Karins .v Board Of Com'rs Of Atlantic City.
| Decision Date | 15 July 1948 |
| Docket Number | No. 258.,258. |
| Citation | 60 A.2d 246,137 N.J.L. 349 |
| Parties | KARINS .v BOARD OF COM'RS OF ATLANTIC CITY. |
| Court | New Jersey Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Certiorari proceeding by Thomas J. Karins, Sr., against the Board of Commissioners of Atlantic City and the State to review an ordinance of the City of Atlantic City imposing a sales tax
Writ dismissed.
Syllabus by the Court
R.S. 40:48-8.15 et seq., N.J.S.A. permitting fourth class cities to impose, by ordinance, a sales tax on certain articles and services is constitutional.
May term, 1948, before BODINE, HEHER and WACHENFELD, JJ.
Powell & Parker and Robert W. Criscuolo, all of Mount Holly, for prosecutor.
Daniel J. Dowling and Chaim H. Sandler, both of Atlantic City, for respondent.
John Lloyd, Jr., of Atlantic City, amicus curiae, for Atlantic City Hotel Assn.
The question in this case is the constitutionality of Chapter 71, Pamphlet Laws 1947, R.S. 40:48-8.15 et seq., N.J.S.A. The Act authorizes any city of the fourth class to impose a sales tax limited to certain classes of transactions. Cities of the fourth class have been defined for many years as consisting of the ‘cities of this state binding upon the Atlantic Ocean and being seaside or summer resorts.’ R.S. 40:167-2, N.J.S.A.
The Atlantic City ordinance adopted to activate the statute broadly classifies all services relating to sales of tobacco and alcohol and rooms and entertainment and other services usually rendered at summer resorts and imposes a tax thereon.
An earlier Act of the Legislature, 40:48-8.1 et seq., having some similarities, was declared unconstitutional in Koons v. Atlantic City, 134 N.J.L. 329, 47 A.2d 589, affirmed 135 N.J.L. 204, 50 A.2d 869. The basis of the decision in that case was that population was not a proper standard by which the Legislature could differentiate between municipalities in permitting tax assessments.
The Act before us does not rest upon population. It is applicable to all fourth class cities of which there are eleven. There could be perhaps no question about the validity of the Act if it were applicable to all cities. The question, therefore, narrows itself as to whether the Legislature can constitutionally distinguish between fourth class cities and other cities. We think it may.
The proofs show that the presence of summer visitors imposes an unusual burden upon municipal government since it must increase its facilities for police and fire protection. The beach front must at all hazards be saved and it must be cleaned and policed. Suitable provision must be made for bathing and the safety of bathers.
The statistices adduced, and made a part of the record, in this case indicate that the municipal expenses in cities binding upon the Atlantic Ocean are very different from comparable inland cities where the extraordinary expenses mentioned do not exist and where a normal business is carried on for a much longer period of the year.
The prosecutor of the writ argues that an...
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Salomon v. Jersey City
...of the fourth class to adopt sales taxes subject to express statutory provisions and limitations. See Karins v. Board of Com'rs of Atlantic City, 137 N.J.L. 349, 60 A.2d 246 (Sup.Ct.1948). No fourth class city other than Atlantic City has ever taken action under this legislation; and it may......
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