In re Bensalem Township Trailer Tax Ordinance

84 Pa. D. & C. 502, 1952 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 39
CourtBucks County Court of Quarter Sessions
DecidedSeptember 3, 1952
Docketmisc. dkt. no. 1
StatusPublished

This text of 84 Pa. D. & C. 502 (In re Bensalem Township Trailer Tax Ordinance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Bucks County Court of Quarter Sessions primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Bensalem Township Trailer Tax Ordinance, 84 Pa. D. & C. 502, 1952 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 39 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1952).

Opinion

Satterthwaite, J.,

This appeal from an ordinance of Bensalem Township challenges the right of the supervisors thereof to levy a monthly tax of $3 on the use and occupancy of house trailers for a consecutive period of 15 days or longer, [503]*503under the Act of June 25, 1947, P. L. 1145, 53 PS §2015.1 et seq., as extended to townships of the second class by the Act of September 29, 1951, P. L. 1640.

Testimony taken at the hearing on the appeal was concerned almost entirely with the question as to whether or not appellants have legal standing to question the validity of' the ordinance, in view of section 3 of the Act of 1947, supra, 53 PS §2015.3, which authorizes such appeal by, inter alia, “taxpayers of the political sub-division not less than twenty-five in number aggrieved by the ordinance”.

The petition for the appeal was signed by 32 persons. It was stipulated by counsel that 15 thereof were taxpayers aggrieved. From the testimony of witnesses, it appeared that an additional 11 of the parties had been residents, occupiers and users of house trailers within the township for a consecutive period of 15 days or more prior to the hearing. This showing alone was sufficient to sustain the standing of appellants in this case. By such proofs they have shown that there were at least 26 parties to the appeal who would be aggrieved by the ordinance, that is, who would, by being subject to the tax in question under its terms, suffer some special injury different from that which affected them and the public generally: North Braddock Borough’s Annexation Case, 126 Pa. Superior Ct. 53, 61. Compare Leech Appeal, 170 Pa. Superior Ct. 130, 132. It is therefore unnecessary to consider the collateral matters arising out of the testimony concerning the payment of the separate trailer tax imposed by the School District of Bensalem Township.

Also joining in the appeal were the operators of all the established trailer camps in Bensalem Township, three in number. Although their standing as appellants also was questioned, it would appear that they are proper parties in view of the duties of tax collection imposed Upon them by the ordinance in ques[504]*504tion: Moeller v. Conner et al., 32 Erie 115, 117, and cases cited therein. Particularly is this true under the facts of the present case by reason of the personal liability imposed upon the operators of trailer camps by the ordinance upon the failure of the occupants of the trailers to pay the tax therein levied and assessed, as will be more fully hereinafter discussed.

On the merits of the case, the principal point of contention is the construction of the 1951 amendments to the Act of June 25, 1947, P. L. 1145, popularly known as Act No. 481 or the Tax Anything Law. Prior to these amendments, second class townships were not included within the Act of 1947. The 1951 legislature, apparently believing that some, but not all, of the taxing powers conferred upon other municipalities should be extended to second class townships, adopted the Act of September 29, 1951, P. L. 1640, for that purpose. Section 1 thereof made an appropriate amendment to the title of the Act of 1947. Section 2 amended section 1(A) of the Act of 1947 as added and amended by the Act of May 9, 1949, P. L. 898, by the addition of the following:

“Subject to the limitations prescribed in this Act, the duly constituted authorities of townships of the second class may, in their discretion, by ordinance or resolution, for general revenue purposes, levy, assess and collect, or provide for the levying, assessment and collection of, any one or more of the following taxes, within the limits of such townships:
“1. A per capita tax upon individuals.
“2. A tax on sales involving the transfer of title of real property.
“3. A tax on admissions to places of amusement, athletic events and the like.
“4. A tax on the use or occupancy of house trailers suitable for living quarters.
“No township shall levy a per capita tax for the same period for which it levies an occupation tax.”

[505]*505Section 2 of the 1951 Act also amended subsection (E) of section 1 as inserted by the 1949 Act, relating to limitations on rates of specific taxes, by adding, to the $10 limitation on per capita taxes in subparagraph (a), the words “except in townships of the second class, $5.00”; and also by adding a new subparagraph (g) providing as follows:

“(g) On use or occupancy of house trailers suitable for living quarters, in townships of the second class, $10.00.”

The present controversy involves the construction of this subparagraph (g). Does it authorize the supervisors of Bensalem Township to impose such a tax on trailers at a rate exceeding $10 per year? This question arises because the legislature, in enacting the 1951 amendments, did not expressly specify the period to which the $10 limitation was intended to be applicable. The supervisors apparently contend that the $10 ceiling relates only to the taxing period which they may happen to select for the imposition of the tax. They cite no authority for this construction. Appellants, on the other hand, more realistically argue that the legislature intended that the annual aggregate amount of the tax so imposed should not exceed $10. With the later contention we agree.

Under general laws, prior to the 1951 amendments to the Act of 1947, the supervisors of second class townships had no authority to levy a per capita tax or other tax of a similar nature for general revenue purposes: Application of Colerain Township Supervisors, 55 D. & C. 555. Furthermore, it is well established that neither municipalities nor school districts are sovereigns and have no original or fundamental powers of legislation or taxation, being authorized to enact only those legislative and tax ordinances which are provided for by act of assembly; if such ordinance or resolution be unauthorized or in conflict with the [506]*506enabling legislation, it is in that respect or to that extent void: Allentown School District Mercantile Tax Case, 370 Pa. 161, 171, and cases cited.

It follows, therefore, that the ordinance here in question must find its authority and justification under the above-quoted provisions of the 1951 amendments to the Act of 1947. This, in turn, involves ascertaining the intention of the legislature when it provided for subparagraph (g) of subsection (E) of section 1 of the Act of 1947, as amended.

In our opinion, it seems clear that the legislature intended that the limitations of subsection (E) should be considered on an annual basis. This is borne out not only by the whole system and scheme of local municipal taxation in Pennsylvania, which is on an annual basis, but also by the very Act of 1947 in question, and its amendments in 1949 and 1951. Undoubtedly, the legislature had annual taxation in mind in passing the 1951 Act and the limitations therein.

General municipal laws all recognize that municipal corporations and school districts are organized, budgeted, financed and operated for annual periods, whether it be for a calendar year or a fiscal year. See, for example, sections 905, 906 and 907 of. the Second Class Township Code as amended, revised and reenacted by the Act of July 10,1947, P. L.

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Wilkinsburg Borough v. Wilkinsburg Borough School District
74 A.2d 138 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1950)
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Allentown School District Mercantile Tax Case
87 A.2d 480 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1952)
Leech Appeal
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Bluebook (online)
84 Pa. D. & C. 502, 1952 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 39, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-bensalem-township-trailer-tax-ordinance-paqtrsessbucks-1952.