Gafill v. Bracken

• Decision Date: 13 January 1925
• Docket Number: 24,429
• Citation: 146 N.E. 109,195 Ind. 551
• Parties: Gafill v. Bracken, Auditor of State
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

146 N.E. 109

195 Ind. 551

Gafill v. Bracken, Auditor of State

No. 24,429

Supreme Court of Indiana

January 13, 1925

Original Opinion of November 7, 1924, Reported at: 195 Ind 551.

OPINION

Ewbank, J.

The imposition of a tax of a fixed amount per gallon upon all sales of gasoline to be used for one designated purpose not being forbidden by the constitutional provision requiring "a uniform and equal rate of assessment and taxation," nor by any other expressed prohibition contained in the Constitution of the State of Indiana or of the United States, it follows that a statute imposing such a tax is not made invalid by the fact that some or all of such gasoline may have paid a tax, as property, in proportion to its assessed value. The authorities to the contrary cited by counsel for appellants are in direct conflict with the decisions of this court cited below. Kersey v City of Terre Haute (1903), 161 Ind. 471, 473, 68 N.E. 1027; City of Terre Haute v. Kersey (1902), 159 Ind. 300, 311, 64 N.E. 469.

Administrative officers charged with the duty of drawing warrants for the payment of claims against the public treasury, and of paying such claims, must always exercise some judgment and discretion in determining whether or not to draw a warrant or pay a claim. But when a claim for the refund of money, paid as tax for gasoline sold, is presented to the auditor of state, duly itemized (§ 7490 Burns 1914 § 1, ch. 15, Acts 1897 p. 175) and accompanied by the original invoices showing such purchases (§ 5, ch. 182 Acts 1923 p. 534), the action of the auditor in drawing a warrant for the amount is no more judicial than it is when he approves and draws a warrant for the payment of any other of the thousands of claims against the...