Pierson v. Phillips

• Decision Date: 17 December 1925
• Docket Number: 2 Div. 882
• Citation: 214 Ala. 88,106 So. 501
• Parties: PIERSON v. PHILLIPS, Tax Collector.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

106 So. 501

214 Ala. 88

PIERSON v. PHILLIPS, Tax Collector.

2 Div. 882

Supreme Court of Alabama

December 17, 1925

Appeal from Circuit Court, Dallas County; S.F. Hobbs, Judge.

Bill in equity by W.T. Pierson against G.C. Phillips, as Tax Collector of Dallas County. From a decree sustaining demurrer to the bill, complainant appeals. Affirmed.

A.M Pitts and A.D. Pitts, both of Selma, for appellant.

Pettus Fuller & Lapsley, of Selma, for appellee.

SAYRE J.

Appellant filed the bill in this cause to enjoin the collection of a special school tax of one mill voted by the people of Dallas county in June of the current year. Some objections to the remedy sought were interposed by appellee in the trial court but they are not reiterated in the brief on appeal, and appear to have been settled in appellant's favor in Shanks v. Winkler, 210 Ala. 101, 97 So. 142.

The question of essential merit in the cause arises as follows:

Section 1 of article 19 of the Constitution, adopted in 1915 as an amendment of the Constitution of 1901 (Acts 1915, p. 107 et seq.), reads as follows:

"The several counties in the state shall have power to levy and collect a special county tax not exceeding thirty cents on each one hundred dollars worth of taxable property in such counties in addition to that now authorizd or that may hereafter be authorized for public school purposes, and in addition to that now authorized under section 260 of article 14 of the Constitution," with a proviso for popular approval in each county, not now involved.

Section 260 of the Constitution:

"The income arising from the sixteenth section trust fund, the surplus revenue fund, until it is called for by the United States government, and the funds enumerated in sections 257 and 258 of this Constitution, together with a special annual tax of thirty cents on each one hundred dollars of taxable property in this state, which the Legislature shall levy, shall be applied to the support and maintenance of the public schools, and it shall be the duty of the Legislature to increase the public school fund from time to time as the necessity therefor and the condition of the treasury and the resources of the state may justify provided, that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to authorize the Legislature to levy in any one year a greater rate of state taxation for all purposes, including schools, than sixty-five cents on each one hundred dollars worth of taxable property; and provided further, that nothing herein contained shall prevent the Legislature from first providing for the payment of the bonded indebtedness of the state and interest thereon out of all the revenue of the state." Section 269 of the Constitution:

"The several counties in this state shall have power to levy and collect a special tax (a) not exceeding ten cents on each one hundred dollars of taxable property in such counties, for the support of public schools; provided, that the rate of such tax, the time it is to continue, and the purpose thereof, shall have been first submitted to a vote of the qualified electors of the county, and voted for by three-fifths of those voting at such election; but the rate of such special tax shall not increase the rate of taxation, state and county combined, in any one year, to more than one dollar and twenty-five cents on each one hundred dollars of taxable property; excluding, however, all special county taxes for public buildings, roads, bridges, and the payment of debts existing at the ratification of the Constitution of eighteen hundred and seventy-five. The funds arising from such special school tax shall be so apportioned and paid through the proper school officials to the several schools in the townships and districts in the county that the school terms of the respective schools shall be extended by such supplement as nearly the same length of time as practicable; provided, that this section shall not apply to the cities of Decatur, New Decatur, and Cullman."

The levy of one mill voted by the people of Dallas county, the tax in question,...