Read v. Board of Commissioners
Read v. Board of Commissioners
Opinion of the Court
Chapter 262 of Pamph. L. 1922, p. 634, and chapter 172 of Pamph. L. 1923, p. 458, place the duty upon the county treasurer to pay over to the state treasurer the moneys collected from the taxing districts when and as received from the collectors or other officers having the custody of collected taxes in the taxing districts of the county.
The state treasurer claims that there is a balance due from the taxing district of the city of Newark, as its share of the road tax for the year 1924, the sum of $14,459.30, and as its
The road tax is a one-mill tax, and the institutional tax is a half-mill. tax. .
Application is made for a peremptory writ of mcmdamus directed to the governing body of the city of Newark and the county treasurer, commanding the board of commissioners of the city of Newark to cause to be paid, to the county treasurer the balance due and unpaid of each tax, with interest, and commanding the county treasurer to pay the balances due, with interest, as received by him within ten days thereafter, to the state treasurer.
The facts are not in .dispute, but the legal duty is in question.
The Eoad act of 1922, chapter 262, by section 17A, provides that beginning with the year 1923 there shall be assessed each year and levied and collected, in each of the municipalities, the counties of this state, a tax sufficient to meet the interest on all outstanding bonds, proposed to be issued in the calendar year in which the tax is to be raised. The levy and assessment is required to be made upon all the real and personal property in every such municipality upon' which municipal taxes are, or shall be, assessed, levied and collected, in the same manner and at the same time as other taxes upon real and personal property are assessed, levied and collected, and requires the governing body of each municipality to cause the taxes to be paid to the county treasurer as received by him. Subdivision (b) of the section provides that when the rate is by millage on the dollar of valuation, it shall apply to the valuation basis of the current year, and requires the comptroller of the treasury to certify the millage so calculated to the county treasurer of each county and the county board of taxation. The county board is then required to include the millage on the dollar of valuation so certified, in the current tax levy of the several taxing districts of the county, in proportion to the ratables as ascertained for the current year. The Institutional Tax act of 1923 authorizes
The question involved is presented in entire good faith by all parties concerned. It is not without its difficulties. The question is whether or not the valuation of the personal property of public utility corporations, using or occupying public streets, shall he included in the valuation to which the rate of one mill in the road tax and the half-mill in the institutional tax was applied.
Chapter 25 of the. laws of 1919 (at p. 49) provided for a franchise tax additional to that already being assessed annually on the gross receipts of public utility corporations as enumerated therein, using or occupying public streets, highways, roads or other public places, in lien of taxation of the personal property in the municipalities which had theretofore been taxed in the respective municipalities. .Such additional franchise tax or license fee was in lieu of all taxes for state, county, school and local purposes on such property. Section 2 required, however, that the same valuations and returns should he made by the assessor in each taxing distract, and that the franchise taxes should he apportioned in the same manner and on the same basis as though the statute had not been passed, and section 3 required the assessing body in each taxing district to annually ascertain the value of all the personal property of such corporations and to certify them in the samer manner and at the same time as otherwise required, for the purpose of the apportionment of such franchise taxes, and further provided that the valuation of such personal property of such corporations, taxed on gross re
At the time of the enactment of this additional franchise tax on gross receipts of public utility corporations, in .lieu of taxes assessed on the personal property of such corporations, there were in force- a Road Tax act and an Interstate Bridge and Tunnel Tax act, respectively designated as chapter 16 of the laws of 1917 and chapter 51 of the laws of 1918, and section 4 of the Additional Franchise Tax act provided that the tax of one mill imposed in each case, under the provisions of said Road act and Bridge and Tunnel act should be paid in each taxing district by the officer having custody of the funds to the county collector on each dollar of the value of such property of the corporations so exempted, the same as if the said act had not been passed.
We think that the legislature, in enacting the additional Franchise Tax act (Pamph. L. 1919, ch. 35), intended, in imposing the additional franchise tax, that state, county and school taxes should be imposed in the same manner, and upon the same valuations, as had been done prior to the act of 1919. The act relieved such personal property from state, county, school and local taxation, but provides, nevertheless, that the valuation of such property should be included in and considered part of the total valuations of the respective municipalities for all other purposes except of the computation of the municipal tax rate, and that intention is emphasized by the fact that the legislature specifically provided that under the Road act of 1917 and the Bridge and Tunnel act of 1918, under which taxes were then being assessed for road, bridge and tunnel purposes, should be imposed by the application of the millage to valuations, the same as if the act of 1919 had not been passed. Chapter 363 of the laws of 1933 is a continuation of road taxation as previously imposed under chapter 16 of the laws of 1917. The 1917 act provided that taxes should be assessed annually for a period of five years from the date of its passage,
The Bridge and Tunnel act (Pamph. L. 1918, ch. 51) was of similar purport to the act of 1911 and the present act of 1922, imposing taxes for road purposes, and the institution tax of 1923 is of similar purport to the three acts mentioned. The present Boad act and the Institutional act were both enacted subsequent to the Eranchise Tax act of 1919. Prior to the enactment of the Eranchise Tax act of 1919, the property assessed for municipal purposes included the personal property of corporations using the public streets and places, and, therefore, the valuation taken to apply the one mill tax under the earlier Boad act and the Bridge and Tunnel act included the value of such personal property in each taxing district—that is, the value of the property taxed for municipal purposes included the value of such personal property, and the one mill rate was applied to that sum after the additions and deductions required by sections 510 and 511 of the Tax Revision of 1918 had been made. Pamph. L. 1918, p. 869, ch. 236. Since the passage of the Eranchise Tax act of 1919, the value used for the striking of the municipal tax rate for the purpose of raising money for local purposes does not contain the value of the personal property of such corporations, but is listed separately, as appears by the table of ratables for the year 1924.
We think that the rate of one mill and one-half mill in the assessments for the year 1924, for road and institution purposes, should be applied to the same 'valuations as was done under the earlier acts for roads and bridges and tunnel purposes, and that while the valuations of the personal property of public utility corporations is not to be used for striking the municipal tax rate, it is to be used for all other pur-' poses except for municipal purposes in accordance with the express terms of the act of 1919, that “such valuations of said property in the respective municipalities shall, notwithstanding the exemption of such property from taxation by reason of this act, nevertheless be included in and considered
In reaching this conclusion we have not overlooked the contention of the respondents that chapter 25 of Pamph. L. 1919 is “not a general law within the meaning of article 4, section 7, paragraph 12 of the constitution [requiring that] ‘property shall be assessed for taxes under general laws and by uniform rules, according to its true value/ ” The contention has heretofore been decided to be without merit. Salem, &c., Co. v. State Board, &c., supra. See, also, Johnson v. Asbury, 58 N. J. L. 604.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.