Williamson v. Southern Regional Council, Inc.

154 S.E.2d 21, 223 Ga. 179, 1967 Ga. LEXIS 458
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedMarch 9, 1967
Docket23884, 23885
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 154 S.E.2d 21 (Williamson v. Southern Regional Council, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williamson v. Southern Regional Council, Inc., 154 S.E.2d 21, 223 Ga. 179, 1967 Ga. LEXIS 458 (Ga. 1967).

Opinion

Cook, Justice.

Executions totaling $17,993.17 were issued by Marion Williamson, as Director of the Employment Security Agency of the Department of Labor of Georgia, against Southern Regional Council, Inc., for contributions under the Employment Security Law for the period from January 1, 1956, through the first quarter of 1964. These executions were levied on certain personal property of Southern Regional Council, Inc. Affidavit of illegality was filed, and on the trial of the issue the jury found for Southern Regional Council, Inc. The appeal by Marion Williamson, as Director, is from the judgment entered on this verdict. Southern Regional Council, Inc., filed a cross appeal, in which constitutional questions were made.

Under the “Unemployment Compensation Law” (Ga. L. 1937, pp. 806-848), as amended by Ga. L. 1941, pp. 532-564, and further amendments, the term “employment” has excluded from it numerous services. Subsection (H) of these exclusions is the one under which Southern Regional Council, Inc., claims that it is exempt from the requirement of making contributions under this law. This subsection provides as follows: “Service performed in the employ of a corporation, community chest, fund, or foundation, organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes, or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals, no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual, and no substantial part of the activities of which is carrying on propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation.” Code Ann. § 54-657 (h) (7) (H).

The Director of the Employment Security Agency made twelve assignments of error in his enumeration of errors. The brief of counsel for the director states that the issues are as follows: “(1) Did the lower court as a matter of. law err in overruling appellant’s special demurrers; (2) Do the facts and law in the case entitle appellee corporation to the exemption under Section 54-657 (h) (7) (H) of the Employment Security Law of the State of Georgia; (3) Did the lower court as a matter of law err in its definition of propaganda in its charge [181]*181to the jury limiting the connotation of the word (propaganda) to influencing the legislature.” These are the only issues argued in the brief, and we will confine ourselves to these questions. Marion Williamson, as Director of the Employment Security Agency of the Department of Labor of Georgia, will be referred to herein as appellant, and Southern Regional Council, Inc., as appellee.

The appellant assigned error on the overruling of his special demurrers to Paragraphs 10, 11, 13, and 14 of the amended affidavit of illegality. These paragraphs alleged that other organizations engaged in activities of the same nature were excluded from the operation of the Employment Security Law, and to deny the appellee this exclusion would be denying it equal protection under the state and federal Constitutions, and that the appellant is using the power to tax as a means of inhibiting the appellee’s freedom of speech, which is violative of stated provisions of the state and federal Constitutions. The trial judge found that the special demurrers to these paragraphs were not free from fault themselves, and therefore overruled them. We affirm this ruling; but also point out that the case was tried on its facts as to whether the operations of the appellee came within the exclusion of Code Ann. § 54-657 (h) (7) (H), and the appellee was required to assume the burden of proving that its operations came within the exclusion. The rulings on demurrer were not, therefore, harmful to the appellant.

Code Ann. § 54-657 (h) (7) (H) can not be termed a tax exemption in the strictest sense. The sums paid by employers to the unemployment compensation fund are called “contributions.” These sums are paid in connection with “employment” coming within the definition of that term, and this definition excludes various services, one service being that in the employ of a “corporation, community chest, fund, or foundation, organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes, ... no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual, and no substantial part of the activities of which is carrying on propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation.”

[182]*182The trial judge charged the jury that they should determine whether the majority of the activities of the appellee were directed in furtherance of charitable or educational purposes, or a combination of the two. In interpreting Code Ann. § 54-657 (h) (7) (H) no aid can be received from the cases decided under the constitutional provision for exemptions from taxation (Art. VII, Sec. I, Par. IV; Code Ann. § 2-5404), or Code Ann. § 02-201, enacted pursuant to this constitutional provision, since the wording of the constitutional tax exemption is entirely different from the wording of the exclusion from contributions to the unemployment fund. For example, the constitutional provision exempts from taxation “all institutions of purely public charity,” whereas the exclusion from contributions to the unemployment fund designates service “performed in the employ of a corporation . . . operated exclusively for . . . charitable, ... or educational purposes, . . .”

Code § 108-203 provides that the following subjects, among others, are proper matters of charity for the jurisdiction of equity: “2. Every educational purpose. . . 6. Redemption or relief of prisoners or captives. . . 8. Other similar subjects, having for their object the relief of human suffering or the promotion of human civilization.”

It was not error to instruct the jury that the appellee would be exempt if it is operated for charitable or educational purposes, or a combination of the two.

The application for charter of the appellee stated the objects and purposes of the corporation to be: “to exist and function as an eleemosynary organization, and more particularly to organize and maintain a Regional Council for the improvement of economic, civic and racial conditions in the South, in the endeavor to promote a greater unity in the South in all efforts towards regional and racial development; to attain through research and action programs the ideals and practices of equal opportunity for all peoples in the region; to reduce race tension, the basis of racial tension, racial misunderstanding, and racial distrust; to develop and integrate leadership in the South on new levels of regional development and fellowship; and to cooperate with local, state and regional agencies on all levels in the attainment of the desired objectives.”

[183]*183Mr. Paul Anthony, executive director of the appellee, testified that the following were projects of the appellee: urban planning; prison reform and criminal rehabilitation; prevention of juvenile delinquency; voter education; library development; and research on unemployment problems and welfare programs. The appellee publishes a publication known as “New South,” and also publishes and distributes other writings, such as speeches and newspaper articles, which relate to subjects of special interest to the appellee. The appellee maintains a regular staff for the purpose of research, and commissions other persons, not connected with the corporation, to conduct research and write reports on such research.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Bronner v. Duggan
249 F. Supp. 3d 27 (District of Columbia, 2017)
Cauldwell v. State
439 S.E.2d 90 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1993)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
154 S.E.2d 21, 223 Ga. 179, 1967 Ga. LEXIS 458, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williamson-v-southern-regional-council-inc-ga-1967.