Angell v. City of Toledo

91 N.E.2d 250, 153 Ohio St. 179, 153 Ohio St. (N.S.) 179, 41 Ohio Op. 217, 1950 Ohio LEXIS 460
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 8, 1950
Docket31896
StatusPublished
Cited by60 cases

This text of 91 N.E.2d 250 (Angell v. City of Toledo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Angell v. City of Toledo, 91 N.E.2d 250, 153 Ohio St. 179, 153 Ohio St. (N.S.) 179, 41 Ohio Op. 217, 1950 Ohio LEXIS 460 (Ohio 1950).

Opinions

Turnee, J.

This case presents two questions for decision:

(1) Has the city of Toledo the power to provide by its charter or ordinance for the assessment and collection of an income tax?

(2) If the municipality has the power to enact such legislation, may it impose such a tax upon nonresidents who work and receive their pay in Toledo ?

The income tax question in Ohio has become confused by two causes, first, in the case of State, ex rel. Zielonka, City Solicitor, v. Carrel, Aud., 99 Ohio St., 220, 228, 124 N. E., 134, the following obiter dictum is found:

“It may he said in this connection that it is clearly to he implied from the Constitution that municipalities are without power to levy an income or inheritance tax.”

*181 No inheritance or income tax was before the court in that case nor are such subjects mentioned in the syllabus of the case.

The second cause of confusion results from failing to bear in mind that while the federal Constitution is a delegation of powers, the state Constitution is a limitation of powers. In other words, an act of Congress is not valid unless the federal Constitution authorizes it. On the other hand, the General Assembly of Ohio may enact any law which is not prohibited by the Constitution. Therefore, it was necessary to amend the federal Constitution before the Congress could enact a valid income tax law without regard to any apportionment and without regard to any census or any enumeration.

In 1 Cooley’s Constitutional Limitations (8 Ed.), 11, it is said:

“The government of the United States is one of enumerated powers-, the national Constitution being the instrument which specifies them, and in which authority should be found for the exercise of any power which the national government assumes to possess. In this respect it differs from the constitutions of the several states, which are not grants of powers to the states, but which apportion and impose restrictions upon the powers which the states inherently possess.”

In 1 Story on the Constitution (5 Ed.), 663, Section 909, it is said:

“The Constitution [federal] was, from its very origin, contemplated to be the frame of a national government, of special and enumerated powers, and not of general and unlimited powers.”

Speaking of the Sixteenth Amendment to the federal Constitution which authorized the passage of an income tax law without apportionment, etc., Mr. Chief Justice White said at pages 10 and 11 in the case of Brushaber v. Union Pacific Rd. Co., 240 U. S., 1, 60 L. Ed., 493, 36 S. Ct., 236, Ann. Cas. 1917B, 713:

*182 “We are of opinion, however, that the confusion is not inherent, but rather arises from the conclusion that the Sixteenth Amendment provides for a hitherto unknown power of taxation, that is, a power to levy an income tax, * * * as the power conferred by the amendment is new and prospective * * #.” (Italics ours.)

In the home-rule amendment to the Ohio Constitution (Article XVIII) the sovereignty of the state was so limited as to confer certain sovereignty upon municipalities, viz., Sections 3 and 7 of Article XVIII.

Section 3 of Article XVIII provides:

“Municipalities shall have authority to exercise all powers of local self-government and to adopt and enforce within their limits such local police, Sanitary and other similar regulations, as are not in conflict with general laws.”

Section 7 of Article XVIII provides:

“Any municipality may frame and adopt or amend a charter for its government and may, subject to the provisions of section 3 of this article, exercise thereunder all powers of local self-government.”

A fundamental power of government is the power to raise revenue. At the time of the adoption of Article XVIII, there was adopted, and remains in effect, Section 13 thereof, which provides as follows:

“Laws may be passed to limit the power of municipalities to levy taxes and incur debts for local purposes * *

Section 6 of Article XIII of .the Ohio Constitution provides for the restriction of the power of taxation by municipalities.

Now the General Assembly may not enact an income tax law unless in accordance with Sections 8 and 9 of Article XII of the Ohio Constitution.

While an income tax may be regarded as in the nature of an excise tax, the Constitution of Ohio differentiates an excise tax from an income tax.

*183 Sections 8 and 9 of Article XII provide for a limitation on an income tax law, while in Section 10 of Article XII is found the provision:

“Laws may be passed providing for excise and franchise taxes and for the imposition of taxes upon the production of coal, oil, gas and other minerals.”

In the interpretation of the Ohio Constitution an income tax is not to be treated as an excise tax.

As said in 1 Cooley on Taxation (4 Ed.), 138, Section 49:

“In its ordinary and popular meaning, ‘income’ is the amount of actual wealth which comes to a person during a given period of time. An income tax is one levied on the income from property or an occupation. It is a direct tax upon the thing called income. It is a special rather than a general tax. An excise upon those engaged in a particular occupation, although graded in accordance with income, is an occupation tax and not an income tax. ’ ’

Section 8 of Article XII of the Ohio Constitution provides:

“Laws may be passed providing for the taxation of incomes, and such taxation may be either uniform or graduated, and may be applied to such incomes as may be designated by law ; but a part of each annual income not exceeding three thousand dollars may be exempt from such taxation.”

Section 9 of Article XII of the Ohio Constitution provides:

“Not less than fifty per centum of the income and inheritance taxes that may be collected by the state shall be returned to the county, school district, city, village, or township in which said income or inheritance tax originates, or to any of the same, as may be provided by law.”

Therefore, until the General Assembly of Ohio has pre-empted the income tax field, a municipality, sub *184 ject to such limitation as may be imposed by the General Assembly under Section 13 of Article XVIII or Section 6 of Article XIII of the Ohio Constitution, may levy and collect an income tax.

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Bluebook (online)
91 N.E.2d 250, 153 Ohio St. 179, 153 Ohio St. (N.S.) 179, 41 Ohio Op. 217, 1950 Ohio LEXIS 460, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/angell-v-city-of-toledo-ohio-1950.