Greene County v. Wright
| Decision Date | 17 August 1906 |
| Citation | 54 S.E. 951,126 Ga. 504 |
| Parties | GREENE COUNTY et al. v. WRIGHT, Comptroller General. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court.
Stock in a nonresident railroad corporation owned by a domestic railroad company is taxable for county and municipal purposes in that county and city wherein the principal office of such corporation is fixed by its charter or by law. Such property is "located" property in the meaning of the law of this state providing the machinery for distributing the property of railroad companies for county and municipal taxation.
Error from Superior Court, Fulton County; J. F. Pendleton, Judge.
Action by the county of Greene and others against W. A. Wright Comptroller General of the state. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiffs bring error. Affirmed.
Under Pol.Code 1895, §§ 725, 784, et seq., subjecting all the property of railroad corporations not exempt by law to county and municipal taxes, stock in a nonresident railroad corporation owned by a domestic railroad corporation is taxable for county and municipal purposes in that county and city wherein the principal office of such corporation is fixed by its charter or by law.
The county of Greene, the county of Taliaferro, the county of Oglethorpe, the county of Walton, the county of McDuffie, the county of Columbia, the city of Union Point, the city of Greensboro, and the mayor and council of town of Crawfordville filed a petition in the superior court of Fulton county against Wm. A. Wright, as Comptroller General of the state, in which is set up, in substance, that they are, respectively, bodies corporate under the laws of Georgia, being counties and municipalities thereof; that the Georgia Railroad & Banking Company, of this state, whose railroad, being wholly within this state, runs through the territorial limits of each of the petitioners and has real and personal property in the limits of each; that under the law said company is subject to taxation in each of the petitioning counties and municipalities according to the tax rates fixed for them, severally, upon such of its property as is located therein, and also upon such portions of its rolling stock and other personal property as the property located in each county or municipality bears to the whole located property of said company, except such as was lawfully exempt; that for the years 1903, 1904, and 1905 said company made returns to the Comptroller General giving the information required by sections 784 and 726 of the Political Code of 1895 as to the value of its whole property, the value of its located property in each county and municipality through which it runs, and the value of its rolling stock and other personal property, and that for the years prior thereto no such returns were made; that on the 1st day of April 1895, and on the 1st day of April of each year since, said company held and owned in the state of Georgia 15,000 shares of the capital stock of the Western Railway of Alabama, a corporation of the state of Alabama; that said stock was and is personal property and taxable under the laws of this state in the hands of said Georgia Railroad & Banking Company; that said stock is not located in any county, but is a part of "the other personal property" of said company required to be apportioned for taxation to the several counties and municipalities through which the railroad runs and in all of which it equally resides for purposes of taxation; that for the years 1895 to 1905 inclusive it was the duty of the Comptroller General, if no sufficient returns were made in the years 1903, 1904, and 1905, to assess and fix, from the best information he could procure, the value of the property of the company located in each of the petitioning counties and municipalities, the value of all its located property, and the value of its "rolling stock and other personal property" not exempt, and especially of said shares of stock, and apportion the value thereof for taxation, as provided by law, to the said counties and municipalities, the respective tax rates of each having been duly certified to him as provided by law, for each of said years; that it was the duty of said Comptroller General to apply their several tax rates to the proportion of the value of said shares of stock assigned, respectively, for each of said years, and to ascertain the amount of tax due each, and upon default in payment to issue fi. fas. therefor in the name of the state and to enforce the same as fi. fas. are enforced for taxes due the state; that demand was duly made upon the Comptroller General that he perform said duties, and issue fi. fas., if the taxes were not paid when demanded, and that the comptroller refused to do so; that petitioners are entitled, under the law, to have the comptroller perform these duties, and, having no other specific remedy, pray that the writ of mandamus issue requiring the comptroller to proceed to assess from returns made, and if no return, then from the best information he can procure, the said 15,000 shares in the Western Railway of Alabama, for each of said years, and to apportion to them, and others who may be entitled, such part of the value for each of said years as they may, respectively, be entitled to in the ratio that the value of the property of said company located in each bears to the whole located property of the company, to apply such apportionments to the respective tax rates of each as certified to him, to notify the proper authorities of the company of the amount of tax due each, and upon default in payment to issue fi. fas. therefor.
Upon the petition a mandamus nisi was granted and served. The defendant answered admitting, in the main, the facts set up in the petition. He denied that the words "rolling stock and other personal property" included for distributive taxation the 15,000 shares of stock, alleging that such shares are owned by the Georgia Railroad & Banking Company as outside capital and investment in no wise connected with the railroad or its operation or use thereon, and that such shares are taxable as the property of like character of other citizens of the state, at the domicile of the owner. He denies that the Georgia Railroad & Banking Company has ever made any returns to the Comptroller General of said shares for taxation, but that, on the contrary, the company has denied that said shares are subject to taxation in Georgia. He insists that the averment in the petition that said stock is not located in any county, but is a part of the other personal property of the company and required to be apportioned for taxation to the several counties and municipalities, through which the railroad runs, is a question of law, and avers that said shares are not included as a part of the railroad property required to be apportioned, for the reason that it does not belong to that class of property required to be distributed. He denies that it is his duty to issue fi. fas. or to apportion the property as prayed for by plaintiff.
Upon the agreed facts, the petition, and answer, the case was heard by the judge, who denied the application for the writ of mandamus, holding that "the stock in question, though intangible personal property, had a situs, situation, or location for taxation in Richmond county, the domicile of the owner, which was not changed by the act of 1889. The Legislature had the right in the taxation of railroads to have changed it, for the purpose of taxation; but not having done so by that act, as construed by our Supreme Court, it is to be considered as located property. The bill of exceptions assigns as error in this judgment so much thereof as decides that the stock in question had a situs in Richmond county which was not changed by the act of 1889, and to so much thereof as rules that Richmond county is, since 1889, the domicile of the Georgia Railroad & Banking Company for purposes of taxation, and to so much thereof as rules that the act of 1889 did not change the situs for taxation of the property in question, and to so much as rules that the said stock is to be considered as located property.
Saml. H. Sibley, J. D. Kilpatrick, Jno. T. West, J. B. Park, Seaborn Reese and E. P. Davis, for plaintiffs in error.
Jno. C. Hart, Atty. Gen., Boykin Wright Smith, and Brown, Smith & Hastings, for defendant in error.
FREEMAN, Special Judge (after stating the facts).
Prior to the passage of the act of 1889 (Acts 1889, p. 29), now embodied in Pol. Code 1895, § 784 et. seq., the property of railroad companies in this state could not be subjected to taxation for county purposes, except that under the act of 1883 (Acts 1882-83, p. 39) the property of such companies not used in the conduct of its usual and ordinary business was made taxable by counties and municipalities wherein such property was located; and prior to the act of 1890 (Acts 1890-91, p. 52), now embodied in Pol. Code, § 725 et seq. municipalities could collect no tax of such corporations except as was provided by the act of 1883 cited above. Staten et al. v. Sav. Florida & Western Ry. Co., 111 Ga. 803, 36 S.E. 938, and cases cited; Georgia Railroad & Banking Co. v. Wright, 125 Ga. 589, 54 S.E. 52. The purpose of the acts (1889 and 1890) was to subject all the property of railroad corporations not exempt by law to county and municipal taxation, and to provide the necessary machinery to accomplish this purpose. As the same principle controls the construction and application of these two acts ( Sparks v. Macon, 98 Ga. 301, 25 S.E. 459), the following discussion will be confined to the act of 1889, subjecting railroad property to county taxation; the conclusions being applicable to the act of 1890, subjecting railroad property...
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