Bradley v. City of Richmond

• Citation: 57 L.Ed. 603,227 U.S. 477,33 S.Ct. 318
• Decision Date: 24 February 1913
• Docket Number: No. 38,38
• Parties: F. S. BRADLEY, Trading as Bradley & Co., Plff. in Err., v. CITY OF RICHMOND
• Court: United States Supreme Court

227 U.S. 477

33 S.Ct. 318

57 L.Ed. 603

F. S. BRADLEY, Trading as Bradley & Co., Plff. in Err.,

v CITY OF RICHMOND.

No. 38.

Submitted November 6, 1912.

Decided February 24, 1913.

Mr. I. Henry Harris for paintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from page 478 intentionally omitted] Mr. Henry R. Pollard for defendant in error.

[Argument of Counsel from page 479 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice Lurton delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff in error was convicted in the hustings court of Richmond for the violation of an ordinance forbidding the carrying on of the business of a 'private banker' without a license. This judgment was affirmed by the supreme court of the state.

Numerous objections to the ordinance and to the tax, arising under the law and Constitution of the state, were decided adversely to the plaintiff in error. With these we have no concern. The case comes here upon the claim made in the state court, and denied, that the ordinance denies both the equal protection of the law and due process as guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.

The ordinance in question requires all persons desiring to pursue certain businesses and occupations to pay a special license tax for the privilege of prosecuting such business. Many pursuits are named, among them real estate agents, commission merchants, brokers, auctioneers, private bankers, etc. The persons required to pay such special license tax are to be divided by the finance committee of the city council into thirteen classes. The amount required to be paid by each class is as follows: First class, $800; second class, $600; third class, $400; fourth class, $300; fifth class, $250; and so on in decreasing amounts to the thirteenth class, which is required to pay only $10. This classification by the finance committee is to be made with the advice and assistance of 'the commissioner of revenue, the city tax collector, or any city officer.'

The tax imposed is not merely an exercise of the police power regulating a business, but is a tax assessed as a condition upon which the license issues. Though it fulfils the double function of both regulating the business and producing revenue, it was fully authorized by the law of the state, as adjudged by the very judgment under review. Gundling v. Chicago, 177 U. S. 183, 189, 44 L. ed. 725, 759, 20 Sup. Ct. Rep. 633. Since the purpose of the statute is double, it is plain that the exact the same amount from each person or firm subject to the tax might result in inequality of burden under like circumstances and conditions. Therefore it was that the ordinance provided for a division into classes, those in each class paying the same tax.

The objection to the ordinance does not grow out of any contention that there may not exist just and reasonable distinctions justifying a greater tax upon some of these persons or firms engaged in doing what is called a 'private banking' business than upon others engaged in the same general business; but arises from the fact that the law provides no rule by which some are to be placed in one class and some in another. An ordinance which commits to a board, committee, or single official the power to make an arbitrary classification for purposes of taxation would meet neither the requirement of due process, nor that of the equal protection of the law.

But this ordinance does not authorize any arbitrary classification, nor could the state or the council legally confer or exercise arbitrary power in classifying for the purpose of either regulating or licensing or taxing. The guaranty of the 14th Amendment would forbid.

But whether the power of classifying be exercised by the state directly or by a city council authorized to require the payment of such a tax as a condition to the issuance of a license, it is at last the exercise of legislative discretion, and is subject, in either case, to the guaranty referred to.

But when the matter concerns the determination of the business or occupation which may be required to take out a license and pay a tax as a condition of obtaining such a license, the power of the state is subject to no limitations, save those found in the guaranty of due process and the equal protection of the law. In the present instance, the state has delegated this power of selecting the businesses and occupations carried on within the city of Richmond, and of dividing them into classes and determining the amount of the tax to be paid by the members of each class. The state supreme court has decided that there can be no objection under the Constitution of the state to such delegation. Neither do we see any reason under the 14th Amendment why the state may not delegate to either the council of the city or to a board appointed for that purpose the power to divide such occupations or privileges into classes or subclasses, and prescribe the tax to be paid by the members of each such class. Gundling v. Chicago, 177 U. S. 183, 44 L. ed. 725, 20 Sup. Ct. Rep. 633; Fischer v. St. Louis, 194 U. S. 361, 372, 48 L. ed. 1018, 1024, 24 Sup. Ct. Rep. 673; New York ex rel. Leiberman v. Van De Carr, 199 U. S. 552, 560, 50 L. ed. 305, 310, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. 144. In the case last cited, this court said:

'That this court will not interfere because the states have seen fit to give administrative discretion to local boards to grant or withhold licenses or permits to carry on trades or occupations, or perform acts which are properly the subject of regulation in the exercise of the reserved power of the states to protect the health and safety of its people, there can be no doubt.'

That this ordinance does not contemplate any arbitrary discrimination between the persons or firms subject to the license tax is evident from the direction that they shall be divided into thirteen classes, the members of each class to pay the particular amount named as a condition to the issuance of a license. It is also evident from the provisions in respect of notice, right to be heard, and a right to a review by the council itself. These are obvious guards against unjust and capricious inequalities.

The authority to classify is given to the finance committee of the city council. That was...