Hardin v. Rock Springs Lodge No. 12

• Decision Date: 25 January 1916
• Docket Number: 798
• Citation: 154 P. 323,23 Wyo. 522
• Parties: HARDIN v. ROCK SPRINGS LODGE NO 12, A. F. & A. M
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

154 P. 323

23 Wyo. 522

HARDIN v. ROCK SPRINGS LODGE NO 12, A. F. & A. M

No. 798

Supreme Court of Wyoming

January 25, 1916

ERROR to the District Court, Sweetwater County; HON. DAVID H CRAIG, Judge.

Action by Rock Springs Lodge No. 12, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, a corporation, to enjoin G. H. Hardin, as county treasurer, and others from the collection of taxes, assessed and levied upon lodge property. From an order granting the injunction the defendants bring error.

The cause was submitted on an agreed statement of facts which are stated in the opinion.

Affirmed.

W. A Muir, for plaintiffs in error.

It is admitted that a portion of the building and premises of defendant in error is rented at times for private profit and for that reason a proportionate valuation of the premises should be taxed. Such is the apparent intention of Section 2322, Comp. Stats. 1910, wherein it is provided that lands with the buildings thereon used for certain purposes shall be exempt from taxation so long as said lands and buildings are not used for private profit. Section 2324 provides that all other property within the state is subject to taxation. Private profit as used in the section undoubtedly means gross profit raised from any such land or building. The mode of raising revenue is the foundation of our state government. Where a lodge rents a part of its building for a ball room it comes in direct competition with other proprietors, who rent property for a like purpose and upon which they pay taxes. Exemptions from taxation are generally construed strictly and charitable institutions, educational institutions, secret societies and lodges are required to pay their pro-ration of the tax levy upon that portion of their property used for pecuniary gain or private profit, or that portion which is not used exclusively for purposes which is exempted. (12 Am. & Eng. Enc. of Law, 321; Stahl v. Kans. Edu. Assoc., 54 Kan. 542, 38 P. 796; Washburn College v. Com. Shawnee County, 8 Kan. 344; Banks v. Ten., 104 U.S. 493, 26 Law Ed. 810; High on Injunctions, Vol. 1, Sec. 535; Ottawa Uni. v. Board Com. Franklin Co., 29 P. 599 (Kan.) ; Red v. Johnson, 53 Tex. 284; Cleveland Library Assoc. v. Pelton, 36 O. S. 253; Cincinnati College v. The State, 19 Ohio 110; County Comms. v. Colo. Seminary, 12 Colo. 497; People v. Young Men's Christian Assoc., 157 Ill. 403; Chicago v. People, 80 Ill. 304; Pres. Theo. Seminary v. People, 101 Ill. 578; St. Mary's College v. Crowl, 10 Kan. 442.) A ball room, kitchen and banquet hall are unnecessary for the purpose of holding meeting, and where such are connected with a lodge room they should be taxed proportionately. (Cleveland Library Assoc. v. Pelton, 36 O. S. 253; Trustees of Good Shepherd v. Boston, 120 Mass. 212; Detroit v. Mayor, 3 Mich. 172.) Where a building was used by the owner as a family residence and the balance of the building was used for school purposes, it was held that even though the family are instructors and pupils in said school, still the building is not one used exclusively for school purposes and, therefore, is not exempt. (St. Mary's College v. Crowl, 10 Kan. 451; Red et al. v. Johnson, 53 Tex. 284; Ottawa Uni. v. Board of Co. Com., 29 P. 599 (Kan.)

Walter B. Dunton, for defendant in error.

The Wyoming statute differs from other statutes in that the word "private" occurs before the word "profit" and the word "exclusively" is omitted from our statute before the word "used"; evidently the word "private" was intended to apply to buildings used for private business. Fraternal buildings in Wyoming are a public convenience, as a meeting place for people of the community, and it was doubtless the intention of the Legislature to exempt them from taxation for that reason. An occasional use of such buildings for social gatherings will not defeat the exemption. (First Unitarian Society v. Hartford, 66 Conn. 368; St. Paul's v. Concord, Am. Ann. Cas. 1912 A. P. 350.) The Ohio case of Library Assoc. v. Pelton cited by counsel involved a different state of facts, as portions of the building there were permanently and continuously rented to other persons for the conduct of stores and other private business. The word "private" is not found in the Ohio statute and its use by the Wyoming Legislature makes it clear that the exception is confined to the profit of private individuals, as distinguished from the profit of the lodge. A later Ohio case (Davis v. Camp Meeting Assoc., 57 Ohio S. 257), wherein the finding of facts are exactly similar to the facts in this case, holds that an occasional use of the property for social gatherings will not remove the exemption. A dance hall, or assembly room, cloak room, dining room, and billiard and reading rooms are essential to, and are found in every lodge room. (In re. Walker, 200 Ill. 566.) These facts were known to the Legislature when they passed our statute. The land in this case, together with the building, was used for lodge rooms for meeting of secret societies, and that was the essential purpose.

BEARD, JUSTICE. POTTER, C. J., and SCOTT, J., concur.

OPINION

BEARD, JUSTICE.

This case was submitted to and decided by the district court upon an agreed statement of facts, from which it appears that the defendant in error was and is a Masonic lodge incorporated as provided in Chapter 278, Comp. Stat. 1910. That it owned a lot in the town of Rock Springs, in Sweetwater County, upon which was situated a three-story building known as the Masonic Temple. That the value of said property was in the neighborhood of $ 20,000. That the main portion of the second and third floors of the building consists of, and is and was during the year 1913, used by said society as lodge rooms for its meetings, a portion of the second floor being used as a billiard and pool and reading room for its members, and upon the first floor are ante rooms, cloak rooms, and toilet rooms, used by those attending lodge meetings or dances in the building, and that the remaining portion of the first floor consists of a ball room; and that the remaining portion of the third floor is used as a dining or banquet hall,...