Mayor And Council Of The City Of Macon v. The Cent. R.R. And Banking

• Decision Date: 31 January 1874
• Citation: 50 Ga. 621
• Parties: MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MACON, plaintiff in error. v. THE CENTRAL RAILROAD AND BANKING COMPANY, defendant in error.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

50 Ga. 621

MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MACON, plaintiff in error. v. THE CENTRAL RAILROAD AND BANKING COMPANY, defendant in error.

Supreme Court of the State of Georgia

(Atlanta, January Term, 1874.)

[This case was argued at the last term, and decision reserved.]

Corporations. Taxes. Laws. Macon. Before Judge Hill. Bibb county. At Chambers. August 21st, 1873.

The Central Railroad and Banking Company filed its bill against the Mayor and Council of the city of Macon, making this case:

The defendant has issued three executions against the Macon and Western Railroad Company for taxes for the years 1870, 1871 and 1872, respectively, the first for $1,095 00, the second for $1,060 00, and the third for $1,642 50, which have been levied upon property formerly belonging to said company. *The Macon and Western Railroad Company has been, by an Act of the General Assembly of the Stale of Georgia, approved August 26th, 1872, merged into complainant. The property against which said taxes were assessed, and now levied on, with certain exceptions, was indispensableto the successful transaction of the business of the Macon and Western Railroad Company, and now occupies the same relation to the business of complainant, being used for depots, tracks, shops, etc. The exceptions referred to have been regularly returned for taxation and taxes paid thereon. This property composed a part of the capital stock of said company, and is now embraced in the capital stock of complainant. Neither under the laws of the State of Georgia, the amended charter of the Macon and Western Railroad Company, of date February 11th, 1869, nor under the charter of the city of Macon, has the defendant the right to assess and levy such a tax. Prays the writ of injunction.

The answer and affidavits are unnecessary to an understanding of the decision.

This bill was sanctioned, and the writ of injunction ordered to issue. Whereupon the defendant excepted.

John B. Weems; R. W. Jemison, for plaintiff in error.

Lyon & Irvin, for defendant.

TRIPPE, Judge.

1. It is a cardinal rule in the construction of grants by the public that nothing passes by implication; that statutes under which special privileges, amongst which is exemption from taxation, are claimed by a corporation, will be strictly construed in favor of the public, and the exemption will not be held to be conferred unless the terms of the grant clearly and distinctly show that such was the intention of the Legislature. So uniform are the authorities on this point that it is unnecessary to discuss it, or to refer to but a few of them: 3 Peters, 289; 4 Peters, 514; 6 Peters, 736; 19 Pennsylvania, 144; 8 *Howard, 581; 10 Howard, 376; 1 Black, 358, 436. The principle has been repeatedly recognized by this Court: 9 Georgia, 517; 7 Georgia, 221; 8 Georgia, 23.

2. The exemption from liability to the tax complained against in this case, is claimed by defendant in error under the Act of February 9th, 1869. The title and the first section of that Act, which is all that is necessary to refer to, is as follows:

"An Act to amend the charter of the Macon and Western Railroad Company, which was assented to on the 29th of December, 1847; to allow an increase of the capital stock of said company; to fix the rate of tax to be paid by the same, and for other purposes.

"Section I Be it enacted, etc., That the said Macon and Western Railroad Company is hereby authorized to increase its capital stock so as to make the same ($2,500, 000 00) two million five hundred thousand dollars. This increase may be made from time to time, as it may be deemed expedient by a majority of the board of directors of said company for the time being, and by such sum or sums as said board of directors may order and determine; and said board of directors for the time being, ishereby authorized, by a majority, to prescribe the terms and conditions of subscription for such additional stock as may, from time to time be required: Provided, nevertheless, that such additional stock, as it may be issued, as well as the present stock of said company, shall hereafter pay the same annual tax to the State as the other railroad companies of this State now do, viz: one half of one per cent, on the amount of the net income."

The consolidation or union of the Macon and Western Railroad with that of the Central Railroad took place after these taxes had been assessed on the property of the former, and, therefore, the question is not affected by any provisions in the charter of the Central Railroad. The taxes are for the years 1870, 1871 and 1872.

*3. Assuming, at this point, that the city of Macon had the power to levy these taxes prior to the Act of 1869, the question is, did that Act grant to the company an exemption of its property within the city of Macon from liability to be taxed by the city authorities as it was before the passage of the Act. The terms of the Act are really peculiar. There is, in words, no exemption whatever from any taxation, nor an express limitation as to the extent to which it might be taxed, even by the State. The words touching the question are: "Provided, nevertheless, that such additional stock, as it may be issued, as well as the present stock of said company, shall hereafter pay the same annual tax to the State as the other railroad companies of this State now do, viz: one half of one per cent, on the amount of the net income." The most that can be claimed from this is, that the State, in its annual tax law, will not assess upon the stock of the company, as tax for the State, more than one half of one per cent, on the net income. And, for this reason, as a...