their property or by otherwise promoting their interests, the money is to be raised for a private and not a public service or use. The tax is not imposed for the benefit of individuals, or to raise the value of private property in the town, but in order that a great public institution may be established and maintained. This is the real and primary object. But inasmuch as, public charges must be borne by individuals, by means of assessments proportionally and reasonably assessed, a tax may be apportioned among them according to the special benefits which they may receive from the execution of a public work, without in any degree affecting the nature or character of the object for which the money is to be raised. It is on this principle that all taxes are assessed for the making of roads and bridges, for the building of drains and other works of a similar character, for the construction of which assessments are always graduated and imposed, in whole or in part, according to the benefits which may accrue to individuals by the execution of the work.
We do not think it necessary to dwell on the objection that the effect of raising money by the proposed tax under the authority of the act in question will be to release and discharge
But it is urged in behalf of the petitioners that although the tax in question may not be open to the objection that it is disproportional and unreasonable, it is nevertheless in violation of another clause in the constitution, Amendments, art. 18, which provides that “ all moneys raised by taxation in the towns and cities for the support of public schools, and all moneys which may be appropriated by the state for the support of common schools, shall be applied to, and expended on, no other schools than those which are conducted according to law, under the order and superintendence of the authorities of the town or city in which the money is to expended ; and such moneys shall never be appropriated to any religious sect for the maintenance exclusively of its own school.” The short and decisive answer to this proposition is, that this amendment does not include or apply to an appropriation of money for an object such as is contemplated by the statute in question. The object of the provision is to regulate the expenditure of money raised by towns or cities for general educational purposes, and to confine it strictly to the support of the common or public schools, which every town is required to maintain under the general laws establishing a uniform system of education for children and youth throughout the state, and also to restrain the raising of money by taxation for the support of schools df a religious and sectarian character. The phrases “public schools” and “common schools” have acquired under the "egislation and practice of this state a well settled signification.