Mississippi State Tax Commission v. Mississippi-Alabama State Fair

• Decision Date: 12 May 1969
• Docket Number: MISSISSIPPI-ALABAMA,No. 45347,45347
• Parties: MISSISSIPPI STATE TAX COMMISSION v.STATE FAIR.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 664

222 So.2d 664

MISSISSIPPI STATE TAX COMMISSION v. MISSISSIPPI-ALABAMA STATE FAIR.

No. 45347.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

May 12, 1969.

Rehearing Denied June 2, 1969.

Taylor Carlisle, James E. Williams, Jackson, for appellant.

Thomas Y. Minniece, Meridian, for appellee.

RODGERS, Justice:

The legal question presented to the Tax Commission in this case was whether or not the Mississippi-Alabama State Fair, Inc. was a 'private fair' or a 'county, State or community fair' within the meaning of section 9083, Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated (Supp.1968). The Mississippi State Tax Commission contends on appeal that the fair is a 'private fair' and not such a 'community fair' as is exempt from taxation under the foregoing Code section.

The appellee, Mississippi-Alabama State Fair, hereafter referred to as the Fair, was incorporated on the 31st day of December 1962 as a non-profit, non-share corporation with no dividends allowable. The corporation had the three officers: A. Lloyd Royal, Sr., President; A. Lloyd Royal, Jr., Vice President; and Mrs. Ann B. Royal, Secretary-Treasurer. Since its incorporation the Fair has operated an annual fair in Meridian, Mississippi. It charges an admission for entrance to the fair. The Mississippi State Tax Commission levied an amusement privilege license tax assessment against the Fair based upon the admission charges for the year 1965-66, under authority of section 9057, Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated (Supp.1968), at the rate of 1cents for each 10cents collected as admission charges.

The Mississippi State Tax Commission (hereafter called Tax Commission) and the Fair entered into a stipulation at the hearing before the Tax Commission that the statutory requirement of a transcript of the testimony of the hearing before the Commission was thereby waived, and it was agreed that if an appeal were taken by either party, from the action of the Commission under sections 9075 and 9080, Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated (1952), to the Circuit Court, the trial on appeal would be de novo in the Circuit Court.

Thereafter, the Tax Commission heard the testimony presented before it and entered an order determining that the Mississippi-Alabama State Fair was not such a 'county, State or community fair' as is permitted to be exempt from taxation under authority of section 9083, Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated (Supp.1968). The Fair appealed to the Circuit Court of Lauderdale County, Mississippi, where the case was tried anew pursuant to the agreement to try the case 'de novo.' Evidence was introduced before the Circuit Judge, who considered the evidence and entered an order deciding the issue on the weight of the evidence introduced in the Circuit Court.

When the record on appeal reached this Court and it was discovered that the case had been retried in the Circuit Court on the issue presented to the Tax Commission, this Court required briefs on the question of the de novo hearing by agreement in the Circuit Court on appeal from an administrative agency. The Tax Commission and the Fair Filed their briefs in compliance with this request. Both parties, however, agreed in their briefs that jurisdiction to hear an appeal to the Circuit Court from an administrative order could be had de novo in the Circuit Court on evidence offered in that Court. This conclusion is incorrect.

Section 9075, Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated (1952) provides the method of an appeal from a decision of the Tax Commission on the revocation of permits, and this section is made applicable to the issue involved here by section 9080 of the Code. The pertinent parts of section 9075 are as follows:

'* * * the person aggrieved may * * * appeal to the circuit court of the county where such place of amusement was conducted; such appeal shall be taken in the form of objections and exceptions to the order of the Commission, which shall be accompanied by the records of the Commission, and a transcript of the testimony before said Commission, in the case, which shall constitute the record in the circuit court * * *.' (Emphasis added)

Our Constitution does not permit the judiciary of this state to retry de novo matters on appeal from administrative agencies. Our courts are not permitted to make administrative decisions and perform the functions of an administrative agency. Administrative agencies must perform the functions required of them by law. When an administrative agency has performed its function, and has made the determination and entered the order required of it, the parties may then appeal to the judicial tribunal designated to hear the appeal. The appeal is a limited one, however, since the courts cannot enter the field of the administrative agency. The court will entertain the appeal to determine whether or not the order of the administrative agency (1) was supported by substantial evidence, (2) was arbitrary or capricious, (3) was beyond the power of the administrative agency to make, or (4) violated some statutory or constitutional right of the complaining party. This rule has been thoroughly settled in this state. See Loftin v. George County Board of Education, 183 So.2d 624 (Miss.1966); City of Meridian v. Davidson, 211 Miss. 683, 53 So.2d 48 (1951); California Co. v. State Oil & Gas Board, 200 Miss. 824, 27 So.2d 542 (1946), suggestion of error overruled, 200 Miss. 824, 847, 28 So.2d 120 (1946).

We are cognizant of our holding in the cases cited under section 1196, Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated (1956) (Hemingway's Code 1927 § 61), such as Stuart v. Board of Supervisors, 195 Miss. 1, 11 So.2d 212 (1943), and Knox v. L. N. Dantzler Lumber Company, 148 Miss. 834, 114 So. 873 (1927), in which this Court said that the appeal from the agencies therein mentioned to the Circuit Court would entitle the appellant to a new trial or trial de novo in the Circuit Court, on the merits. Board of Supervisors of Jones County v. Laurel Mills, 130 Miss. 454, 94 So. 448 (1922). These cases are not in point here for two reasons: (1) The appeal in the instant case is under an entirely different section of the Code; and (2) the appeal proceedings under section 1196, Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated (1956) are said to be judicial rather than administrative. (Hattiesburg v. First National Bank, 8 F.Supp. 157 (S.D.Miss.1934).) Moreover, this Court has not had an opportunity to reevaluate the holdings in these cases in the light of modern administrative law.

Many years ago (1913), this Court began to recognize the constitutional limitation surrounding an appeal from an administrative agency to the judiciary of this state. The Court pointed out that an appeal made directly to the Supreme Court of Mississippi was invalid, and that an appeal to the Circuit Court from an administrative agency was...