Citation Numbers: 64 Ga. 498
Judges: Jackson
Filed Date: 2/15/1880
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 1/12/2023
The commissioners of roads and revenues of the county of Webster levied a tax of one hundred and forty-two and one-half per cent, upon the state tax for county purposes for the year 1879, and complainants brought this bill in equity to enjoin its collection; the chancellor refused the writ of injunction prayed for, and on this judgment of refusal error is assigned in this court. The assessment óf taxes levied is for expenses superior court, thirty-five per cent.; for repair of bridges, fifty-five per cent.; for payment for iron safes for the county, twenty-two per cent.; for paupers, twelve and one-half per cent.; for expenses of jail, six per cent.; for incidental expenses, twelve per cent.
The second paragraph of the sixth section of the seventh article of that constitution is in these words: “ The general assembly shall not have power to delegate to any county the right to levy a tax for any purpose, except for educational purposes in instructing children in the elementary branches of an English education only ; to build and repair the public buildings and bridges; to maintain and support' prisoners; to pay jurors and coroners, and for litigation, quarantine, roads, and expenses of courts; to support paupers and pay debts heretofore existing.”
Paragraph one’of section seven of the same article is as follows: “ The debt hereafter incurred by any county, municipal corporation, or political division of this state, except as in this constitution provided for, shall,never exceed seven per centum of the assessed value of all the
The tax for expenses of jail is equivalent to a levy “ to maintain and support prisoners,” and is authorized by the second paragraph of the sixth section of article seven of the constitution of 1877 above cited.
The tax for incidental expenses is not authorized by either of the paragraphs cited, nor by any other clause of the constitution of 1877 of which we are aware, or to which our attention has been directed ; it is a very loosely worded item, under which many expenses, incident to what is not specified, and is impossible to be ascertained from the language used, might be incurred and paid against the spirit of the present constitution by taxation, which the legislature, since the adoption of the constitution of 1877, could not delegate to any county; and which, therefore, as all taxing power must flow from the general assembly, no county can now impose. Code, §§>16, 518.
The levy of twenty-two per centum for iron safes is not mentioned in the purposes enumerated in said second paragraph of the sixth section and seventh article; nor are there words therein which, without much latitude of construction, can be construed to authorize the tax. Besides, the purchase of these safes is the creation of a new debt since the adoption of the constitution of 1877, and expressly prohibited .by the first paragraph of the seventh section of article seven, “without the assent of two-thirds of the qualified
The prohibition is emphatic: “ And no such county, municipality or division shall incur cmy new debt, except for a temporary loan or loans to supply casual deficiencies of revenue, not to exceed one-fifth of one per centum of the assessed value of taxable property therein,” without the sanction of such a vote. .
At the last term, in the case of Hudson et al. vs. Mayor, etc., of Marietta, this construction was given to this paragraph of the constitution, and the city of Marietta was enjoined from incurring a new debt, since the adoption of the constitution of 1877, for the purchase of a steam fire engine for city purposes. That case covers this item of taxation in this case, and the principle ruled then by two justices of this court is affirmed by a full bench.
It was the purpose of the framers of that constitution to tap the root of that system of indebtedness by counties, cities and towns, which was growing into immense proportions and spreading mildew and blight everywhere over the land; and it is made our duty by the same constitution to declare all laws in violation of its provisions and prohibitions to be null and void. Par. 2, sec. 4, art. 1, const. 1877.
These safes might have been bought on a credit and a debt incurred therefor prior to this constitution, Code, §§497-502; and they may be bought still, if the county, should have surplus funds from any source to pay cash for them, Code, §528 ; or if the debt be incurred with the assent of two-thirds of the voters of the county, but not otherwise. We think, therefore, that the injunction should be granted to stay the collection of the tax for incidental expenses and for the iron safes.
Judgment reversed.