Exemption

“ And if you have the power to say that an association of individuals shall be responsible for their debts only in a certain limited degree, what is to prevent an extension of a similar exemption to individuals? ”

“ From this painstaking review respondent argues that where Congress has desired to exempt only 'interest' it has said so and where it has intended to grant a broader exemption it has used the word 'income'; that statutes exempting only 'interest' have a narrower meaning than those exempting 'income' ”

“ Prima facie it extends to all property, corporeal and incorporeal, and to every business by which livelihood or profit is sought to be made within their jurisdiction. When exemption is claimed, it must be shown indubitably to exist. ”

“ As taxation is the rule, and exemption the exception, the intention to create an exemption must be expressed in clear and unambiguous terms, and it cannot be taken to have been intended when the language of the statute on which it depends is doubtful or uncertain. Legislation which relieves any species of property from its due proportion of the burdens of government must be so clear that there can be neither reasonable doubt nor controversy in regard to its meaning. ”

“ The power of exemption would seem to imply the power of discrimination, and in taxation, as in other matters of legislation, classification is within the competency of the legislature. We said in American Sugar Ref. ”

“ We regard the interpretative issue as controlled by a long continued administrative construction, expressly denying such exemption, [8] which has been followed by repeated reenactment of the relevant language without change. ”

“ If the exceptions are stricken out, there is nothing to be assessed and collected except what congress has otherwise affirmatively ore red. Nothing less can have the force of law. This court is impotent to pass any law on the subject. It has no legislative power. I am unable, therefore, to see how we can, by declaring an exemption or exception invalid, thereby give effect to provisions as though they were never exempted. ”

“ This has been especially true as regards exemptions from taxation [94] and exemptions from execution. [95] If a word may now be permitted with respect to mere terms as such, the first thing to note is that the word "right" is overworked in the field of immunities as elsewhere. [96] As indicated, however, by the judicial expressions already quoted, the best synonym is, of course, the term "exemption." [97] It is instructive to note, also, that the word "impunity" has a very similar connotation. ”

“ It is not sufficient that the debtor shall claim the exemption, but he must, be proof of registry when necessary, or that the articles seized are those named in the statute, or are required to make up the amount of the exemption, or in some other mode, prove that articles were exempt, and that thus the seizure was illegal. Both the sheriff and collector have power to act in the first instance upon the question in dispute, and he who insists that such action is in violation of law must make the proof to show it. ”

“ Cessation of Obligation.—The ordinary ways in which a law ceases to be obligatory for an individual are: (a) on the part of the subject, that he ceases to be subject to the law (exemption) , or is unable to observe it (excuse) ; (b) on the part of the lawgiver, that he removes the obligation for the individual (dispensation) .
488. As to exemption from Church laws note: (a) he who ceases to be subject to the law (e.g., one who has received a privilege of exemption, or who has departed from the place where the law is in force) , is of course not obliged by the law ”

“ The words used are, it will be observed, 'franchises, rights, and privileges, * * * as would have been had * * * by the first company, but for such sale,' etc. There is no express reference to a grant of any exemption or immunity; nothing is said in relation to the subject of taxation. The words actually used do not necessarily embrace a grant of such an exemption. ”

“ Perhaps the true cause of this remarkable exemption—an exemption the more remarkable when his afflictions are considered in association with one single frailty—will be found in the sudden claim made on his moral and intellectual nature by a terrible exigency, and by his generous answer to that claim; so that a life of self-sacrifice was rewarded by the preservation of unclouded reason. ”

“ We perceive no limits to the principle of exemption which the complainants seek to establish. It would remove from the reach of State taxation all the property of every agent of the government. Every corporation engaged in the transportation of mails, or of government property of any description, by land or water, or in supplying materials for the use of the government, or in performing any service of whatever kind, might claim the benefit of the exemption. ”

“ We cannot suppose that the legislature meant either to practise a cunning deception or to make a futile grant. Therefore, we are unable to read the charter as making the exemption vain by reserving to the state an unlimited right to impose upon the lessee all that it had renounced as against the lessor. For that was to give notice to the parties, if they were supposed to know the law, that the exemption would be lost if the income was earned in one of the contemplated ways ”

“ nor by any pretence of superiority plead exemption, thereby to license his own, or the miscarriages of any of his dependents.** No man in civil society can be exempted from the laws of it: for if any man may do what he thinks fit, and there be no appeal on earth, for redress or security against any harm he shall do; I ask, whether he be not perfectly still in the state of nature, and so can be no part or member of that civil society; ”

“ It is provided that such regulations shall not alter the four grounds for applications for certificates of exemption—the expediency, in the national interests, that a man should be engaged in other work, business or domestic reasons, ill-health, and conscientious objection. ”

“ It is not easy to see why such a provision should be extended beyond the terms in which it is expressed; and all the force which properly belongs to it is given when the exemption from the constitutional provision against impairing the obligation of contracts is extended as far as the language of the exemption justifies, and it should be extended no further by implication. ”

“ It also is contended that an interpretation must prevail as matter of principle which will give the exemption a general and uniform operation in all states irrespective of local law. It is, of course, true that uniform operation of a federal law is a desirable end, and other things being equal, we often have interpreted statutes to achieve it. ”

“ The legal but ignored right of absolute exemption is the only one that should be striven for, either by us or by our non-pacifist sympathisers. We do not invite suffering, but we are only too willing to pay this price rather than that the fundamentals of our stand should be in danger of being obscured. ”

“ The various propositions mentioned in these different clauses and the many contingencies provided for therein under which the company might claim exemption render it not surprising that the same ground of exemption should possibly be covered by more than one provision in the bill, or that, in other words, the defendant should upon the same facts be exempt under more than one of its various and perhaps somewhat indefinite clauses. ”

“ The Court of Appeals has accepted, as do we, the finding of the District Court that petitioner signed the application for exemption believing that he was not thereby precluded from citizenship, and that had he known claiming exemption would debar him from citizenship, he would not have claimed it, but would have elected to serve in the armed forces. ”

“ With this concession in mind, and before coming to determine whether the exemption was valid, that is, whether, in and by virtue of the prohibition in the organic law forbidding especial privileges, the territorial legislature was incompetent to grant a contract exemption, we briefly advert to the contention made that a broad meaning must be given to the organic act for the purpose, if it can be done, of establishing that there was no limit upon the power of the territorial legislature to exempt. ”

“ The bill for diminishing the number of exempts has just been made the subject of a special message, [9] and its provisions are such as would add no strength to the Army. The recommendation to abolish all class exemptions has not met your favor, although still deemed by me a valuable and important measure; and the number of men exempted by a new clause in the act just passed is believed to be quite equal to that of those whose exemption is revoked. ”

“ It is scarcely necessary to argue or to cite authority for the proposition that a contract of exemption from future general legislation, either by a constitutional provision or by an act of the legislature, cannot be deemed to exist unless it is given expressly, or unless it follows by an implication equally clear with express words. ”

“ The exceptions are 'jealously and carefully drawn,' [6] and there must be 'a showing by those who seek exemption * * * that the exigencies of the situation made that course imperative.' [7] ' (T) he burden is on those seeking the exemption to show the need for it.' [8] In times of unrest, whether caused by crime or racial conflict or fear of internal subversion, this basic law and the values that it represents may appear unrealistic or 'extravagant' to some. ”

“ A more imporant or more comprehensive privilege than a perpetual immunity from taxation can scarcely be imagined. It contains the essential idea of a peculiar benefit or advantage, of a special exemption from a burden falling upon others. ”

“ Any employer, employment agency, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee which believes that the application to it of any regulation or order issued under this section would result in undue hardship may apply to the Commission for an exemption from the application of such regulation or order, and, if such application for an exemption is denied, bring a civil action in the United States district court for the district where such records are kept. ”

“ The omission of the taxing officers of the state in previous years to assess this property cannot control the duty imposed by law upon their successors, or the power of the legislature, or the legal construction of the statute under which the exemption is claimed. ”

“ In such instances, as in the present one, there is no exercise of discretion by a Board in evaluating evidence and in determining whether a claimed exemption is deserved. The case we decide today involves a clear departure by the Board from its statutory mandate. To hold that a person deprived of his statutory exemption in such a blatantly lawless manner must either be inducted and raise his protest through habeas corpus or defy induction and defend his refusal in a criminal prosecution is to construe the Act with unnecessary harshness. ”

“ These regulations provided that when an organization had established its right to exemption it need not thereafter make a return of income or any further showing with respect to its status unless it changed the character of its operations or the purpose for which it was originally created. ”

“ That a contract giving perpetual succession to a corporation, and endowing it with a perpetual exemption from taxation as to all its property, real and personal, is an 'especial privilege,' seems to us too clear for anything but statement. ”

“ Once a person registers and qualifies for a statutory exemption, we find no legislative authority to deprive him of that exemption because of conduct or activities unrelated to the merits of granting or continuing that exemption. The Solicitor General confesses error on the use by Selective Service of delinquency proceedings for that purpose.
We deal with conduct of a local Board that is basically lawless. ”

“ That in all laws made or to be made every person may be bound alike, and that no tenure, estate, charter, degree, birth, or place do confer any exemption from the ordinary course of legal proceedings whereunto others are subjected. ”

“ In judging of the character or sufficiency of the defence alleged for the exemption of the appellee, there should be taken as a guide the rule, which is perhaps without an exception, that sureties are never held responsible beyond the clear and absolute terms and meaning of their undertakings. Presumptions or equities are never allowed to enlarge or in any degree to change their legal obligations. ”

“ Where property is exempt from taxation, the exemption, as has been justly stated, must be supported by some consideration that the public, and not private, interests will be advanced by it. Private corporations and private enterprises cannot be aided under the pretense that it is the exercise of the discretion of the legislature to exempt them. ”

“ Thus it is clear that the crucial distinction in draft classifications is between individuals presently subject to induction and those who are not so subject, either because of deferment or exemption. ”

“ Since petitioner allows its property and facilities to be used by outside organizations for the sole purpose of generating income, it fails to satisfy the fourth requirement of the four-part exemption test. ”

“ The remaining class of cases embraced in this section, is, where is drawn in question the construction of any clause of the Constitution, or of a treaty or statute of, or commission held under, the United States, and the decision is against the title, right, privilege, or exemption, specially set up or claimed by either party, under such clause of the said Constitution, treaty, statute, or commission. ”

“ If a consul, being sued in a State court, omits to plead his privilege of exemption from the suit, and afterwards, on removing the judgment of the inferior court to a higher court by writ of error, claims the privilege, such an omission is not a waiver of the privilege. ”

“ If all the cities have been compelled to make roads, and if the works of many of them have not been passed, then certainly both charges are false,—the charge that money has been given for exemption, when no one was exempted ”