Town Of Leesburg v. Loudoun County Sch. Bd.

• Decision Date: 08 March 1943
• Citation: 24 S.E.2d 439,181 Va. 279
• Parties: TOWN OF LEESBURG. v. LOUDOUN COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD.
• Court: Virginia Supreme Court

24 S.E.2d 439

181 Va. 279

TOWN OF LEESBURG.

v.LOUDOUN COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD.

Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia

March 8, 1943.

Error from Circuit Court of Loudoun County; J. R. H. Alexander, Judge.

Action by Town of Leesburg, in Virginia, etc., against the Loudoun County School Board, etc., to obtain a declaratory judgment as to the right of the town to retain for its own purposes all the revenue received by it from levies upon the stock of banks. There was an order adverse to plaintiff, and plaintiff brings error.

Order affirmed.

Before CAMPBELL, C. J., and HOLT, HUDGINS, GREGORY, BROWNING, EGGLESTON and SPRATLEY, JJ.

Stilson H. Hall, of Leesburg, for plaintiff in error.

Charles F. Harrison, of Leesburg, for defendants in error.

SPRATLEY, Justice.

This action was instituted by the Town of Leesburg, a municipal corporation, against the Loudoun County School Board and Loudoun County, for the purpose of obtaining a declaratory judgment as to the right of the town to retain for its own purposes all of the revenue received by it from levies upon the stock of banks. The town takes the position that chapter 300 of the Acts of the General Assembly of Virginia 1926, page 520, is unconstitutional and void in requiring it to apply one-third of the above revenue to the aid of public free schools of the school district in which is located the bank or banks issuing such stock. It also asserts that the provisions of chapter 314, Acts of the Assembly 1936, pages 497 et seq., creating school divisions with at least one county as a unit, make it impossible for it to comply with the Act of 1926. From an adverse order of the trial court "entered April 13, 1942, the town has appealed.

The Act of 1926 provides as follows: "Chap. 300.-An Act in relation to local taxes and revenues for public free school purposes in the county of Loudoun.

"Approved March 24, 1926

"1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That in the county of Loudoun the county and district school taxes, as authorized by the general laws of this State, shall be not less than fifty cents nor more than one dollar and fifty cents in the aggregate on the one hundred dollars of the assessed value of property subject to local school taxation in any one year; provided, however, that nothing in this act shall be construed to effect the additional tax of twenty-five cents on the one hundred dollars of the assessed value of property which may be levied under the general law in order to provide for the interest and sinking fund of any loans negotiated or bonds issued for school purposes.

"2. One-third of the revenue produced by levies by incorporated towns located within the county of Loudoun upon bank stock shall be applied in aid of the public free schools of the school district in which is located the bank or banks, respectively, and to no other purpose, and each town treasurer shall pay over the revenue aforesaid to the treasurer of the county of Loudoun for the credit of the proper district school fund within ten days after its receipt.

"3. This act shall be in force on and after January first, nineteen hundred and twenty-seven."

Section 91 of the Virginia Tax Code of 1936, Code 1936, Appendix, § 91, authorizes any incorporated town to impose a tax not to exceed 80 per centum of the State rate of taxation on each one hundred dollars of the taxable value of the shares of stock of any bank located in the town. Under this general law, the town of Leesburg levied and collected, for the calendar year 1941, $3,460.34. Although prior to 1941, it had paid one-third of the amount it had received for each previous year to the treasurer of Loudoun count)'', it refused to make any such payment for the year 1941.

The town undertakes to sustain its refusal upon the ground that the Act of 1926 violates section 52, subsections (5) and (8) of section 63, section 64, and section 168 of the Constitution of Virginia. This is a broad contention and no specific ground is relied upon. We will, therefore, consider separately each of the above sections of the Constitution.

Section 52 provides, in part, that "No law shall embrace more than one object which shall be expressed in its title * * *."

The Act of 1926 deals with but one object. Its entire subject matter relates to "local taxes and revenues for public free school purposes in the county of Loudoun, " in which county is located the Town of Leesburg. Every matter dealt with has a natural connection with and is germane to the object of the statute as stated in the title of the Act.

Subsections (5) and (8) of section 63 of the Constitution relate to the assessment and collection of taxes and the remission and release of obligations to the State or to any political subdivision thereof. The Act does not undertake to levy or collect taxes, or to remit or release any obligation or liability. It only directs a division and expenditure of taxes collected under the general laws of the State. Section 91 of the Tax Code provides for the imposition and assessment of taxes upon the stock of banks.

The Act contains no requirement that the town surrender or suspend its right to tax corporations and private property in violation of section 64. It does not come within the inhibition of section 168, because there is no exemption from taxa-tion or discrimination against taxable subjects.

The Act of 1926, it is true, is a local Act in that it is confined in its operation to Loudoun County. In Virginia, local, special, and private legislation may be enacted, provided the procedure of its enactment is in accordance with section 51 of the Constitution and it is not prohibited by sections 63, 64, or some other section thereof.

In support of its second contention, that the provisions of chapter 314, Acts of the...