Livingston v. City of Paducah

• Decision Date: 27 January 1883
• Citation: 4 Ky.L.Rptr. 571,80 Ky. 656
• Parties: Livingston, & c., v. City of Paducah.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

80 Ky. 656

4 Ky.L.Rptr. 571

Livingston, & c., v. City of Paducah.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

January 27, 1883

The act in question authorizes the common council of Paducah " to license and tax all vehicles running in said city or used in conducting or in connection with the regular business of the person or persons so running said vehicles at the rate of not less than three nor more than ten dollars Provided, however, That vehicles owned and used in the city for family use only shall not be taxed more than three dollars per annum." The vehicles of appellants and others using them for their families alone had already been assessed for an ad valorem tax by the council under a previous statute.

1. Held --The amount of tax is grossly disproportioned to taxes imposed upon other property in that city, or that with due regard to the rights of the citizen, can be imposed in this manner.

2. It amounts to taking private property for public use without compensation, and thus far the act is invalid.

3. Every law imposing taxation is not invalid because it operates to some extent unequally, and incidentally imposes double taxes.

4. The statute, to the extent that it provides for taxation upon vehicles used in " regular business," & c., is valid.

APPEAL FROM M'CRACKEN COMMON PLEAS COURT.

J. C. GILBERT FOR APPELLANT.

1. The legislature has no power to authorize the city council of Paducah to assess and collect an ad valorem tax and, in addition to that, three dollars special tax on property not used in any business, and which receives no more protection from the city by reason of the latter tax than it already had under the former.

2. The act is unconstitutional. (Marshall v. Donovan, 10 Bush; Preston v. Roberts, 12 Ib.; 31 Texas, 237; Cooley on Taxation, 392, 428; 9 Geo. Rep., 209; Session Acts 1871, vol. 1, 155.)

S. E. BRYCE FOR APPELLEE.

1. By section 18 of an act to amend the charter of Paducah, approved 26th February, 1878, express authority is given to the city to tax all vehicles running in the city. Families not using vehicles in the city are not required to obtain license.

2. The act is constitutional. (Lou. City Railway v. Louisville, 4 Bush, 479; Mason v. Trustees of Lancaster, Ib., 407.)

OPINION

LEWIS JUDGE.

Appellants, being numerous tax-payers of the city of Paducah, allege in their petition that they each own a vehicle employed exclusively for their own private and family use and accommodation, and not for hire, or any use by the public, or for or by others, upon which they have been assessed by said city an ad valorem tax equal to that assessed or assessable on any other personal property in said city, and which they have regularly paid, & c. They further allege that, by an ordinance of the city council, they have been required to pay an additional tax of three dollars and fifty cents on each of their said private vehicles; three dollars of which is for the use of the city, and fifty cents for the benefit of, or as compensation to, the clerk of the city council; and that they are required by said ordinance to take out a license for one year for each of said vehicles.

An injunction was granted enjoining the city of Paducah from collecting the three dollars tax and the fifty cents fee of the clerk mentioned in the petition; but subsequently a demurrer to the petition was filed, and the court rendered judgment sustaining it, dismissing the petition, and dissolving the injunction.

The act of the general assembly, under which the ordinance was passed taxing vehicles used exclusively for private and family purposes, and requiring the owners of such to obtain a license, is as follows: " … . That the common council of the city of Paducah shall have the power and authority to license and tax all vehicles running in said city, or used in the conducting, or in connection with the regular business of the person or persons so running such vehicles, at the rate of not less than three nor more than ten dollars: Provided, however, That vehicles owned and used in the city for family use only shall not be taxed more than three dollars per annum."

The greatest amount of tax the city council is empowered by the statute to impose upon vehicles of the kind described in appellants' petition, is three dollars per annum, and the tax of fifty cents upon each of them for the use or compensation of the clerk of the city council is, therefore not authorized, but...