Sawtell v. City of Atlanta

• Decision Date: 02 October 1912
• Citation: 75 S.E. 982,138 Ga. 687
• Parties: SAWTELL et al. v. CITY OF ATLANTA.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

75 S.E. 982

138 Ga. 687

SAWTELL et al. v. CITY OF ATLANTA.

Supreme Court of Georgia

October 2, 1912

Syllabus by the Court.

The ordinance of the city of Atlanta imposing a tax of a fixed amount upon all of the icehouses, ice manufacturers, or agencies not employing more than five wagons for selling or delivery purposes, and for each additional wagon above the number of five an additional tax of $10, is not invalid upon the ground: (a) That it violates the constitutional provision that "all taxation shall be uniform upon the same class of subjects"; or (b) that it is placing a tax upon a mere incident of a business already taxed; or (c) that it amounts to double taxation.

The court below did not err in refusing the injunction as prayed.

Error from Superior Court, Fulton County; Geo. L. Bell, Judge.

Action by T. R. Sawtell and others against the City of Atlanta. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiffs bring error. Affirmed.

Payne Little & Jones, of Atlanta, for plaintiffs in error.

J. L Mayson and W. D. Ellis, Jr., both of Atlanta, for defendant in error.

BECK J.

Sawtell and others, who are engaged in the manufacture and sale of ice within the incorporate limits of the city of Atlanta brought their petition seeking to enjoin the city from issuing tax executions and enforcing the provisions of an ordinance undertaking to impose a license tax upon the icehouses or agencies using and employing more than five wagons for delivery or selling purposes. The ordinance is in the following language: "Icehouses or agencies using or employing not more than five wagons for selling or delivery purposes, no license to issue for less time than to June 30 1912, fifty dollars; each additional wagon used for selling or delivery purposes, ten dollars. Ice manufacturers or agencies, each plant using or employing not more than five wagons for delivery purposes, no license to issue for less time than to June 30, 1912, fifty dollars. Each additional wagon used for delivery or selling purposes, ten dollars. Ice wagons, each, selling or delivering ice, ten dollars."

No attack is made on the right of the city to impose the $50 license or occupation tax provided for in the ordinance; but it is insisted that the tax of $10 for each additional wagon in excess of the five wagons is illegal, void, and unenforceable, and that the portion of the ordinance providing for the imposition of this tax of $10 for each wagon in excess of five is violative of paragraph 1, § 2, art. 7, of the Constitution of the state of Georgia, which provides that "all taxation shall be uniform upon the same class of subjects"; that the portion of the ordinance attacked as void imposes upon petitioners a double tax; that the attempted classification by said ordinance for the purpose of taxation is arbitrary and unreasonable; and, moreover, that the ordinance is illegal and void, for the reason that the maintenance and use of ice wagons for delivering ice by petitioners is a mere incident or method of conducting their ice business, and, there being no tax upon the business of delivering as a business, no power is conferred upon the city to require a license for the incidents of a business or the methods by which it is carried on. The court below refused the injunction prayed for.

Under the terms of an act of the General Assembly approved August 22, 1911 (Laws 1911, p. 556), entitled "An act...