Haynie v. Surplus Trading Co.

297 S.W. 822, 174 Ark. 507, 1927 Ark. LEXIS 405
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJune 27, 1927
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 297 S.W. 822 (Haynie v. Surplus Trading Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Haynie v. Surplus Trading Co., 297 S.W. 822, 174 Ark. 507, 1927 Ark. LEXIS 405 (Ark. 1927).

Opinion

Hart, C. J.,

(after stating the facts).l"!

The Camp Pike Military Reservation lies within the boundaries of Pulaski County, Arkansas, and the principal question presented for decision by this appeal relates to the power of the State and its subordinate taxing agencies to levy and collect taxes pursuant to the State laws upon personal property situated within said military reservation.

Counsel for appellee seek to uphold the decree of the chancellor denying the right of the State and its subordinate agencies to levy and .collect such taxes upon the authority of Concessions Co. v. Morris (Wash.), 186 Pac. 655. In that case it was held that the Camp Lewis Military Reservation, which was donated hy Pierce County to the United States by consent of' the State Legislature, excepting only the right to serve criminal and civil process therein, from the exclusive control of Congress, is without the State in both a jurisdictional and territorial sense, and personal property located thereon is not taxable under the State laws.

We do not agree with the reasoning of the court in that case, and are of the opinion that'it is contrary to the trend of the decision of the United States Supreme Court bearing on the question as well as to the weight of authority in the State courts. The true rule governing cases of this sort is stated by the Virginia Supreme Court of .Appeals in Nikis v. Virginia, 131 S. E. 236, 46 A. L. R. 219. In that case the court held to be subject to ia State license tax a mercantile business carried bn in a railroad station situated on land ceded to the Federal Government for an approach to an interstate bridge. It was there recognized that the State could not tax land or buildings situated thereon which had been ceded by the State to the United States, but it was expressly held that personal property situated in buildings upon said land owned by third parties was liable to be taxed by the State and county in which it should be found. In discussing the question' the court said:

"That, the right of a State to tax the property of others located upon lands owned by the United States, although it cannot' tax such lands, will not be held to be abandoned by the State except for the most compelling reasons, is quite manifest from several decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States.”

In that case the G-eneral Assembly of Virginia ceded the land to the United States for abutments and approaches of a proposed bridge across the Potomac River. The State retained concurrent jurisdiction with the United States over such lands for the execution- of legal process and the discharge of such other legal functions within the same as may not be incompatible with the consent given in the act. The act also, provides, that the land acquired and the abutments and approaches of. the bridge should be exempt from taxation by the. State and county in which they were situated.

The Camp Pike Military Reservation was acquired by the United States under the provisions of an act of the Legislature of 1903. Acts of 1903, page 346. Section 1 of the act provides that the State of Arkansas consents to the purchase to be made by the United States of any site or ground for the erection of any armory or arsenal, etc., and that the jurisdiction of the State within and over all grounds thus purchased by the United States is ceded to the United States. The section provides that the grant of jurisdiction shall not prevent execution' of any process of the State, civil or criminal, upon any person who may be upon said premises. Section 2 .provides that the State releases her right to,tax any such site, grounds or real estate and all improvements which may be thereon and thereafter erected thereon, during the time the United States shall be and remain the owner thereof.

Thus it will be seen that, by the terms of the act itself, it was not intended by the State to part with jurisdiction for the purpose of listing personal property of third persons in the reservation for assessment and taxation: The grant by the State expressly cedes its right to tax the land and buildings granted to the United States, and this of itself indicates an intention to reserve jurisdiction for taxation over the property of third persons located on such reservation. The United States accepted the grant upon the terms indicated and, by its acceptance, acknowledged that there was no occasion for the State to cede exclusive jurisdiction to the United States or to éxempt from State taxation tlie property of third persons situated upon the reservation, which was not used by the United States as a public agency or instrumentality for carrying out the purpose of the grant.

In Noble v. Amoretti, 11 Wyo. 230, 71 P. 879, it was held that State taxation of the stock of goods of a licensed Indian trader located upon an Indian Reservation is not a tax upon an agency of the general Government and is not a burden upon commerce with an Indian tribe. It was further held that personal property, including the stock of goods of a licensed Indian trader, located within the limits of the Shoshone Indian Reservation, and employed in the business of' such trader, is subject to taxation under the laws of the State in the same manner and to the same extent as all other like property within the county.

In Oscar Daniels Co. v. Sault Ste. Marie, 175 N. W. 160, 208 Mich. 363, the Supreme Court of Michigan held that a statute of that State ceding all right and title of the State of Michigan to a canal and public works thereon to the United States, and retaining jurisdiction for the service of civil and criminal process, cedes less than exclusive jurisdiction, and the ceded territory is not out of the State, in so far as taxation of private property is concerned. We think this holding is in accord with our own decisions and the trend of the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States bearing on the question.

In Ex parte Gaines, 56 Ark. 227, 19 S. W. 602, it was held that the estate of the lessee of land belonging to the United States situated on the Hot Springs Reservation was not exempt from taxation. The court said that the interest of the lessee in the land was not the property of the United States and was not a means employed by Government to obtain a governmental end. It is true that, in that case, the decision was also based upon an act of Congress giving the consent of the United States to the taxation of personal property under the laws of the State of- Arkansas on the Hot Springs Reservation. It will be noted, however, that the trend of reasoning in that case is in accord with the reasoning in the- Virginia and Wyoming cases above cited.-

In Cassels v. Wilder, 23 How. 61, it was held that property on a United States military reservation is subject to taxation by, a. Territory. In Thomas v. Gay, 169 U. S. 264, 18 S. Ct. 340, 42 L. ed. 740, it was held that an •act of the Legislature of Oklahoma Territory providing for the taxation of personal property of persons other than Indians was-a legitimate exercise of the Territory’s power of taxation, and, when enforced in the taxation of cattle belonging to persons not resident in the Territory, grazing upon Indian reservations therein, does not violate the Constitution of the United States. In Wagoner v. Evans,

Related

Young, Admin. v. G. L. Tarlton, Contractor, Inc.
162 S.W.2d 477 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1942)
State Ex Rel. Board of County Commissioners v. Bruce
69 P.2d 97 (Montana Supreme Court, 1937)
Surplus Trading Co. v. Cook
281 U.S. 647 (Supreme Court, 1930)

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Bluebook (online)
297 S.W. 822, 174 Ark. 507, 1927 Ark. LEXIS 405, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/haynie-v-surplus-trading-co-ark-1927.