Congregational Sunday Sch. & Publ'g Soc. v. Bd. of Review

• Decision Date: 04 December 1919
• Docket Number: No. 12584.,12584.
• Citation: 125 N.E. 7,290 Ill. 108
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court
• Parties: CONGREGATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL & PUBLISHING SOC. v. BOARD OF REVIEW.

290 Ill. 108
125 N.E. 7

CONGREGATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL & PUBLISHING SOC.
v.
BOARD OF REVIEW.

No. 12584.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Oct. 27, 1919.
Rehearing Denied Dec. 4, 1919.

Appeal by the Congregation Sunday School & Publishing Society from a decision of the Board of Review of Cook County, denying its personal property exemption from taxation. Certified by the auditor of public accounts for review.

Decision set aside.

Dunn, C. J., dissenting.

[290 Ill. 109]

[125 N.E. 8]

Jones, Addington, Ames & Seibold, of Chicago (Walter Hamilton, of Chicago, of counsel), for appellant.

Edward J. Brundage, Atty. Gen., and Clarence N. Boord, of Springfield, for appellee.

THOMPSON, J.

This is an appeal by the Congregational Sunday School & Publishing Society from a decision of the board of review of Cook county denying its personal property exemption from taxation. This property consisted of religious and moral books and Sunday school supplies kept in its store at 19 West Jackson boulevard, Chicago. Its property was assessed at $20,000. The auditor of public accounts has certified the record to this court for review.

Appellant was formed by the consolidation of two private corporations, and is organized under certain special acts of the state of Massachusetts. Its main office is located in Boston, and the Chicago office is a branch established for handling its business in that territory west of the state of Ohio. The corporate purposes of appellant, as authorized by the statutes of the state of Massachusetts, are to establish and aid Sunday schools, supply Sunday school libraries, and otherwise promote Sunday school education; to produce, publish, sell, and circulate moral and religious tracts [290 Ill. 110]and books; and to publish, purchase, sell, circulate, and distribute, in such manner as it deems advisable, any and all publications, books, tracts, papers, or periodicals calculated to promote good morals, pure Christianity, the spread and extension of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to take, hold, and disburse any and all charitable funds contributed to it for the purposes aforesaid. The charter of the Congregational Sabbath School & Publishing Society, one of the corporations merged in appellant, provided that nothing in the act creating it was to be construed to authorize the corporation to traffic in books for the purpose of profit.

Section 46 of our Corporation Act (Hurd's Stat. 1917, p. 707) authorizes religious corporations to publish, print, circulate, sell, or give away such religious, Sabbath school, and missionary tracts, periodicals, or books as they may deem necessary to the promotion of religion and morality. We have held that a foreign corporation legally doing business in this state has all the rights and privileges that a similar domestic corporation has. Eaton v. Home Missionary Society, 264 Ill. 88, 105 N. E. 746.

It is conceded that the business of appellant

[125 N.E. 9]

is fourfold: It maintains a Sunday school missionary department, which organizes Sunday schools and maintains missionaries, who visit and assist in the work of these schools; it publishes and circulates a religious paper known as The Congregationalist and Advance, and four other smaller religious periodicals; it publishes and sells religious and moral books; and it composes and publishes Sunday school periodicals, quarterlies, and lessonhelps, and sells these supplies to Sunday of all denominations. Appellant employs authors of note to write its books, and so far as the record shows, it sells at its Chicago office only such books as it writes and publishes. The aim of the corporation is to publish and distribute these books for the purpose of disseminating the views of its writers on religion and morality. A sufficient charge is made to cover the expenses of this work. All [290 Ill. 111]the printing and publishing is done in Boston. The Chicago branch is used as western headquarters for the work of the society, and it maintains a store, where its religious and moral books and Sunday school supplies are sold to whomsoever desires to buy. The funds of appellant are raised by donations from Congregational churches, Sunday schools, Christian Endeavor societies, women's home missionary organizations, and individuals, and by incomes from certain legacies, trust funds and investments. All of these funds are handled in Boston, and none of the property of appellant, except the books and Sunday school supplies, is kept in Chicago. All of the income of appellant is devoted to the corporate purposes heretofore outlined. No stock is issued, no dividends are declared, and no profit accrues to any individual. Appellant contends that these corporate purposes and acts are clearly religious, beneficent, and charitable, and that its property is therefore exempt from taxation.

The only tabulated statement of receipts and disbursements and of assets and liabilities that appears in the record is one for the year 1908-1909. That year its business showed a profit to the Chicago office of $8,440.28. It appears that some years the business is operated at a profit and some years it is operated at a loss. Appellant's business at Chicago for the year 1917 amounted to approximately $200,000, of which $140,000 was from the sale of Sunday school supplies and $60,000 from the sale of religious and moral books. It is, of course, impossible to determine just what the expenses will be each year, but it appears that the prices charged are such that in carrying the business over a period of years there will be practically no profits. When a Sunday school is in such financial condition that it is unable to purchase its supplies the society will furnish the supplies gratis. If the missionaries find a Sunday school in need of these supplies which is able to pay only a portion of the list price, then it is furnished with these supplies[290 Ill. 112]at a cost of 75, 50 or 25 per cent. of the price, in accordance with its ability to pay. Such profits as do come from the business of selling books and periodicals are devoted to the maintenance of the missionary department.

In determining whether appellant is entitled to have its claim for exemption granted it will be necessary to consider the revenue laws of this state. All property in this state is subject to taxation unless it is exempted. Section 3 of article 9 of the Constitution does not exempt from taxation such property as may be used exclusively for school, religious, or charitable purposes, but merely provides that the General Assembly may by general law exempt from taxation the property of such institutions. Section 2 of the Revenue Act (Hurd's Rev. St. 1917, c. 120) provides that--

‘All property used exclusively for religious purposes, or used exclusively for school and religious purposes * * * and not leased or otherwise used with a view to profit,’ and ‘all property of institutions of public charity, all property of beneficent and charitable organizations, whether incorporated in this or in any other State of the United States * * * when such property is actually and exclusively...