Short v. Bartlett
Short v. Bartlett
Opinion of the Court
Opinion of the coubt by
— Reversing.
In this action we are asked to determine whether the fiscal court of Daviess county can levy and collect a poll tax for the benefit of the county from the inhabitants of
Section 180 of the Constitution provides: “The General Assembly may authorize the counties, cities or towms to levy a poll tax not exceeding $1.50 per head.” And pursuant to this constitutional provision the General Assembly has expressly authorized “counties and cities of the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and towms of the sixth class to impose and collect from every male inhabitant over the age of twenty-one years an annual poll tax not exceeding' $1.50.” The contention of appellees is based upon the use of the disjunctive, “or,” instead of the conjunctive, “and,” between the words “cities” and “towns” in the constitutional provision. Previous to the adoption of the present Constitution, there was no restriction upon the power of the Legislature to levy taxes; and, by its authority, counties, cities, towms and other municipalities levied what appeared to be excessive poll taxes. The only purpose or effect of the section of the Constitution is to limit the amount of such tax which might be levied! by counties, cities or towns to not exceeding $1.50. If it were
Appellees also seek to escape liability for the payment of the poll tax levied by the county under section 1851 of the Kentucky Statutes, on the ground that they are separated by their act of incorporation from the remainder of the county for governmental purposes. A similar contention was mide in the case of Joyce v. Stone Co. (23 R., 1201) 64 S. W., 912, and in Richardson v. Boske (111 Ky., 893) (23 R., 1209) 64 S. W., 919, in which cases it was held that cities and towns were bound to pay their proportional part of the expenses of both the county and city. The section, however, hais no application to cities which are only separated from the county for governmental purposes by tbeir acts of incorporation. Under the Constitution and enactments of the Legislature, a county, through its fiscal court, can levy an ad valorem tax within the constitutional limitations on all property in the county for county purposes, whether situated in the county, outside of cities and towns,, or in them, and, in the same way, may levy a poll tax for fhe same purpose upon citizens both inside and outside of cities or towns located therein.
For the reasons indicated, the judgment is reversed, and the cause remanded for proceedings consistent herewith.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.