324 Mass. 724 | Mass. | 1949
To the Honorable the Senate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts:
The Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court respectfully submit these answers to questions set forth in an order adopted by the Senate on March 3, 1949. A copy of the order is attached hereto.
The order recites that there are pending before the General Court the inaugural address of His Excellency the Governor, printed as Senate Document No. 1, and two petitions with accompanying bills, printed respectively as Senate Document No. 57 and House Document No. 1478. The questions relate to the constitutionality of a recommendation of the Governor that “The Constitution permitting,” authority be granted to cities and towns to exempt new residential construction (the building only and not the land) from local real estate taxation for a period of five years, and to the constitutionality of the two bills, apparently designed wholly or partly to carry out that recommendation in
The questions are these:
“1. Is it within the competency of the General Court, under that clause of Article IV of section one of chapter one of the Constitution of Massachusetts which reads, in part, as follows: — • The General Court is empowered ‘to impose and levy proportional and reasonable assessments, rates, and taxes, upon all the inhabitants of, and persons resident, and estates lying, within the said commonwealth; and also to impose and levy reasonable duties and excises upon any produce, goods, wares, merchandise, and commodities, whatsoever, brought into, produced, manufactured, or being within the same; . . . And while the public charges of government, or any part thereof, shall be assessed on polls and estates, in the manner that has hitherto been practised, in order that such assessments may be made with equality, there shall be a valuation of estates within the commonwealth, taken anew once in every ten years at least, and as much oftener as the general court shall order’, or under Article 10 of the Declaration of Rights which reads in part:
“‘Each individual of the society has a right to be protected by it in the enjoyment of his life, liberty, and*726 property, according to standing laws. He is obliged, consequently, to contribute his share to the expense of this protection’, or under any other provision of the Constitution relative to taxation or exemption from taxation, to enact a law which would authorize cities and towns to exempt new residential construction from local real estate taxation for a period of five years, substantially as recommended in said Senate Document No. 1? “2. Is it within the competency of the General Court to enact a law providing that the value of all buildings to be used solely for residential purposes, except hotels, constructed during the period of one year on and after the effective date of said law, shall be exempt from taxation under the provisions of chapter fifty-nine of the General Laws for a period of five years after date of construction; provided, that said buildings shall continue to be used solely for residential purposes during said period, as provided in Senate Document No. 57?
“3. Is it within the competency of the General Court to enact into law a bill providing that for the next five years all housing units to be constructed for sale to veterans of World War II shall be exempted from real estate taxation for a period of five years after completion of construction excepting that the land upon which the houses are erected shall continue to be assessed at value, as provided in House Document No. 1478?
“4. Would the exemption of newly constructed property, as provided in said recommendation or in either of said bills, result in the disproportionate taxation of other property in the same taxing district and thus be violative of any provision of the constitution relating to taxation and the exemption therefrom?
“5. May the General Court provide that the property of one class of persons shall be exempt from the taxes on the same type of property owned by other classes of persons?
“6. Would the effect of said recommendation or of either of said bills, if enacted into law, violate the constitutional*727 mandate that, in order to be proportional the amount to be raised by taxation shall be shared by the taxpayers according to the taxable real and personal estate of each?
“7. Would the effect of said recommendation or of either of said bills, if enacted into law, be discriminatory between particular persons and classes?
“8. Would the effect of said recommendation or of either of said bills, if enacted into law, cause the taxes imposed on other estates to be unproportional and unreasonable?”
Article 10 of the Declaration of Rights reads in part, “Each individual of the society has a right to be protected by it in the enjoyment of his life, liberty and property, according to standing laws. He is obliged, consequently, to contribute his share to the expense of this protection . . ..” It has been said that this is the statement of a general principle, “controlling of all constitutional provisions touching taxation.” Opinion of the Justices, 270 Mass. 593, 599. But more precise provisions are contained in Part II, c. 1, § 1, art. 4, of the Constitution, by which full power and authority are given to the General Court to “impose and levy proportional and reasonable assessments, rates, and taxes, upon all the inhabitants of, and persons resident, and estates lying, within the said commonwealth; and also to impose and levy, reasonable duties and excises . . ..” This article further provides that “while the public charges of government, or any part thereof, shall be assessed on polls and estates, in the manner that has hitherto been practised, in order that such assessments may be made with equality, there shall be a valuation of estates within the commonwealth taken anew once in every ten years at least, and as much oftener as the general court shall order.”
The crux of the matter is to be found in the requirements that property taxes, as distinguished from “duties and excises” (see S. S. White Dental Manuf. Co. v. Commonwealth, 212 Mass. 35, 38), shall be “proportional,” and that, while assessments are levied on property for the public charges of government, there shall be periodic valuations,
The requirement that a tax on property be. proportional to the property owned extends to such property taxes as the Legislature authorizes to be assessed and collected through municipalities, although the differences in rates among the different local assessing units has not been regarded as a violation of the proportional principle. Dorgan v. Boston, 12 Allen, 223, 234-238, 240-241. Providence Institution for Savings v. Boston, 101 Mass. 575, 586. Northampton v. County Commissioners of Hampshire, 145 Mass. 108, 111. See Chelsea v. Treasurer & Receiver General, 237 Mass. 422, 431.
It seems plain that a tax assessed upon most property at the current rate but upon other property at a lower rate, or in this instance (as to buildings) at no rate at all, is not “proportional” to property owned. The result of the enactment of either of the proposed bills would be that a person owning property in the form of a dwelling constructed during the designated period after enactment would pay no taxes upon it for five years, while other property owners would pay at current rates upon all property owned by them, and that a person owning such a dwelling and also other property would pay taxes on only a part of the property owned by him. There would no longer be a uniform ratio between the value of property owned and the taxes upon it. Cheshire v. County Commissioners of Berkshire, 118 Mass. 386. Connecticut Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Commonwealth, 133 Mass. 161. Opinion of the Justices, 195 Mass. 607, 614. Opinion of the Justices, 208 Mass. 616. S. S. White Dental Manuf. Co. v. Commonwealth, 212 Mass. 35, 38. Opinion of the Justices, 220 Mass. 613, 619-623. Perkins v. Westwood, 226 Mass. 268. Animal Rescue League of Boston v. Assessors of Bourne, 310 Mass. 330, 332.
But, it may be argued, the proposed bills merely provide
The various statutory exemptions can for the most part be collected into certain classes which cannot fairly be said to offend against the foregoing requirements. (1) One large class consists of property belonging to the public or devoted to uses of a public, quasi public, or patriotic nature or to religious, charitable or philanthropic enterprises which tend in some measure directly or indirectly to relieve public burdens. In this class may be placed the exemptions of property of the United States, of the Commonwealth, of literary, benevolent, charitable, and scientific institutions and temperance societies, of incorporated agricultural and horticultural societies, of organizations of veterans, of militia units, of fraternal benefit societies, of retirement systems (including pension payments, G. L. [Ter. Ed.] c. 32, § 19, as inserted by St. 1945, c. 658, § 1), of annuity, pension or endowment associations (including pension payments, G. L. [Ter. Ed.] c. 32, § 41), of religious organizations and churches, of cemeteries, of certain water companies, and of credit unions, all as provided in G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 59, § 5, First to Fifteenth, inclusive, as amended in clause Eighth by St. 1947, c. 83, § 1. In this class may also be placed the exemption of the property of housing authorities under G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 121, § 26R, as inserted by St. 1946, c. 574, § 1, and of urban redevelopment corporations under G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 121A, § 10, inserted by St. 1945, c. 654, § 1, and the exemption of certain property of public service corporations which was, or could have been, taken by eminent domain and is devoted to public purposes. Assessors of Boston v. Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn Railroad, 319 Mass. 378. Assessors of Boston v. Boston Elevated Railway, 320 Mass. 588. (2) A second class consists of exemptions of property the underlying purpose of which would seem to be to prevent or to mitigate double taxation. See Opinion of the Justices, 261 Mass. 523, 545-546; Assessors of Boston v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. 320 Mass. 559, 563-564. In this class may be placed the exemptions of
Moreover, we have not been able to discover any satisfactory distinction between the provisions of the proposed bills and those of St. 1872, c. 306, which was held void in Cheshire v. County Commissioners of Berkshire, 118 Mass. 386. That statute provided that “All reservoirs of water, with the dams connected therewith and the lands under the same, used to maintain a uniform supply of water for mill-power, shall be assessed for the purposes of taxation in the town or towns where located, at a valuation not exceeding a fair valuation of land of like quality in the immediate vicinity.” It is true that the court thought that statute was not intended to create an exemption, but whether or not called an exemption, the effect would have been to have taxed the land with the improvements at the value of land, for the purpose, no doubt, of encouraging manufacturing, just as the effect of the presently proposed bills would be to tax the land upon which are the buildings at the value of the land, for the purpose, no doubt, of encouraging building.
In our opinion the proposed exemptions would not conform to art. 10 of the Declaration of Rights or to the criteria set forth in Opinion of the Justices, 195 Mass. 607, from which we have already quoted, and would have “a direct
We do not see how the reference to veterans in House No. 1478 gives that bill any added constitutional sanction. It is true that some advantages have been conferred by statute upon veterans. Certain reasonable expenditures of public money in their behalf have been held to be for legitimate public purposes. Horrigan v. Mayor of Pittsfield, 298 Mass. 492, 498, and cases cited. Opinion of the Justices, 320 Mass. 773, 780-781. Opinion of the Justices, 322 Mass. 745, 749-750. They may be given preference in public employment within defined limits. Brown v. Russell, 166 Mass. 14. Opinion of the Justices, 166 Mass. 589. Mayor of Lynn v. Commissioner of Civil Service, 269 Mass. 410. Opinion of the Justices to the Governor and Council, March 23, 1949.
It may be doubted how far House No. 1478 is really a bill for the benefit of veterans. It refers to housing units "to be constructed for sale to veterans.” There is no assurance
As was said by our predecessors in Opinion of the Justices, 220 Mass. 613, at page 618, “Even the facts stated do not warrant a stretching of the Constitution. beyond its fair meaning in order to accomplish an end which at present may be regarded as desirable. The Constitution must be interpreted according to the reasonable import of its words. The principles established by it cannot be varied to meet real or fancied exigencies, but must be applied without modification to new conditions as they arise. The Constitution as framed is the only guide. To change its terms is within the power of the people alone.”
We answer “No” to each of questions 1, 2, and 3. It seems to us that these answers dispose of the problems presented in connection with the inaugural address of His Excellency the Governor and the two pending bills, and that answers to the remaining questions are not necessary.
Stanley E. Qua.
Henry T. Lummus.
Arthur W. Dolan.
James J. Honan.
Raymond S. Wilkins.
John V. Spalding.
Harold P. Williams.
Reported post, 736.