30 Conn. 18 | Conn. | 1861
This is an amicable suit, the object of which is to determine the question whether certain machinery belonging to the plaintiffs and used by them in their manufacturing establishment, situated in Lisbon, for the purpose of operating the same,' is liable to be taxed by the authorities of that town, the plaintiffs being inhabitants of Rhode Island.
The question therefore turns upon the true intent and meaning of our laws in respect to taxation, rather than upon any question in regard to the power of the state to tax it; and as such it has properly been presented to us. It is claimed however that we have no law taxing any of the personal property of non-residents of'the state, though located within the state, but that on the contrary it was the intention of our statutes to exempt it from taxation. That this is so in respect to most of the personal property of non-residents, is undoubtedly true, but we think it is not true in respect to property of the description which was taxed in this instance ; and whether it is true or not in respect to all other personal property is not now a matter of inquiry. It is obvious that the same reason exists for taxing this machinery as there is for taxing the mill in which it is used, or the business which is there carried on. The mill is of course useless without the machinery, and to tax it therefore may be considered as but one mode of taxing the business carried on by means of it. We recur then to the question whether the legislature intended to tax machinery thus situated. An examination of the statute shows that it has not been expressly done, under that section of the statute which provides for the taxation of most kinds of personal property, because it is not specified in the list of the different descriptions of personal ( property that is to be set in the list as taxable ; nor is it to i be found in the list of articles which are exempt from taxation. While therefore the fact that it is not specifically mentioned as liable to be taxed, might be some evidence of an intention not to tax it, a contrary inference equally strong may be drawn from the circumstance that it is not specified as exempt from taxation. But the legislature intended to tax all the property of our own citizens, certainly, and if ma
Considering then the policy of our law to make all property with few exceptions liable to taxation, that this machinery is not expressly named among the exceptions, and that it fairly comes within the popular understanding as well as one of the
In what we have said we make no distinction, and are clear that none was intended to be made, between property of this description owned by a citizen of this state and such property owned by a non-resident. In either case it is to be taxed where the business is carried on, as a part of the establishment.
Our decision renders unnecessary the consideration of the other question made, whether this action could be maintained even if the machinery was not taxable. W.e therefore advise the superior court to render judgment for the defendants.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.