Mississippi State Tax Commission v. Mississippi-Alabama State Fair, MISSISSIPPI-ALABAMA

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi
• Writing for the Court: RODGERS; ETHRIDGE
• Citation: 222 So.2d 664
• Parties: MISSISSIPPI STATE TAX COMMISSION v.STATE FAIR.
• Docket Number: MISSISSIPPI-ALABAMA,No. 45347
• Decision Date: 12 May 1969

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

Page 665

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...