Thompson v. Kreutzer
| Decision Date | 20 November 1916 |
| Docket Number | 18249 |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
| Parties | THOMPSON, AUDITOR ET AL. v. KREUTZER |
APPEAL from the chancery court of Hinds county, HON. O. B. TAYLOR Chancellor.
Bill for injunction by A. L. Kreutzer and others against Duncan L Thompson, auditor and others. Demurrer to bill overruled, and appeal granted to settle principle of the case.
Chapter 112 of the Laws of 1912 provides that:
"There is hereby levied an annual privilege tax, or occupation fee of twenty cents per acre upon each person, association of persons, or business firms and corporations pursuing the business of buying, owning or holding more than one thousand acres of timber land or lands in this state: Provided, that where such lands are taxed with a five cent acreage tax for levy purposes, said levy tax shall be deducted from the tax hereby imposed.
Affirmed and remanded.
Geo. H. Ethridge, Assistant Attorney-General, for appellants.
Green & Green, for appellees.
Appellees filed their bill in the court below, praying that the auditor and treasurer be enjoined from collecting from them a tax of twenty cents per acre upon certain lands owned by them, imposed by chapter 112, Laws 1912. To this bill a demurrer was interposed, overruled, and an appeal granted to settle the principles of the case.
One of the grounds upon which it is sought to enjoin the collection of this tax is, that the statute imposing it violates the provision of section 112 of the Constitution that "property shall be taxed in proportion to its value." The attorney-general, who appears for appellants, admits in his brief that if the tax is one on property the statute is void, but claims that it is not such, "but is purely a tax upon the privilege of ownership."
Ownership is not a privilege conferred by government, but is one of the rights which governments were organized to protect. Discarding, then, the word "privilege" and substituting therefor the proper word "right," the distinction here sought to be made by the attorney-general is one without a difference. In a strict legal sense, "property" (from the Latin word proprius, meaning belonging to one; one's own) is synonymous with the "right of ownership" and means one's exclusive right of possessing, enjoying, and disposing of a thing. Burdick on Real Property, 2; 2 Blackstone, 2; 6 Words & Phrases (First Series) 5697 et seq.; 23 Am. & Eng....
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Diefendorf v. Gallet
... ... The tax ... in question is on property within Const., art. 7, sec. 2, and ... in violation thereof. ( Thompson v. Kreutzer, 112 ... Miss. 165, 72 So. 891, 892; Eliasberg Bros. Mercantile ... Co. v. Grimes, 204 Ala. 492, 11 A. L. R. 300, 86 So. 56; ... ...
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City of Jackson v. Deposit Guaranty Bank & Trust Co
...section may exist, not only must all property be assessed at its true value, no substitute therefor being permissible (Thompson v. Kreutzer, 112 Miss. 165, 72 So. 891), but there must be no discrimination in rates different species of property. All property must be taxed at the same rate on......
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City of Jackson v. McPherson
...and allows a deprivation of use, and the fruits of that use, it does not merit the encomiums it has received." In Thompson v. Kreutzer, 112 Miss. 165, 72 So. 891, in first syllabus, it was held ownership is not a privilege conferred by government, but a right which government is organized t......
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Pan-American Petroleum Corporation v. Miller, State Tax Collector
... ... and uniformity provisions of section 112 of our Constitution ... Thompson ... v. Dreutzer, 112 Miss. 165, 72 So. 891 ... J. H ... Sumrall and H. Cassedy Holden, both of Jackson, for appellee ... ...