City of Williamsport v. Wenner

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
City of Williamsport v. Wenner, 172 Pa. 173 (Pa. 1896)
33 A. 544; 1896 Pa. LEXIS 760
Fell, Green, McCollum, Sterrett, Williams

City of Williamsport v. Wenner

Opinion of the Court

Per Curiam,

This suit was brought to recover the amount of a license or business tax assessed by the city of Williamsport against the defendant, a merchant doing business therein. By consent of *185parties the right of trial by jury was waived and the decision of the case was submitted to the court. In a painstaking and exhaustive opinion, the learned president of the common pleas has clearly presented his findings of fact and conclusions of law drawn therefrom. A careful examination of the record has failed to convince us that there is any error in the judgment, or in the proceedings leading up thereto. We find nothing therein that would justify us in sustaining any of the assignments of error, nor do we think that either of them requires discussion. To have held that the ordinance, under which the tax in controversy was assessed, is an unwarranted exercise of the taxing power conferred by the act of May 23, 1889, would have been error.

Judgment affirmed.

Reference

Full Case Name
City of Williamsport v. John Wenner
Cited By
14 cases
Status
Published
Syllabus
Taxation — Glassification—Municipalities—License or business tax — Act of May 23, 1889. Under clause 4, section 3, article 5, of the act of May 23, 1889, P. L. 287, giving to the councils of cities of the third class power to levy and collect for general revenue purposes a license tax not exceeding one hundred dollars upon merchants and others, councils may in the exercise of their discretion classify merchants or others according to the amount of taeir gross sales, and graduate the tax according to such sales. A license tax empowered to be levied and collected by virtue of the act of May 23, 1889, P. L. 287, is a tax in a general sense, and is not levied under the police power of the city.