Dow Hydrocarbons & Resources v. Kennedy

694 So. 2d 215, 1997 WL 261368
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedMay 20, 1997
Docket96-CA-2471
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 694 So. 2d 215 (Dow Hydrocarbons & Resources v. Kennedy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dow Hydrocarbons & Resources v. Kennedy, 694 So. 2d 215, 1997 WL 261368 (La. 1997).

Opinion

694 So.2d 215 (1997)

DOW HYDROCARBONS & RESOURCES
v.
John Neely KENNEDY, Secretary, Department of Revenue and Taxation, and Richard P. Ieyoub, Attorney General of the State of Louisiana

No. 96-CA-2471.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

May 20, 1997.

Robert G. Pugh, Pugh, Pugh & Pugh, Shreveport; Richard P. Ieyoub, Attorney General, Thomas S. Halligan, Baton Rouge, for Applicant.

Bruce James Oreck, Adams, Johnston & Oreck, New Orleans, for Respondent.

TRAYLOR, Justice.[*]

This case comes to this Court on direct appeal from the 19th Judicial District Court *216 of East Baton Rouge Parish pursuant to Louisiana Constitution Article V, Section 5(D) upon a declaration by that court that 1993 La. Acts No. 690 violates Article III, Section 2 of the Louisiana Constitution.

Issue

Article III, Section 2(A) of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974 provided:[1] "No measure levying a new tax or increasing an existing tax shall be introduced or enacted during a regular session held in an odd-numbered year."

The issue before us is whether 1993 La. Acts No. 690 (hereinafter "Act 690"), which reclassifies corporate dividend income from "allocable income" to "apportionable income" for taxing purposes, constitutes a new tax or an increase to an existing tax. Because Act 690's reclassification results in an increase in corporate income tax, and because Act 690 was enacted in 1993, we find that Act 690 increases an existing tax in an odd-numbered year in violation of Article III, Section 2(A) of the Louisiana Constitution. We therefore affirm the trial court's declaration of the unconstitutionality of Act 690.

Background

On June 21, 1993, in a regular session, the legislature passed Act 690 which amended certain provisions of Louisiana's corporate income tax law. The act, inter alia, reclassified certain dividend income, with the result being that a corporation not based in Louisiana but doing business in Louisiana (hereinafter "non-Louisiana corporation") would have to pay income tax on dividends received from a controlled subsidiary[2] that earned no income in Louisiana. Before the enactment of Act 690, such income was not subject to Louisiana income tax. The act also provided that a corporation based in Louisiana (hereinafter "Louisiana corporation") would not be subject to corporate income tax on dividends received from a controlled subsidiary that earned no income in Louisiana.

Following the enactment of Act 690, several corporate taxpayers, including Dow Hydrocarbons & Resources, Inc. ("Dow"), paid their corporate income taxes in accordance with Act 690 under protest and filed suit for refunds alleging that Act 690 violated Article III, Section 2(A) of the Louisiana Constitution and the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution.

Resolving cross motions for summary judgment, the district court concluded that Act 690 violated Article III, Section 2(A) of the Louisiana Constitution. The court found that the reclassification of dividend income amounted to a new tax or an increase to an existing tax, stating in his Amended Written Reasons for Judgment, "it matters not whether one categorizes Act No. 690 as a new tax or an increase in an existing tax. Both are prohibited by the Louisiana Constitution if passed in an odd-numbered year."

Act 690

Under Louisiana corporate tax law, all corporate income is segregated into either "apportionable" or "allocable" income. La.R.S. 47:287.92. This classification determines the method of taxation for that income. Allocable income is allocated directly to the states where the income is earned or derived, while apportionable income is subject to taxation in Louisiana based on an apportionment percentage regardless where such income is derived. La.R.S. 47:287.93-94. Therefore, Louisiana only taxes allocable income which is earned in Louisiana, La.R.S. 47:287.93, whereas Louisiana taxes a percentage of all apportionable income without regard to its geographic source.[3] Apportionable income is the default category as it includes all items of gross income not specifically included in allocable income. La.R.S. 47:287.92(C).

Prior to Act 690, dividend income was classified as allocable. The former La.R.S. 47:287.92(B)(4), deleted by Act 690, listed "[d]ividends from corporate stock" as allocable *217 income. Additionally, the former subsection (4) of La.R.S. 47:287.93(A), also deleted by Act 690, provided that dividend income was to "be allocated to the state in which the securities or credits producing such income have their situs ..." Therefore, prior to Act 690 a corporation was not subject to tax on dividends received from a subsidiary provided that the subsidiary earned all of its income outside of Louisiana. Because the default category is apportionable income, Act 690's deletion of these subsections changed the classification of dividend income from allocable income to apportionable income. Consequently, the previously untaxed income received from such sources is now subject to Louisiana corporate income tax.

A discussion of Act 690 would not be complete without noting that while non-Louisiana corporations are required to pay taxes on dividends from controlled subsidiaries, Louisiana corporations are not. La.R.S. 47:287.94(I), added by Act 690, instructs Louisiana corporations to segregate dividend income from controlled subsidiaries and attribute that income to the states or foreign countries where the subsidiary earns its income. Thus, a Louisiana corporation is not taxed on dividend income received from a controlled non-Louisiana subsidiary which earns all of its income outside of Louisiana, whereas a non-Louisiana corporation is taxed on such income.[4]

Analysis

Article III, Section 2 of the Louisiana Constitution prohibits the enactment of any measure levying a new tax or increasing an existing tax during a regular session held in an odd-numbered year.[5]

The legislature enacted Act 690 in June of 1993, an odd-numbered year, during a regular session with an effective date of the previous January 1, 1993. 1993 La. Acts No 690. The remaining question is whether Act 690 is prohibited as imposing a new tax or increasing an existing tax.

The initial determination as to whether Act 690 is a tax is not difficult. The stated purpose contained within Act 690 is "[t]o amend and reenact ... relative to the classification of income for the purposes of the corporation income tax." All of the deletions and additions effected by Act 690 occur within Part II-A., entitled "Louisiana Corporate Income Tax," of Title 47. Act 690 clearly deals with corporate income tax. Moneys collected by the state pursuant to the Louisiana Corporate Income Tax statutes are taxes. The moneys paid to Louisiana pursuant to the statutes modified by Act 690 are taxes.[6]

While a determination as to whether Act 690 is more appropriately characterized as a new tax versus an increase to an existing tax is somewhat difficult, that it is one of the two is easily discernable. Act 690 reclassifies dividend income from allocable to apportionable. Consequently, non-Louisiana corporations must pay income tax to Louisiana on dividend income received from a controlled subsidiary that earned the income elsewhere. Simply put, prior to Act 690, corporations did not pay this tax to Louisiana. Under Act 690, they must pay this tax to Louisiana. This is an increase to corporate income tax.

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Bluebook (online)
694 So. 2d 215, 1997 WL 261368, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dow-hydrocarbons-resources-v-kennedy-la-1997.