Brooks v. Harrison

156 S.E. 35, 171 Ga. 488, 1930 Ga. LEXIS 486
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedNovember 15, 1930
DocketNo. 7933
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 156 S.E. 35 (Brooks v. Harrison) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brooks v. Harrison, 156 S.E. 35, 171 Ga. 488, 1930 Ga. LEXIS 486 (Ga. 1930).

Opinions

Gilbert, J.

This is a suit by an automobile dealer in Jonesboro, Clayton County, against Harrison, Comptroller-general, and others, to enjoin the collection of a tax for carrying on such business in each of the adjoining counties. Section 2, paragraph 11, of the general tax act of 1927 (Ga. Laws, 1927, p. 61), as amended by the act of 1929 (Ga. Laws 1929, p. 76), is attacked as being unconstitutional. The act levies a tax on dealers, graduated according to population of counties, as follows: "Upon every agent of, upon every dealer in, and upon every person soliciting orders for retail sale of automobiles or trucks, not including wholesale dealers or distributors soliciting or canvassing for local dealers, the sum set out below, viz.: In each county with a population of less than 20,000, $25.00; in each county with a population of between 20,000 and 30,000, $55.00; in each county with a population of between 30,000 and 50,000, $85.00; in each' county with a population between 50,000 and 75,000, $110.00; in each county with a population between 75,000 and 100,000, $165.00; in each county with a population between 100,000 and 150,000, $220.00; in each county with a population exceeding 150,000, $275.00.” It is unnecessary to state other provisions of the paragraph of the act referred to. It will be seen that the amount of the tax is the same on each dealer in the respective counties. The contention is that the -amended act is in conflict with art. 7, sec. 2, par. 1, of the constitution of Georgia (Civil Code (1910), § 6553), which provides: "All taxation shall be uniform upon the same class of subjects, and ad valorem on all property subject to be taxed within the [490]*490territorial limits of the authority levying the tax, and shall be levied and collected under general laws.”

Petitioner alleges that Jonesboro is in the center of a trade territory that extends into Henry, Fulton, Fayette, and DeKalb Counties, and that "for these reasons petitioner’s trade territory should properly include the portions of said counties that ordinarily and generally in the course of business use the town of Jonesboro as a trade center, and to require your petitioner to pay a license tax in each of the counties of Fayette, Henry, DeKalb, and Fulton would be discriminatory and prohibited [sic] so far as dealing in automobiles is concerned at Jonesboro, and would place it at a disadvantage under dealers of those cities and localities whose trade territory is located wholly in the confines of a single county;” that “demand has been made upon it by the taxing authorities for the payment of said taxes,” and if not paid at once “said taxing authorities will proceed to enforce the collection of the same . . in a manner and form provided by the statute in cases of delinquent taxes, and your petitioner will be subjected to heavy penalties under each and all of the penalties provided by the” portions of the acts quoted hereinafter, “and will be subjected to be arrested and prosecuted under said sections, and said taxing authorities have threatened to levy upon the lawful business of your petitioner, all of which will be calculated to, and would, destroy the business of your petitioner;” that petitioner is without an adequate remedy at law; that the defense of proceedings instituted separately for the enforcement of the tax would be inconvenient, expensive, and would involve a multiplicity of suits; that it would be inequitable and unfair to subject petitioner to this expense and inconvenience; “that the construction placed upon said statute by the taxing authorities of this State is illegal, unreasonable, arbitrary, oppressive, and unwarranted; . . that the taxing authorities have threatened to institute criminal proceedings against your petitioner, which would subject it to the penalties as provided in section 6 of the general tax act of 1927, . . and in addition thereto the penalties provided by section 35 of the tax amendments . .. of 1929.” The prayers are that the provisions of the act quoted be declared to be unconstitutional -and void; that it be adjudged that petitioner is not liable for or subject to the additional tax imposed by the provisions of the act of 1927 quoted; [491]*491that the defendants be restrained by injunction “from issuing any order or any execution against petitioner or its property, and from instituting, ordering, or directing any criminal prosecution or civil suit against- petitioner, and from taking any other steps towards enforcing the collection of the tax, . . and from interfering in any way with petitioner in the lawful conduct of its business. on-account of its failure to pay the tax imposed.” The answer of the defendants admits that “they have made demand for payment of the taxes, as required by law, and that they will enforce the collection of the same in such manner as the statutes of the State provide;, and that the penalties will be imposed, as required by law, and that the taxing statutes of the State imposed upon the defendants as their duties to enforce the payment of unpaid taxes will be enforced by the defendants.” Other material allegations of the petition were denied.

Section 6 of paragraph 110 of the act of 192-7 (Ga. Laws 1927, p. 92) provides “that the taxes . . shall be paid in full for the fiscal year for which they are levied; and, except where otherwise provided, said taxes shall be paid to the tax-collectors of the counties where such vocations are carried on, at the time of commencing to do business.” It requires, registration with the ordinary, and for failure to comply with the requirements imposes the following penalty: “Any person failing to register with the ordinary, or, having registered, failing to pay the special tax as herein required, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be fined not less than double the tax, or be imprisoned as prescribed by section 1065 of volume 2 of the Code of 1910, or both in the discretion of the court,” etc. The act of 1929, section 35 (Ga. Laws 1929, p. 76), provides “that should any of the taxes herein imposed remain due and unpaid for 30 days from due date thereof, then such person, firm, or corporation shall be subject to and shall pay a penalty of (50%) fifty per cent, of the tax imposed.” Section 36 contains the usual repealing clause. The tax imposed by section 2, par. 11, of the act of 1927 is not mentioned in the amending act of 1929, and is not thereby changed. After paying the tax imposed, dealers in automobiles under the statute mentioned, in any county, large or small, may sell automobiles to any person, without regard to the place of the latter’s residence. That is, such a dealer in Jonesboro may in Clayton County sell to any [492]*492resident of any county in Georgia, or out of Georgia. The tax is graduated according to population, and not by the number of sales or amount of business done, provided the transactions are restricted to the county in which the tax has been imposed. If a dealer desires to do business in other counties, he becomes a competitor in such counties with dealers who have paid the tax to do business therein. In exacting such tax the General Assembly was acting within its constitutional power, and not arbitrarily.

Under the decisions of this court in Singer Mfg. Co. v. Wright, 97 Ga. 114 (25 S. E. 249, 35 L. R. A. 497); Wright v. Hirsch, 155 Ga. 229 (116 S. E. 795); Adams Motor Co. v. Cler, 149 Ga. 818 (102 S. E. 440); Abbott v. Commissioners of Fulton County, 160 Ga. 657, at p. 661 (129 S. E. 38), section 2 of par. 11 of the general tax act of 1927 (Ga. Laws 1927, p. 61), as amended by the act of 1929 (Ga. Laws 1929, p.

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Bluebook (online)
156 S.E. 35, 171 Ga. 488, 1930 Ga. LEXIS 486, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brooks-v-harrison-ga-1930.