25 S.E.2d 574 | Ga. | 1943
1. The constitutional amendment, ratified June 3, 1941 (Supp. Ga. Code Ann. § 2-5002; Ga. L. 1941, p. 84), provides that "There is hereby exempted from all taxation, State, county, municipal, school district, and political or territorial subdivision of the State having the authority to levy taxes, all co-operative, nonprofit, membership corporations organized under the laws of this State for the purpose of engaging in rural electrification, . . and all of the real and personal property owned or held by such corporations for such purposes. The exemption herein provided for shall expire twenty years from January, 1, 1942."
2. In determining whether this constitutional exemption from taxation must be given application with respect to properties which had become subject to ad valorem taxation as of January 1, 1941, and had been returned for taxation between February 1 and May 1, 1941, but had come within the terms of the constitutional exemption ratified June 3, 1941, which latter date was previous to the date on which the Governor with the assistance of the comptroller general had made his levy of the tax under the Code, §§ 92-5703 et seq., it is the rule that all *735
grants of exemptions must be strictly construed in favor of the State, and that "nothing passes by implication; but this rule must not be pushed to unreasonableness." City of Columbus v. Muscogee Mfg. Co.,
3. Since the word "taxation" ordinarily includes a determination of the rate of levy and the imposition of the levy, as an essential part of the sovereign power and process (Hilger v.
Moore,
Judgment reversed. All the Justices concur.