Connrex Corporation v. Department of Revenue

286 So. 2d 296, 51 Ala. App. 420, 1973 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 407
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedAugust 1, 1973
DocketCiv. 168
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 286 So. 2d 296 (Connrex Corporation v. Department of Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Connrex Corporation v. Department of Revenue, 286 So. 2d 296, 51 Ala. App. 420, 1973 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 407 (Ala. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

BRADLEY, Judge.

This is an appeal from a final decree of the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, in Equity, Birmingham Division, affirming a final assessment made against the appellant [422]*422by appellee for automobile accessory dealer’s license tax imposed pursuant to the provisions of Title 51, Section 465, Code of Alabama 1940, as Recompiled 1958.

The appellee made final an assessment against appellant for the license on automobile accessory dealers for the tax year beginning on October 1, 1971 and ending on September 30, 1972. From this assessment appellant appealed to the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, in Equity, for a review.

The case was submitted to the trial court on the pleadings, an agreed stipulation of facts and exhibits. The trial court held that appellant was liable for the license imposed by Section 465, supra, in each of the fifty-eight counties of the state in which appellant sold automobile accessories and that it was due to pay in each of the fifty-eight counties the maximum license tax provided by Section 465, supra. It was further held that appellant was liable, in addition to the licenses required by Section 465, supra, for the license levied by Title 51, Section 609, Code of Alabama 1940, as Recompiled 1958, for the privilege of operating in the state as a transient dealer. From sáid final decree, appellant has perfected its appeal to this court.

The facts show that appellant purchased a transient dealer’s license as required by Section 609, supra to sell automobile batteries. A state license of $30 was purchased as were fifty-eight county licenses of $5 each. During the year in question appellant sold automobile batteries from a truck at wholesale in each of the said fifty-eight counties.

The appellee then determined that appellant was liable for a state license tax in the maximum amount authorized by Title 51, Section 465, Code of Alabama 1940, as Recompiled 1958, for selling automobile accessories, i.e., automobile batteries from its trucks at wholesale in each of the fifty-eight counties of the state. Under this assessment, the state license tax was $40 in each county. Appellee also assessed appellant pursuant to Title 51, Section 831(c), Code of Alabama 1940, as Recompiled 1958, with a county license of one-half of the state license required by Section 465, supra, for each of the fifty-eight counties.

Appellant, in his assignments of error, contends that the trial court erred in holding that the license tax assessment imposed against it pursuant to Section 465 was correct; that the trial court erred in finding that it was liable for the license tax assessed against it under Section 465; and that the trial court erred in finding that it was liable for the license taxes imposed by both Section 609 and by Section 465.

In brief, appellant argues that appellee incorrectly assessed it with the license tax authorized by Section 465 for that (1) the basis of the Section 465 assessment was on a county rather than on a city or town population basis; (2) the addition of one-half the amount required by Section 465 for each county was incorrect for that Section 831(a) and (c) only requires a county license of one-half the state license for each place of business in the county and appellant did not maintain a place of business in fifty-six out of the fifty-eight counties where it did business; and (3) the appellee, in determining whether a higher license than that required by Section 609 was due to be paid, considered that appellant had paid the state license under Section 609 in only one county, i.e., the first county in which a license was purchased under Section 609 reflected the purchase of a state license of $30 and a county license of $5, being a total of $35, and a county license of $5 in each county thereafter. Therefore, for comparison purposes, the first county showed $35 and each county thereafter showed only $5, requiring that any amount in excess of $5 in the other fifty-seven counties assessed as a license tax under Section 465 would have [423]*423to be imposed on appellant in addition to that required by Section 609.

Appellee argues that the only question to be decided by this court is whether or not it correctly levied the maximum license provided by Section 465, supra, against appellant in addition to the license tax imposed on appellant as authorized by Section 609.

Title 51, Section 609, Code of Alabama 1940, as Recompiled 1958, provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

“Each person doing business as a transient dealer as defined in this section . shall pay an annual license tax to the state of thirty dollars. The payment of one state license shall authorize such transient dealer to engage in such business in any county in the state upon the payment of a county license of five dollars in each such county. Provided, that the payment of the privilege license required by this section shall not authorize any transient dealer to sell any goods, wares, or merchandise for which a higher license is required without the payment of the higher license. .” (Emphasis added.)

As previously stated, appellant purchased a state license as a transient dealer for $30 and a $5 county license in each of the fifty-eight counties where it sold batteries as required by Section 609. Appellee then told appellant that it would have to purchase a license under Section 465, supra, in the maximum amount therein provided as the state license on a countywide basis for each of the counties in which it sold batteries in addition to the license paid to it as required by Section 609.

Title 51, Section 465, as amended, Code of Alabama 1940, as Recompiled 1958, is as follows:

“Each person selling motor vehicle accessories, including automobile radios and air conditioning units, and motor vehicle parts, and motor vehicle batteries, and tires, shall pay the following annual license: In cities of:
Over 100,000 population .... $40.00
25.000 to 100,000 population .. 30.00
5.000 to 25,000 population ... 20.00
2.000 to 5,000 population---- 10.00
All other places, whether incorporated or not ...... 5.00
“Provided regularly licensed filling stations or garages are not required to pay the above assessories [sic] license if their stock of accessories at any time does not exceed the wholesale value of seventy-five dollars.”

Appellee also assessed appellant with one-half of the state license tax deemed to be due under Section 465 as a county tax required by Section 831(a) and (c). Said provision provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

“ . . . (a) Whenever a license is levied in this title, there shall be collected both a state and county license for each place of business, except as specifically otherwise provided. (c) There is hereby levied for the use and benefit of and to be paid to the county in which the license is issued, in addition to all license taxes levied under the provisions of article 1 of chapter 20, for state purposes and which are payable to the judge of probate or commissioner of licenses, a sum equal to fifty percent of the amount levied for state purposes, except as otherwise specifically provided. . . . ”

In support of its assessments, appellee relies heavily, but not solely, on the case of Harris Bros. v. State, 240 Ala. 160, 198 So.

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Related

State v. Deaton, Inc.
355 So. 2d 378 (Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama, 1978)
Connrex Corporation v. Department of Revenue
286 So. 2d 301 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1973)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
286 So. 2d 296, 51 Ala. App. 420, 1973 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 407, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/connrex-corporation-v-department-of-revenue-alacivapp-1973.