Local taxation

“ The suggestion that the inheritance tax should constitute a pillar of central rather than local taxation implicitly raises a whole series of difficult Constitutional and fiscal questions concerning the relation between central and local taxation. ”

“ This table shows that in ten years the State taxes have increased thirty-three per cent, and that local taxes have increased almost one hundred and seventy per cent; in other words, that less than one-tenth of the increase has been in State taxes, and more than nine-tenths in local taxes.
The increase of local taxation has been far greater than the growth of the State in business, population or wealth. It is not to be doubted that this burden has grown to dimensions which seriously threaten the prosperity of the State. ”

“ Local Taxation Account.For the above reasons we may conclude that there is no advantage in continuing the present system of assigned revenues, under which the surtaxes on beer and spirits, the licence duties, and a proportion of the estate duties, are earmarked for the local taxation account, and that the grants now given from these sources in aid of local taxation can be as well or better met by a contribution from general revenue. ”

“ And it matters not in what form these taxes are imposed upon the people, whether in the shape of municipal subscriptions of stock, to be paid by assessments upon the people; by donations of land or money, to be repaid by imposing a larger price upon lands sold to the citizen; by indirect taxation, or by special local elections held in cities, towns, or counties,—the compulsory taxation of the property of individuals, under our system of government, can only be imposed for governmental or public purposes. Taxes are levied for the support of the government in all its departments ”

“ Under the general territorial system, as expressed in the various organic acts, the power of taxation is absolute, save as restricted by the constitution or congressional enactments. The intention of congress in the national banking system is, as we havenot iced, in favor of local taxation, including therein territorial taxation of national banks upon the same basis as is imposed by the locality on other purely moneyed corporations and capital. ”

“ While the title to the land remained in the United States, the permanent improvements could no more be sold for local taxes than could the land to which they belonged. Every reason that can be urged to show that the land was not subject to local taxation applies to the assessment and taxation of the permanent improvements. ”

“ Experience has taught that the opposing demands that the commerce shall bear its share of local taxation, and that it shall not, on the other hand, be subjected to multiple tax burdens merely because it is interstate commerce, are not capable of reconciliation by resort to the syllogism. ”

“ It is these classes of expenditures which are increasing most rapidly.
Revenue.—If local government is to possess real autonomy, it must possess independent sources of revenue. Certain classes of taxation cannot be employed by local governments. Such, for example, are the income and general excise taxes; import and export duties; taxes on bequests and inheritance. These forms of taxation are difficult to collect by local authorities; and if practice is not uniform throughout the State individuals and industries will escape taxation by shifting from one locality to another. ”

“ It is a fact, that every one of the SEVEN ACTIVE INTELLIGENCES did vote for the imposition of this additional Tax on you to relieve themselves, for I believe not one of them pay a Shilling on small Property in this Parish. Improvements we want, but do not be deceived; be careful to whom you trust the Power of Local Taxation. Vote for Guardians who have a stake in the Parish, who will spend your money as carefully as they would their own. Vote NOT for those who merely seek the office to gratify their own private vanity, and serve party purposes at the Cost of the Poor hard-working Ratepayers. ”

“ The general assembly may vest the corporate authorities of cities, towns, and villages, with power to make local improvements by special assessment or by special taxation of contiguous property, or otherwise. For all other corporate purposes, all municipal corporations may be vested with authority to assess and collect taxes; but such taxes shall be uniform in respect to persons and property within the jurisdiction of the body imposing the same. ”

“ For example, all local rates ought to be voted exclusively by the local representative body; but that body, though elected solely by rate-payers, may raise its revenues by imposts of such a kind, or assess them in such a manner, as to throw an unjust share of the burden on the poor, the rich, or some particular class of the population: it is the duty, therefore, of the Legislature, while leaving the mere amount of the local taxes to the discretion of the local body, to lay down authoritatively the mode of taxation and rules of assessment which alone the localities shall be permitted to use. ”

“ Another objection to the system of taxation by the State is, that the rolling-stock, capital stock, and franchise, are personal property, and that this, with all other personal property, has a local situs at the principal place of business of the corporation, and can be taxed by no other county, city, or town, but the one where it is so situated. ”

“ The legislature may create taxing districts to meet the expense of local improvements, and may fix the basis of taxation without encountering the 14th Amendment unless its action is palpably arbitrary or a plain abuse. ”

“ The legislature, in the exercise of its power of taxation, has the right to direct the whole or a part of the expense of a public improvement, such as the laying out, grading, or repairing of a street, to be assessed upon the owners of lands benefited h ereby; and the determination of the territorial district which should be taxed for a local improvement is within the province of legislative discretion. ”

“ The frank recognition that local income taxes are impossible, and that taxation on property for local purposes can only be applied to real property, where it becomes, usually or frequently, in the nature of a rent-charge, would have saved the legislature and the public an infinity of laborious discussion. ”

“ They pay nothing for municipal and local taxes, either to the cities, towns, or districts in which they are located, and they are expressly exempted from all other taxation. Much weight is also due to the fact that the taxes are imposed directly by the legislature, without regard to investment or value, and if the amount was fixed by law, all, we think, would agree that the assessment was a tax upon the corporation, and not upon its property as contended by the defendants. ”

“ The rule of equality and uniformity, prescribed in cases of taxation for state and county purposes, does not require that all property, or all persons in a county or district, shall be taxed for local purposes. ”

“ Direct taxation was the medium employed, through the local municipalities, for the construction of all minor local works—roads, court-houses and gaols, education, and the vast variety of objects required in a newly-settled [268] country; and this source of taxation has thus been used to the full extent which is believed practicable without producing serious discontent. No one can, for a moment, argue that, in an enlightened age, any Government could adopt such a clumsy mode of raising money as to maintain excessive rates of tolls ”

“ The taxation of corporations presents a different problem and we shall therefore leave it for special consideration with that subject. The matter of betterment taxes may be dismissed with a word, as it is hardly, in theory, taxation at all, but rather using municipal agencies to collect the cost, or part of the cost, of a local work or benefit. ”

“ This stands in lieu of taxation in other countries, and it is only on rare occasions that it is necessary to supplement it with a direct tax on the people, except as to the municipal and provincial taxes for local purposes, in which case each man of mature age, or twenty-five years, pays the one hundredth part of his earnings monthly into the treasury, the sum thus paid being evenly divided between the treasuries of the province and municipal division. ”

“ In matters of taxation, however, and of subjecting the personal property of nonresidents to the claims of local creditors of the owner, serious encroachments have been made upon the ancient maxim, and a rule has grown up in modern times that legislatures may deal with the personal as well as with the real property of nonresidents within their jurisdiction, and that such property, while enjoying the protection and benefits of the local law, may be taxed for the expenses of the local government. ”

“ In every city and town we believe that the municipality, which is a part of the state’s sovereignty, should take over to itself those public utilities which in their very nature are monopolies, and, just compensation having been paid, that these utilities should be used for the benefit of the people, to whom they belong.
We believe that the government should be supported by a system of taxation in which each citizen will pay taxes in proportion to his ability to pay. ”

“ If, as we have held, it is permissible for the state for its own purposes to impose a tax on a graduated scale depending upon the number of units operated by the chain, it is equally so for a municipality to grade its taxation by the same method, when duly authorized by state authority. ”

“ During this period there was in force the act of the legislature of 1871, of which section 7 is as follows: 'That no city or other municipal corporation shall levy a tax for any purpose which shall exceed two per centum on the assessed cash value of all the property therein listed for taxation, nor shall the police jury of any parish levy a tax for any parish purposes during any year which shall exceed one hundred per centum of the state tax for that year, unless such excess shall be first sanctioned by a vote of the majority of the voters.' Acts 1871, p. ”

“ The state's power to lay the tax, being independent of its jurisdiction over the ceded territory, subsists unless waived or prohibited by competent authority.
Whatever constitutional power the federal government may have to prohibit the state taxation of income derived from property located on the reservation, regarded as a federal instrumentality, it is plain that it has not assumed to exercise the power. ”

“ That act, as did the original charter of the city, gave the common council power, within the limits of the city, to levy and collect taxes at a prescribed rate upon all property in the city subject to taxation under the revenue laws of the state for state purposes, with certain exceptions, which need not be stated. ”

“ Every person, who, not being included in the case of articles 12 and 13 of the constitution, has not been included on the roll of the direct taxes, has the right to present himself to the municipal administration of his commune and to be enrolled there for a personal tax equal to the local value of three days of agricultural labor. ”

“ Concepts of real property are deeply rooted in state traditions, customs, habits, and laws. Local tax administration is geared to those concepts. To permit the states to tax, and yet to require them to alter their long-standing practice of assessments and collections, would create the kind of confusion and resultant hampering of local tax machinery, which we are certain Congress did not intend. ”

“ There is no question as to the importance of the power of taxation which rests in the council—everyone feels and knows that—and there is as little as to the important effect which the proper or improper application of the taxes so raised has in advancing or retarding the general prosperity of the municipality—but this side of the question is not always as thoroughly understood or appreciated. ”

“ And the ordinary means in such cases is taxation. A municipality without the power of taxation would be a body without life, incapable of acting, and serving no useful purpose.
For the same reason, when authority to borrow money or incur an obligation in order to execute a public work is conferred upon a municipal corporation, the power to levy a tax for its payment or the discharge of the obligation accompanies it ”

“ But in laying taxes for District purposes only, "Congress, like any State legislature unrestricted by constitutional provisions, may its discretion wholly exempt certain classes of property from taxation, or may tax them at a lower rate than other property." [1362] It is no impediment to the exercise of either power that residents of the District lack the suffrage and have politically no voice in the expenditure of the money raised by taxation. ”

“ Do not the states impose taxes for local purposes? Does the concurrent collection of taxes, imposed by the legislatures for general purposes, and of levies laid by the counties for parochial and county purposes, produce any inconvenience or oppression? The collection of these taxes is perfectly practicable, and consistent with the views of both parties. The people at large are the common superior of the state governments and the general government. ”

“ If they do not consume them, but fly from these excises to household manufactures, the excises must follow them, or more unavoidable modes of taxation must be resorted to. Either way the inland districts will be the chief sufferers. Direct taxes upon land are paid by the census of a State, and not by the profitableness of geographical situation; whereas the mode of raising revenue by duties, is apportioned by the relative ability to pay between maritime and inland districts. ”