Hamilton v. Pullman Car & Mfg. Corporation of Alabama

• Decision Date: 20 June 1935
• Docket Number: 6 Div. 681
• Citation: 231 Ala. 7,163 So. 329
• Parties: HAMILTON et al. v. PULLMAN CAR & MFG. CORPORATION OF ALABAMA.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

163 So. 329

231 Ala. 7

HAMILTON et al. v. PULLMAN CAR & MFG. CORPORATION OF ALABAMA.

6 Div. 681

Supreme Court of Alabama

June 20, 1935

Rehearing Denied Oct. 10, 1935

Appeal from Circuit Court, Jefferson County; J.F. Thompson, Judge.

Action for breach of official bond by the Pullman Car &amp Manufacturing Corporation of Alabama against John William Hamilton and others. From a judgment for plaintiff defendants appeal.

Affirmed.

Stokely Scrivner, Dominick & Smith, of Birmingham, for appellants.

Cabaniss & Johnston and K.E. Cooper, all of Birmingham, for appellee.

THOMAS Justice.

The complaint sought recovery of certain school taxes alleged to have been illegally collected and paid under protest. Sections 3023-3025, Code.

The suit is in the nature of a rehearing by defendants. The fact of exemption by statute from taxation of an industrial plant--as plaintiff--was considered and established in Pullman Car & Mfg. Corporation of Alabama v. Hamilton et al., 229 Ala. 184, 155 So. 616. It was there declared that the special school tax amendment to the Constitution providing for county and school district taxes authorized taxes to be laid and collected on each $100 worth of taxable property; that is, only upon property not exempt from taxation within the statute (Code 1928, §§ 3023-3025; Constitutional Amendment, article 19, §§ 1, 2); and held that within constitutional limits the power to tax is purely legislative, and the power following from this to exempt from taxation any recognized class of property, for reasons not purely arbitrary, is likewise a legislative power with which the courts are not concerned. Bessemer Laundry Co. v City of Bessemer, 215 Ala. 63, 109 So. 104. It was further declared that a special county and city school tax wrongfully exacted from an industrial corporation protected by the statute for exemptions from taxation, and paid under protest, may be collected from the tax official (and his sureties) unlawfully exacting that payment. No. 3 Amendment Constitution, article 19, §§ 1, 2.

It has been declared that the presumption that prima facie obtains is in favor of the right exercise of the taxing power, and the burden is on such claimant claiming exemption to establish his right of exemption. Bessemer Laundry Co. v. City of Bessemer, supra; Southern Railway Co. v. St. Clair County, 124 Ala. 491, 27 So. 23.

It is true that in a sense a public school tax is a state tax and that a municipality acts as an agent of the state in levying, collecting, and disbursing that tax. 6 McQuillin, Municipal Corporations, p. 2560; 56 C.J. 638.

It is insisted by appellants that on former appeal due consideration was not given the sections of the Constitution to be indicated, and with which amendment No. 3, article 19, §§ 1 and 2, of the Constitution is due to be considered, as touching exemptions from school taxation in cities and districts passing resolutions to that end. Pullman Car & Mfg. Corporation of Alabama v. Hamilton et al., 229 Ala. 184, 155 So. 616.

The several sections of the Constitution adverted to by appellants are:

Section 256, to the effect that the Legislature is required to establish, organize, and maintain a liberal system of public schools throughout the state; to apportion to the several counties school funds in proportion to the number of school children of school age; and to so apportion to the schools in the districts or townships as to provide, as nearly as practicable, school terms of equal duration.

Section 258, providing that "all lands or other property given by individuals, or appropriated by the state for educational purposes, and all estates of deceased persons who die without leaving a will or heir, shall be faithfully applied to the maintenance of the public schools."

Section 259, requiring all poll taxes collected in this state to "be applied to the support of the public schools in the respective counties where collected."

Section 260, which provides that "the income arising from the sixteenth section trust fund, the surplus revenue fund, until it is called for by the United States government, and the funds enumerated in sections 257 and 258 of this constitution, together with a special annual tax of thirty cents on each one hundred dollars of taxable property in this state, which the legislature shall levy, shall be applied to the support and maintenance of the public schools," and it is declared to be the duty of the Legislature to increase the public school fund from time to time, as the necessity therefor and the condition of the treasury and the resources of the state may justify.

Section 261, limiting the overhead in operation to "not more than four per cent. of all moneys raised or which may hereafter be appropriated for the support of public schools, shall be used or expended otherwise than for the payment of teachers employed in such schools; provided, that the legislature may, by a vote of two-thirds of each house, suspend the operation of this section."

Section 262, vesting the supervision of public schools in a superintendent of education, whose powers, duties, and compensation are fixed by law.

And section 269, authorizing the counties of the state to levy and collect a special tax not exceeding 10 cents "on each one hundred dollars of taxable property in such counties, for the support of public schools," and providing that the "funds arising from such special school tax shall be so apportioned and paid through the proper school officials to the several schools in the townships and districts *** that the school terms of the respective schools shall be extended by such supplement as nearly the same length of time as practicable." (Italics supplied.)

In these requirements and provisions of organic law we find nothing to require a different conclusion from that announced on the first appeal. Pullman Car & Mfg. Corporation of Alabama v. Hamilton et al., 229 Ala. 184, 155 So. 616.

The special school tax amendment of 1915 (Gen.Acts 1915, p. 360) and that of 1919 (Gen.Acts 1919, p. 58) authorized the levy of a special county and district tax when authorized by a majority of those voting at such special election called therefor; and the tax, if levied, was levied and collected for such school purposes "on each one hundred dollars ($100) worth of taxable property" (section 1) in said district in said county.

The Eighth Amendment, known as the Municipal Tax Amendment of 1919 for Birmingham, Bessemer, and other cities named therein (Gen.Acts 1919, ...