Opinion
1 Div. 59.
February 9, 1932. Rehearing Denied March 22, 1932. Rehearing Granted June 14, 1932.
Appeal from Circuit Court, Mobile County; Claude A. Grayson, Judge.
Harry T. Smith Caffey, of Mobile, for appellant.
Amendment xxi by its express terms authorizes only assessments on benefited property within the district, and all other taxes or forced subscriptions for the benefit of such districts are expressly prohibited by section 23 of the Constitution. Bradley v. State ex rel., 210 Ala. 166, 97 So. 543; Collins v. Hollis, 212 Ala. 294, 102 So. 379; Robertson v. Collins, 218 Ala. 54, 117 So. 415; State v. Grayson, 220 Ala. 12, 123 So. 573; Acts 1923, p. 592; State v. Roden Coal Co., 197 Ala. 407, 73 So. 5; Ashe-Carson Co. v. State, 138 Ala. 108, 35 So. 38; Gould v. Gould, 245 U.S. 151, 38 S.Ct. 53, 62 L.Ed. 211; Williams v. Pugh, 24 Ala. App. 57, 129 So. 792; State v. New Florence Co., 19 Ala. App. 194, 95 So. 913; State v. Fain Serv. Station, 23 Ala. App. 239, 124 So. 119. The act here in question is broader than the constitutional amendment, in that it provides a forced subscription or tax other than by assessment on property within the district in violation of section 23. Hartwell v. State ex rel. Willis, 225 Ala. 206, 142 So. 678. One taxing district of a state cannot be taxed for the benefit of another taxing district thereof, but each must be taxed for its individual purposes; hence Mobile county cannot be taxed for the benefit of this local sea wall and road district. 26 R. C. L. 72; Cooley on Tax. (2d Ed.) 141; Johnston v. Lacy, 174 N.C. 141, 93 S.E. 482, 2 A.L.R. 726; Com. of Bladen County v. Boring, 175 N.C. 105, 95 S.E. 43; Ryerson v. Utley, 16 Mich. 269; Sharpless v. Mayor, etc., 21 Pa. 147, 59 Am. Dec. 759; Manistee Lbr. Co. v. Springfield, 92 Mich. 277, 52 N.W. 468; Farris v. Vannier, 6 Dak. 186, 42 N.W. 31, 3 L.R.A. 713; Robinson v. Board of Com'rs, 182 N.C. 590, 109 S.E. 855; Jones v. Board of Ed., 185 N.C. 303, 117 S.E. 37; Ellis v. Greene, 191 N.C. 761, 133 S.E. 395; Beach v. Bradstreet, 85 Conn. 344, 82 A. 1030, Ann. Cas. 1913B, 946; Robinson v. Norfolk, 108 Va. 14, 60 S.E. 762, 15 L.R.A. (N.S.) 294, 128 Am. St. Rep. 934; Board of Com'rs v. Hanchett, 194 N.C. 137, 138 S.E. 614. The Legislature by the Sea Wall Act has itself created a taxing district whose boundaries are fixed and has itself determined what territory shall belong to such district and what property shall be considered as benefited by the proposed improvement. And the fact that some incidental benefit to the public at large may be imagined or may surely accrue does not justify the imposition of the tax outside the district and upon the entire county. Fallbrook Irr. Dist. v. Bradley, 164 U.S. 174, 17 S.Ct. 56, 41 L.Ed. 369; Williams v. Eggleston, 170 U.S. 304, 18 S.Ct. 617, 42 L.Ed. 1047; Manning v. Devils Lake, 13 N.D. 47, 99 N.W. 51, 65 L.R.A. 187, 112 Am. St. Rep. 652; Op. of Justices, 58 Me. 590; 26 R. C. L. 51. This tax on the distribution of gasoline is an arbitrary singling out of one business and the imposition of a tax on it for a purpose entirely foreign to that business and from which it cannot receive the slightest benefit, which is prohibited by both the State and Federal Constitutions. State v. Bush, 12 Ala. App. 311, 68 So. 492; 26 R. C. L. 51; Cooley on Tax. (2d Ed.) 141. A title that is ambiguous or deceptive violates section 45 of the Constitution. Wallace v. Ball, 205 Ala. 623, 88 So. 442; Lindsay v. U.S. S. L. Asso., 120 Ala. 156, 24 So. 171, 42 L.R.A. 783; Pillans v. Hancock, 203 Ala. 570, 84 So. 757; Stallings v. Nowell, 214 Ala. 118, 107 So. 47; State v. Nelson, 210 Ala. 663, 98 So. 715; Ballentyne v. Wickersham, 75 Ala. 533; Thompson v. Luverne, 125 Ala. 366, 29 So. 326; State v. Miller, 158 Ala. 59, 48 So. 496; Woolf v. Taylor, 98 Ala. 254, 13 So. 688; Board of Revenue v. State, 200 Ala. 456, 76 So. 388; Bradley v. State, 99 Ala. 177, 13 So. 415; Ham v. Buck, 156 Ala. 645, 47 So. 126. The tax involved is one which the Legislature has attempted to impose on the county for the benefit of individual property holders in violation of section 94 of the Constitution. Rogers v. White, 14 Ala. App. 482, 70 So. 994; Griffin v. Jeffers, 221 Ala. 649, 130 So. 190. The commission being given the power to end the tax when it sees fit, it is clear that legislative power has been delegated to it in violation of the Constitution. Mitchell v. State ex rel., 134 Ala. 392, 32 So. 687; Rose v. State ex rel., 147 Ala. 692, 40 So. 951. The act violates section 212 of the Constitution. Collins v. Hollis, supra; Robertson v. Collins, 218 Ala. 54, 117 So. 415; Schultes v. Eberly, 82 Ala. 242, 2 So. 345. The legal effect of the act is to pledge county finances to the payment of district bonds, in violation of section 104 (17) of the Constitution.
Jas. H. Webb and Wm. H. Armbrecht, both of Mobile, for appellee.
The Mobile road and sea wall district is in no sense a public or private corporation, but a county agency, and a state agency, for carrying out the purposes the Legislature intrusted to it. The tax imposed is not one upon the whole county, but a gallonage tax. Such levy is authorized. Standard Oil Co. v. Limestone County, 220 Ala. 231, 124 So. 523; Moog v. Randolph, 77 Ala. 597; Phœnix Assur. Co. v. Fire Dept., 117 Ala. 631, 23 So. 843, 42 L.R.A. 468; Askew v. Hale County, 54 Ala. 639, 25 Am. Rep. 730; Johnston County v. Lacy, 174 N.C. 141, 93 S.E. 482, 2 A.L.R. 726; State v. Bush, 12 Ala. App. 309, 68 So. 492; Bowman v. Cont. Oil Co., 256 U.S. 642, 41 S.Ct. 606, 65 L.Ed. 1139; Valley Farms Co. v. Westchester Co., 261 U.S. 155, 43 S.Ct. 261, 67 L.Ed. 585; Hart Ref. v. Harmon, 278 U.S. 499, 49 S.Ct. 188, 73 L.Ed. 475; Frost v. Corp. Comm., 278 U.S. 515, 49 S.Ct. 235, 73 L.Ed. 483; Leonard v. Earle, 279 U.S. 392, 49 S.Ct. 372, 73 L.Ed. 754; Sheppard v. Dowling, 127 Ala. 1, 28 So. 791, 85 Am. St. Rep. 68; Op. of Justices (Ala. Sup.) 136 So. 589; Kennamer v. State, 150 Ala. 74, 43 So. 482; Bozeman v. State, 7 Ala. App. 151, 61 So. 604. The act does not violate sections 42, 43, 44, of the Constitution. Florence Disp. Case, 134 Ala. 392, 32 So. 687; Hill v. Moody, 207 Ala. 325, 93 So. 422; R. R. Comm. v. A. N. R. Co., 182 Ala. 357, 62 So. 749; Parke v. Bradley, 204 Ala. 455, 86 So. 28; Tallassee Falls Mfg. Co. v. Com. Ct., 158 Ala. 263, 48 So. 354; Kimbrell v. L. N. R. Co., 191 Ala. 392, 67 So. 586; Ferguson v. Starkey, 192 Ala. 471, 68 So. 348; Ex parte Birmingham, 199 Ala. 9, 74 So. 51; Lehmann v. State Board, 208 Ala. 185, 94 So. 94; Id., 263 U.S. 394, 44 S.Ct. 128, 68 L.Ed. 354; State v. State Board, 209 Ala. 9, 95 So. 295; McElderry v. Abercrombie, 213 Ala. 289, 104 So. 671; State v. McCarty, 5 Ala. App. 212, 59 So. 543; Dunn v. Wilcox County, 85 Ala. 144, 4 So. 661; George v. Chickasaw Land Co., 209 Ala. 648, 96 So. 781; Jackson v. State, 131 Ala. 21, 31 So. 380; Whaley v. State, 168 Ala. 152, 52 So. 941, 30 L.R.A. (N.S.) 499; Hawkins v. State, 168 Ala. 670, 52 So. 946; Hand v. Stapleton, 135 Ala. 156, 33 So. 689; Ward v. State, 154 Ala. 227, 45 So. 655; McCreless v. Tenn. Valley Bank, 208 Ala. 414, 94 So. 722. The act does not violate sections 212 or 104 of the Constitution. Hartwell v. State ex rel., 225 Ala. 206, 142 So. 678; Op. of Justices, 216 Ala. 469, 113 So. 584.
This case was originally affirmed by this court February 9, 1932, on authority of Hartwell et al. v. State ex rel., 142 So. 678. Application for rehearing was filed in this court February 13, 1932, and on March 22, 1932, this court extended its opinion and overruled the application, still basing its decision as to the validity of the statute on the decision of the Supreme Court, supra. On May 19, 1932, the Supreme Court reversed its decision in the Hartwell Case, supra, and held the act of the Legislature (Local Acts 1931, p. 203) known as the Sea Wall Act to be unconstitutional and void. Whereupon this court recalled the certificate of affirmance in this case, and we now grant the motion of appellants for a rehearing. The judgment of affirmance is set aside, and the judgment is reversed, and a judgment will here be rendered in favor of the appellants, with his costs.
Reversed and rendered.