Shultz v. O'Neill

21 Pa. D. & C.2d 255, 1959 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 53
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Bucks County
DecidedFebruary 20, 1959
Docketnos. 5 and 6
StatusPublished

This text of 21 Pa. D. & C.2d 255 (Shultz v. O'Neill) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Bucks County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shultz v. O'Neill, 21 Pa. D. & C.2d 255, 1959 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 53 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1959).

Opinion

Biester, P. J.,

This matter is before the chancellor as the result of the filing of two bills in equity, one of which being a class action, attacking an ordinance of the Township of Bristol, this county, imposing a tax of $15 per annum “upon the [256]*256privilege of using for profit within the Township of Bristol, any vending machine, jukebox or mechanical amusement device” as therein defined. The tax is required to be paid “by the persons owning and/or operating the establishment in which such device is installed or located for use.” That phase of the ordinance dealing with amusement devices and jukeboxes is not before the court, the subject of the attack being the tax upon vending machines. . . .

Discussion

As stated in the findings of fact, the ordinance in question is imposed under the authority of the Tax Anything Act of June 25, 1947, P. L. 1145, 53 PS §6851. Under the terms of the ordinance vending machines “shall mean any machine which, upon the insertion of a coin, slug, token, plate, disc or key, emits an article of merchandise. This term shall include, but shall not be limited to the following type machines: peanut vending machines; beverage vending machines; cigarette vending machines; bread vending machines; milk vending machines; candy vending machines; ice vending machines; and other similar type machines”.

The tax of $15 a calendar year, or a portion thereof, is required to be paid prior to the use of the machine or device and no deduction or refund is permissible for the use of a machine for less than a full calendar year or “in case of any device being destroyed, sold or otherwise disposed of, or transferred out of the Township of Bristol, after the payment of such tax”. The payment of the tax for each machine is to be evidenced by tag or certificate attached to the machine.

Although there are two separate cases before us, the attack upon the ordinance is of the same nature in both cases and the arguments and briefs submitted are completely consistent. The basis of the attack is the alleged lack of uniformity of the tax and its alleged discrimi[257]*257natory and confiscatory nature. That is to say, the ordinance is said to be violatory of article IX, sec. 1, of the Constitution of Pennsylvania which provides “all taxes shall be uniform, upon the same class of subjects within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax”. . . .

Neither the research of counsel, nor that of the chancellor, has revealed any decisions of either of our appellate courts dealing specifically with the problem here before us. Three lower court opinions, to wit, Automatic Vending Sales Company v. City of Johnstown, 19 D. & C. 474 (1933); Commonwealth ex rel. v. Bradley, 40 D. & C. 584 (1940); and Cambridge Springs Borough v. Kineston, 84 D. & C. 110 (1952), all arrive at the conclusion that a tax similar to the one here imposed is in conflict with the Constitution of Pennsylvania and therefore invalid. True, such cases were not decided under the provisions of the Tax Anything Act and there are some distinctions between those cases and the ones presently before us. Nevertheless, the rationale of those cases and especially that of Commonwealth ex rel. v. Bradley strongly supports the position taken by plaintiffs in the present case. Thus in Commonwealth ex rel. v. Bradley, Judge Soffel, in a lengthy and carefully considered opinion, quotes at length from the case of In Re Application of Richardson, 170 Cal. 68, 148 Pac. 213 (1915), which held invalid a tax on vending machines levied by an ordinance of the City of San Francisco. In that case the court said, on page 73:

“The license-tax attempted is one solely on his mode of making his sales and deliveries, without any reference whatever to the amount of business done. If he uses such a machine, or machines, for thát purpose, he must pay a license-tax of two dollars per annum for each machine so used. If he sells and delivers the very same merchandise in any other manner, he is not [258]*258required to pay any license-tax at all. It is elementary that there must be equality and uniformity in the imposition of license-taxes for revenue purposes, and that any classification providing different changes for those engaged in the same business, a charge for some .and exemption for the others, must be one founded upon some natural and reasonable distinction pertinent to the matter. So, different charges may be imposed on those engaged in the same business, proportioned to the amount of business done, estimated in many different ways [citing eases], and this is the usual basis of any difference in the amount of charge on those engaged in the same business. But, and we are now speaking solely of revenue taxes, we know of no principle that warrants the imposition of a tax on some of those engaged in a certain business solely because of the method they use in making their sales and deliveries, and the exemption of all engaged in the very same business who do not use that method. We are speaking, of course, of methods not involving any •occupancy or use of public property, such, for instance, us the use by wagons of a public highway. A tax thus imposed is really one solely on the method used by the merchant, and not on the business, a tax of the same nature as would be one imposed on a tradesman solely because of his use in making sales of such articles as a computing scale, a cash register, a cash carrier or •some other such modern device. A difference in such mere methods of making sales and deliveries does not furnish a proper basis for classification of vendors of merchandise. . . .”

We must agree that such expressions as the above are persuasive. Nevertheless, after a careful consideration of the whole problem we have arrived at a different conclusion.

The Tax Anything Act, which since its enactment has been before our courts for various reasons and on [259]*259a number of occasions, confers upon political subdivisions the power to levy, assess and collect taxes upon any and all subjects of taxation which the Commonwealth has power to tax, but which it does not tax or license, except as to certain restrictions and limitations imposed by the act itself. The limitation as to such matters as are now before us is that such local authorities shall not have such authority by virtue of the act, “except on sales of admission to places of amusement or on sales or other transfers of title or possession of property, to levy, assess or collect a tax on the privilege of employing such tangible property as is now or does hereafter become subject to a state tax.” It appears to the chancellor that it is implicit in such phraseology that the municipality, subject to the limitations therein expressed, does have the authority to levy, assess or collect a tax on the privilege of employing tangible property.

There are certain fundamental concepts which must be borne in mind in passing upon the question of the application of article IX, sec. 1, as it affects a particular tax. One premise that is well established is that classification is a legislative question subject to judicial revision only so far as to see that it is founded on real distinctions in the subjects classified, and not on artificial or irrelevant ones used for the purpose of evading the constitutional prohibition. If the distinctions are genuine, the court cannot declare the classification void, although they may not consider it to be on a sound basis. The test is not wisdom, but good faith in the classification.

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Bluebook (online)
21 Pa. D. & C.2d 255, 1959 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 53, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shultz-v-oneill-pactcomplbucks-1959.