Sperry & Hutchinson Co. v. Sheriff

• Decision Date: 29 November 1920
• Docket Number: 21324
• Parties: SPERRY & HUTCHINSON CO. v. HARBISON Sheriff
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

86 So. 455

123 Miss. 674

SPERRY & HUTCHINSON CO. v. HARBISON Sheriff

No. 21324

Supreme Court of Mississippi

November 29, 1920

October 1920

1 LICENSES. Privilege tax relating to trading stamps, not increased by doing business in several counties.

Under chapter 109, Laws of Mississippi of 1912, imposing a privilege tax on each person, firm, or corporation selling or redeeming trading stamps, only one state tax is imposed upon a corporation engaged in the business in several counties.

2 STATUTES. Tax laws not construed as imposing burdens on doubtful interpretation.

Laws imposing taxes are not to be construed as imposing burdens upon doubtful interpretation.

HON. R S. HALL, Judge.

APPEAL from circuit court of Forrest county, HON. R. S. HALL, Judge.

Suit by A. E. Harbison, Sheriff and Tax Collector, against the Sperry & Hutchinson Company. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Reversed and dismissed.

Reversed and dismissed.

Shannon & Schauber and Frank T. Wolcott, for appellee.

OPINION

SAM C. COOK, P. J.

The sheriff and tax collector of Forrest county instituted this suit against the appellant corporation seeking to recover a privilege tax of two hundred and fifty dollars for the years 1913, 1914, and 1915, and for the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars for each of said years as a penalty for the failure to pay the aforesaid privilege tax.

The defendant below was a foreign corporation, and, having complied with the laws of this state, the secretary of state issued to it a certificate authorizing it to carry on its business in this state. Having received the certificate, the corporation opened up its business in the city of Natchez.

The legislature of 1912 passed an act, the same being chapter 109, Laws of 1912, levying a privilege tax upon the business being conducted by this corporation. The record shows that the company paid the tax required of it to the tax collector of Adams county. When this suit was brought by the tax collector of Forrest county, the defendant pleaded in bar of the action that it had paid all the taxes required of it to the tax collector of Adams county and produced with its plea the receipts for same. A judgment was rendered against the defendant and he appeals to this court.

The precise question presented is: Was this defendant required to pay a single tax for the privilege of conducting its business in this state, or is it required to pay a tax for every place of business opened by it in the state? It appears that it opened a business in Natchez, Adams county, Miss., and in Hattiesburg, Forrest county, Miss., and paid its privilege tax to sheriff of Adams county. Must it pay again to the sheriff of Forrest county? To make clear the issue, we here copy the statute, viz.:

"An act creating a privilege tax in the state of Mississippi on the business of selling to merchants trading stamps, or certificates of like character, intended to be issued to their customers and redeemed in money or goods; and on the business of redeeming such trading stamps or certificates in money or goods after issuance.

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