Swanson v. State

410 S.E.2d 490, 330 N.C. 390, 1991 N.C. LEXIS 793

Opinions

WEBB, Justice.

We have granted the plaintiffs’ petition for rehearing in order to answer some of the claims made by the plaintiffs in the petition. The plaintiffs say, in their petition for rehearing, that the matter passed on in superior court was a motion for partial summary judgment which dealt only with claims under the Constitution of the United States. They say that they have alleged claims under the Constitution of North Carolina which have not been determined in the superior court and ask that the case be remanded to determine those claims.

We hold that the order entered by the superior court from which the appeal was taken was not for partial summary judgment. It was entitled motion for partial summary judgment but the motion said:

Pursuant to Rule 56 of the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure, Plaintiffs move this Court to enter an order granting summary judgment in favor of Class A Plaintiffs on their claims for refunds of taxes unlawfully collected from them for tax years 1985 through 1988 and in favor of Class B Plaintiffs on their claims for refunds of taxes unlawfully collected from them for tax years 1986 through 1989.

Nowhere in this motion do the plaintiffs limit it to their claims under the United States Constitution. The order granting the motion is entitled “Partial Summary Judgment” but it does not limit the order to claims under the United States Constitution. After reciting that there is no genuine issue of a material fact and that the plaintiffs are entitled to judgment as a matter of law, the superior court ordered a refund of taxes to both classes of plaintiffs. If we were to say the order should be limited to either federal or state claims, there is no way of determining from the motion or the order to which type of claim it should be limited. We hold the superior court passed on all claims. The State in its brief argues all the claims.

Both classes of plaintiffs alleged that the collection of the taxes deprived them of due process and equal protection of the laws guaranteed them by N.C. Const, art. I, § 19, as well as the constitutional right to uniformity in taxation guaranteed to them by N.C. Const, art. V, § 2, and the right against the taxing of acts previously done guaranteed by N.C. Const, art. I, § 16.

In order to withstand a challenge to an act of the General Assembly on the ground it violates the law of the land clause of N.C. Const, art. I, § 19, which is comparable to the due process clause of the federal Constitution, the act of the General Assembly must have a rational relation to a valid state objective. In re Moore, 289 N.C. 95, 221 S.E.2d 307 (1976). The provision of pensions for retired state employees and the payment to members of the National Guard are valid state objectives. The exemption from taxation for these two remunerations has a rational relation to each of them. The granting of these exemptions does not violate the law of the land clause of N.C. Const, art. I, § 19.

We are not certain that N.C. Const, art. V, § 2 has any application to this case. It deals principally with taxation of property. Its only reference to income taxes is contained in the following sentence, “[t]he rate of tax on incomes shall not in any case exceed ten percent, and there shall be allowed personal exemptions and deductions so that only net incomes are taxed.” N.C. Const, art. V, § 2(6).

Assuming N.C. Const, art. V, § 2 applies, we believe the resolution of whether it prohibits the tax on the plaintiffs in this case presents the same question as is presented by the equal protection clause of N.C. Const, art. I, § 19. The General Assembly created a class composed of retired state employees and a class composed of members of the National Guard. Each of these classes received favorable treatment under the income tax laws of this state. The question is whether these two classifications are reasonable and not arbitrary. Neither class of plaintiffs is a suspect class and the test as to arbitrariness is whether the distinctions drawn for retired state employees and members of the National Guard bear some relationship to a conceivable legitimate governmental interest. Texfi Industries v. City of Fayetteville, 301 N.C. 1, 269 S.E.2d 142 (1980); Leonard v. Maxwell, Comr. of Revenue, 216 N.C. 89, 3 S.E.2d 316, app. dismd., 308 U.S. 516, 84 L.Ed. 439 (1939). The providing of compensation for retired state employees and members of the National Guard is a legitimate governmental interest. The exemption of a part or all of this compensation from taxation has some relation to this governmental interest. These exemptions do not violate the equal protection clause of N.C. Const, art. I, § 19, or art. V, § 2.

The plaintiffs also contend that the tax imposed on them violates N.C. Const, art. I, § 16, which provides in part: “[n]o law taxing retrospectively . . . acts previously done shall be enacted.” The taxes on the Class B plaintiffs were imposed on income in the years it was received. It was not imposed on acts previously done.

The taxes imposed on federal retirees were not taxes on acts previously done. The taxes were imposed on income which was received in the years the taxes were collected. The fact that the pensions of the federal retirees were based on wages previously earned does not make the tax retrospective. A statute is not unconstitutionally retroactive merely because it operates on facts which were in existence before its enactment. See Smith v. American and Efird Mills, 305 N.C. 507, 290 S.E.2d 634 (1982) and Wood v. Stevens and Co., 297 N.C. 636, 256 S.E.2d 692 (1979).

With the addition of this opinion, we reaffirm the opinion previously entered. We reverse and remand to the Superior Court, Wake County for the entry of judgment dismissing the action.

Reversed and remanded.