Cincinnati Bell Telephone Co. v. City of Cincinnati

693 N.E.2d 212, 81 Ohio St. 3d 599, 1998 Ohio LEXIS 1207
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedMay 13, 1998
DocketNo. 97-310
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 693 N.E.2d 212 (Cincinnati Bell Telephone Co. v. City of Cincinnati) 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
Cincinnati Bell Telephone Co. v. City of Cincinnati, 693 N.E.2d 212, 81 Ohio St. 3d 599, 1998 Ohio LEXIS 1207 (Ohio 1998).

Opinions

Moyer, C.J.

The question presented is whether a municipality is preempted by R.C. 5727.30 et seq. from enacting a net profits tax Our analysis of the law causes us to conclude that a tax enacted by a municipality pursuant to its taxing power is valid in the absence of an express statutory prohibition of the exercise of such power by the General Assembly. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the court of appeals.

[602]*602I

Municipal taxing power in Ohio is derived from the Ohio Constitution. Section 3, Article XVIII of the Constitution, the Home Rule Amendment, confers sovereignty upon municipalities to “exercise all powers of local self-government.” As this court stated in State ex rel. Zielonka v. Carrel (1919), 99 Ohio St. 220, 227, 124 N.E. 134, 136, “[t]here can be no doubt that the grant of authority to exercise all powers of local government includes the power of taxation.”

However, the Constitution also gives to the General Assembly the power to limit municipal taxing authority. Section 6, Article XIII provides that “[t]he General Assembly shall provide for the organization of cities, and incorporated villages, by general laws, and restrict their power of taxation * * * so as to prevent the abuse of such power.” Section 13, Article XVIII provides that “[l]aws may be passed to limit the power of municipalities to levy taxes and incur debts for local purposes * * *.” See Franklin v. Harrison (1960), 171 Ohio St. 329, 14 O.O.2d 4, 170 N.E.2d 739.

Appellants assert that their local net profits taxes are valid because the General Assembly has not, pursuant to these constitutional powers, expressly preempted such a tax from local imposition. Appellants Blue Ash and Fairfax and amicus suggest that the doctrine of implied preemption, upon which appellees rely, be abrogated. Implied preemption of taxation, these appellants and amicus argue, is an anachronistic doctrine, which is rooted in public policy considerations and derives no support from the Constitution. For the reasons that follow, we agree.

II

In State ex rel. Zielonka v. Carrel, this court concluded that the exercise of the taxing power is granted to municipalities pursuant to Section 3, Article XVIII of the Ohio Constitution. 99 Ohio St. at 227, 124 N.E. at 136. In arriving at that conclusion, this court raised, in dicta, the question of whether the General Assembly could impliedly preempt municipal taxing power:

“It is enough to say that the general assembly has not expressly limited the authority of municipalities to levy an occupational tax, nor has it impliedly limited such authority by invading the field on its own account.

“It is possible, of course, that the interesting question whether both state and-municipality may occupy the same field of taxation at the same time, may some day be presented to the courts for their determination.” Id. at 228, 124 N.E. at 136.

This court then considered that question and established the doctrine of implied preemption in Cincinnati v. Am. Tel. & Tel. Co. (1925), 112 Ohio St. 493, [603]*603147 N.E. 806. There, the city of Cincinnati attempted to levy ah excise tax, at an annual flat rate, on all railroads, telegraph companies, and telephone companies operating or doing business within the city limits. At the same time, the state levied excise taxes, on income measured by gross receipts, upon the same companies. Former G.C. 5483, 5484, and 5486. This court concluded that the municipal taxes were preempted by the state excise taxes, reasoning that “[t]he power granted to the municipality by Section 3, Article XVIII, of the Constitution * * * does not extend to fields within such municipality which have already been occupied by the state.” Id. at paragraph two of the syllabus.

Subsequent decisions to that establishment of implied preemption reflect the court’s effort to determine the precise scope and applicability of the doctrine. In Haefner v. Youngstown (1946), 147 Ohio St. 58, 33 O.O. 247, 68 N.E.2d 64, a municipal excise tax was levied upon consumers of utility services based upon the rate charged. The state imposed both a sales tax on those consumers, and a privilege tax measured by gross receipts on utility companies. The state sales tax exempted utility services. Without relying specifically on either state tax as the basis for its position, the court held that the enactment of both taxes by the state constituted a preemption of “that field of taxation which includes, inter alia, receipts by utility companies from natural gas, electricity, and water sold to consumers and local service and equipment furnished to telephone subscribers.” Id. at paragraph four of the syllabus. The court also held that the power of a municipality to raise revenue could be limited by “implication flowing from state legislation which pre-empts the field” of taxation. Id. at paragraph three of the syllabus. In explaining its basis for preemption, the court stated that “[ijnferentially the whole legislative course shows an intent to avoid double taxation of receipts whether they come from sales proper or are the ‘gross receipts’ of utilities.” Id. at 64, 33 O.O. at 249, 68 N.E.2d at 67.

In E. Ohio Gas Co. v. Akron (1966), 7 Ohio St.2d 73, 36 O.O.2d 56, 218 N.E.2d 608, the court was presented with the question of whether, under the doctrine of implied preemption, a municipal income tax imposed on public utilities was preempted by a gross receipts tax levied by the state on public utilities pursuant to R.C. Chapter 5727. The court determined that the state tax was essentially an adjusted gross income tax, and that since the state tax and the local tax were of a similar kind, the local tax was preempted by implication. Id. at 77, 36 O.O.2d at 59, 218 N.E.2d at 610. The court further stated that the case presented “a clear-cut example of double taxation such as the court had in mind when it originally created the doctrine of pre-emption by implication.” Id. at 78, 36 O.O.2d at 59, 218 N.E.2d at 611.

This court’s statement in East Ohio Gas that the public utilities gross receipts tax was an income tax prompted the city of Cleveland to contend in State ex rel. [604]*604Cleveland v. Kosydar (1973), 36 Ohio St.2d 183, 65 O.O.2d 401, 305 N.E.2d 803, that it was entitled to a share of the receipts of that tax under Section 9, Article XII of the Constitution. In clarifying its position that the gross receipts tax was an excise tax rather than an income tax, the court stated that nothing in the syllabus or opinion of East Ohio Gas “should be construed to represent a departure from this court’s position” that the public utilities gross receipts tax was an excise tax as opposed to an income tax. Id. at 185, 65 O.O.2d at 402, 305 N.E.2d at 804.

That the court has struggled to apply the doctrine it created in Cincinnati v. AT & T is reflected by subsequent attempts to define what it meant in its holding that municipal taxing power “does not extend to fields within such municipality which have already been occupied by the state.” (Emphasis added.) Cincinnati v. AT & T,

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Bluebook (online)
693 N.E.2d 212, 81 Ohio St. 3d 599, 1998 Ohio LEXIS 1207, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cincinnati-bell-telephone-co-v-city-of-cincinnati-ohio-1998.