License tax

“ Justice Bradley:
'Of course, the exaction of a license tax as a condition of doing any particular business is a tax on the occupation, and a tax on the occupation of doing a business is surely a tax on the business.'
It is clear, therefore, that this license tax is not a mere police regulation, simply inconveniencing one engaged in interstate commerce, and so only indirectly affecting the business, but is a direct charge and burden upon that business ”

“ There is no difference in principle between such a tax and those which have been paid by the plaintiff in error to the defendant in error, and to the State, without objection.
In the ordinance in question the tax is designated 'a license tax,' but its payment is not made a condition precedent to the right to do business. No special penalty is prescribed for its non-payment, and no second license is required to be taken out. Had the ordinance been otherwise in these particulars, we have seen, viewing the subject in the light of the License Tax Cases, that the result would have been the same. ”

“ If he sells, or offers to sell, in other counties or corporations, he must pay in each an additional tax of ten dollars. The section then declares that 'all persons, other than resident manufacturers or their agents, selling articles manufactured in the State shall pay the specific license tax imposed by this section.' By these sections, read together, we have this result: the agent for the sale of articles manufactured in other States must first obtain a license to sell, for which he is required to pay a specific tax for each county in which he sells or offers to sell them ”

“ A license tax applied to activities guaranteed by the First Amendment would have the same destructive effect. It is true that the First Amendment, like the commerce clause, draws no distinction between license taxes, fixed sum taxes, and other kinds of taxes. ”

“ If the State can exact a license tax from one class of traders for the sale of goods which are the growth, product, or manufacture of other States, it can exact the license from all traders in such goods, and the amount of the tax will rest in its discretion. ”

“ It provides in section 72 of Laws 1917, c. 231, that every manufacturer of automobiles 'engaged in the business of selling the same in this state, or every person or persons or corporation engaged in selling automobiles in this state, the manufacturer of which has not paid the license tax provided for in this section, before selling or offering for sale any such machine, shall pay to the state treasurer a tax of $500 and obtain a license for conducting such business.' The name of the machine must accompany the application for a license, which must be in writing. ”

“ The fact that the license is used also as a means of government control of appellant's business does not call for a different conclusion. The national government has not assumed to tax the business or to exercise any control over the taxation of it by the state. The state does not tax the license itself, and the tax upon petitioner's business, applied without discrimination to all similar businesses whether licensed or not, does not impair the control which the federal authority has chosen to exert. ”

“ We are aware of no decision by this court holding that a state may, by any device or in any way, whether by a license tax in the form of a 'fee,' or otherwise, burden the interstate business of a corporation of another state, although the state may tax the corporation's property regularly or permanently located within its limits, where the ascertainment of the amount assessed is made 'dependent in fact on the value of its property situated within the state.' Postal Teleg. ”

“ The act imposes the tax only on retail stores and excludes from the definition of a store filling stations engaged exclusively in the sale of gasoline and other petroleum products. It provides for a separate county license tax equal to 25 per cent. of the state license fee, and authorizes a municipal tax of the same amount, measuring the graduated tax in the case of counties and municipalities by the number of stores situate in the county or municipality, notwithstanding the applicant may own other stores beyond the limits of the governmental subdivision. ”

“ Motor Vehicle License Tax Section 5. The legislature shall impose an annual license tax of not more than one dollar per each one thousand dollars of actual value on automobiles for private use based on the actual value of the vehicle, as provided by law. However, the annual license tax shall not be less than ten dollars per automobile for private use. On other motor vehicles, the legislature shall impose an annual license tax based upon carrying capacity, horsepower, value, weight, or any of these. ”

“ Section 91 declared that every attorney at law should pay an annual license fee of $15 if under five years' practice, and $25 if over five years' practice, but that no attorney thus licensed should be allowed to bring suit against the commonwealth, or any treasurer or collector of taxes, for the recovery of money for coupons tendered for taxes, unless he took out a special license therefor, for which privilege he should pay a specific license tax, in addition to the tax before required, of $250. ”

“ Congress, in framing the act of 1866, has carefully guarded against any misconstruction of the legislative intention by substituting throughout the term 'special tax' for the word 'license.' This judicious legislation has removed all future possibility of the error which has been common among persons engaged in particular branches of business, that they derived from the licenses they obtained under the internal revenue laws, an authority for carrying on the licensed business independently of State regulation and control. ”

“ No tax upon the franchise of the foreign corporation is levied, nor upon its business or property without the state. A license tax only is exacted as a condition of its keeping an office within the state for the use of its officers, stockholders, agents, and employes,-nothing more and nothing less ”

“ We will not gainsay that this license tax was imposed as a revenuem easure,-as a means of taxing the business, and thus compelling it to aid in supporting the city government. That no revenue for state or municipal purposes can be derived from the agencies or instrumentalities of commerce no one will contend. ”

“ The equal protection clause does not require identical taxes upon all foreign and domestic corporations in every case. [1064] In 1886, a Pennsylvania corporation previously licensed to do business in New York challenged an increased annual license tax imposed by that State in retaliation for a like tax levied by Pennsylvania against New York corporations. This tax was held valid on the ground that the State, having power to exclude entirely, could change the conditions of admission for the future, and could demand the payment of a new or further tax, as a license fee. ”

“ It is well settled by numerous decisions of this court that a state cannot, under the guise of a license tax, exclude from its jurisdiction a foreign corporation engaged in interstate commerce, or impose any burdens upon such commerce within its limits. ”

“ The license required by the corporation is merely a mode of assessing the tax. If it be reasonable and just, it matters but little by what name it is called. The power to impose fines and penalties for a failure to pay the tax required is not only an incident to the power of taxation, but is expressly conferred by statute.'
That the party complying with the statutory conditions is entitled as of right to the license is conclusive that the payment is a tax laid for revenue, and not an exaction for purposes of regulation. ”

“ It enacts that, when any person shall fail to refuse or pay his license tax, the collector shall give ten days' written or printed notice to the delinquent requiring its payment; and the manner of giving this notice is fully prescribed. If at the expiration of this time the license 'be not fully paid, the tax-collector may, without judicial formality, proceed to seize and sell, after ten days' advertisement, the property' of the delinquent, or so much as may be necessary to pay the tax and costs. ”

“ So far as they relate to trade within State limits, they give none, and can give none. They simply express the purpose of the government not to interfere by penal proceedings with the trade nominally licensed, if the required taxes are paid. The power to tax is not questioned, nor the power to impose penalties for non-payment of taxes. The granting of a license, therefore, must be regarded as nothing more than a mere form of imposing a tax, and of implying nothing except that the licensee shall be subject to no penalties under national law, if he pays it. ”

“ The act gave power to the boards of supervisors of counties as follows:
'To license for regulation and revenue, all and every kind of business not prohibited by law, and transacted and carried on in such county, and all shows, exhibitions, and lawful games carried on therein, to fix the rates of license tax upon the same, and to provide for the collection of the same, by suit or otherwise.' § 25, subd. 25. ”

“ In addition to the general property tax there may be taxes upon INCOMES and upon INHERITANCES. There are also LICENSE TAXES, such as dog and automobile licenses. Finally there are taxes upon certain PRIVILEGES which are bestowed upon the individual by the community and have a money value. Of such a nature is the license tax imposed upon a peddler or upon a person who maintains a market stand on the public street. Such, also, are the taxes placed upon corporations for the privilege of using the public highways for car tracks, water mains, or telephone poles. ”

“ Chapter 5597 of the Laws of Florida for 1907, now § 44 of chapter 6421 of the Laws of 1913, imposes a license tax, which has been paid. Section 46 of chapter 5596 of the Laws of 1907, imposes a tax ad valorem, which also has been paid, with immaterial exceptions. Up to 1907 this property tax had not existed, but sleeping and parlor car companies had been required to make a return of gross receipts from business done between points within the state, and to pay a percentage upon such returns, which it paid in lieu of all other taxes. ”

“ If this is not a correct view; if Congress meant to exact the license and lay the tax wherever lotteries or liquors were dealt in,-whether declared crimes by the States or not,-there remains another argument:
A license to carry on a particular business is an authority to carry it on. The licensee pays a valuable consideration and gets, or rather 'purchases, a right' to do what he is licensed to do. [4] The trades or businesses here licensed were part of the internal trade of the States; a sort of trade over which, as we have said, Congress has no jurisdiction. ”

“ Transactions between manufacturing companies in one state, through agents, with citizens of another, constitute a large part of interstate commerce; and for us to hold, with the court below, that the same articles, if sent by rail directly to the purchaser, are free from state taxation, but, if sent to an agent to deliver, are taxable through a license tax upon the agent, would evidently take a considerable portion of such traffic out of the salutary protection of the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution. ”

“ First, the revenue law of 1872 provides only for taxation by valuation, and has nothing to do with an excise or license tax.
Second, The taxing power can only be exercised upon property within the jurisdiction of the body imposing the same.
Third, Real estate can only be taxed at its actual situs. ”

“ If, for example, a license tax were imposed on the acts of engaging in soliciting orders or making deliveries, conflict with the Commerce Clause would be evident because these are minimal activities within a State without which there can be no interstate commerce. ”

“ It follows that the tax is not forbidden because it is part of a licensing measure. Even where it is undisputed that the commerce is exclusively interstate in nature, 'not the mere fact or form of licensing, but what the license stands for by way of regulation is important.' Robertson v. ”

“ That unless the company should within thirty days, and in writing, accept the grant subject to the limitations the grant should become void; (b) that nothing in the ordinance should be construed as granting a franchise to the company; and (c) that the company should pay to the city a 'special license tax' of $100 per annum. ”

“ The ordinance imposes a license tax upon persons who carry on certain occupations in the city. Persons in different occupations pay different amounts, and persons in the same occupation are classified by maximum and minimum amount of sales. For instance, persons dealing in merchandise are classified as follows, and we quote from the opinion of the trial court:
Class Business. Tax. ”

“ A license fee is understood to be a charge for the privilege of carrying on a business or occupation, and is not the equivalent or in lieu of a property tax. Take the vast volume of occupations which are subject to licenses from either the nation or the states. ”

“ Congress cannot tax exports, and it must impose direct taxes by the rule of apportionment, and indirect taxes by the rule of uniformity. Thus limited, and thus only, it reaches every subject, and may be exercised at discretion. But, it reaches only existing subjects. Congress cannot authorize a trade or business within a State in order to tax it.
If, therefore, the licenses under consideration must be regarded as giving authority to carry on the branches of business which they license, it might be difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile the granting of them with the Constitution. ”