THE PULLMAN COMPANY, A CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
W. V. KNOTT, AS COMPTROLLER, APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
The Pullman Company sought to enjoin Florida's Comptroller from collecting a tax on gross receipts from sleeping and parlor cars operating intrastate, arguing the tax violated both state and federal constitutional protections against deprivation of property without due process and denial of equal protection. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed dismissal of the complaint, holding that the state legislature has constitutional authority to impose both license taxes and gross receipts taxes on companies doing business in the state.
The tax does not violate the state or federal constitutions. The legislature has constitutional authority to impose both a license tax as a condition of doing intrastate business and a separate tax on gross receipts from such business. The character and extent of taxes are within legislative discretion when constitutional limitations are not violated, and the policy disclosed in such exactions is not subject to judicial review.
“License taxes are not required to be uniform; but under the constitutional authority to provide for levying a tax on licenses, the legislature may impose such purely license, occupation or privilege taxes as it deems proper when no property right that is secured by the constitution is thereby violated.”
Establishes the constitutional authority of the legislature to impose license and privilege taxes without uniformity requirements
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe Pullman Company operated sleeping and parlor cars in Florida and was subject to a state tax of $1.50 per $100 of gross receipts from intrastate bu…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse License Tax cases and more on FLexlaw
Whitfield, J.
Suit was brought by the Pullman Company to1 enjoin the State Comptroller from enforcing, by levy upon cars of the complainant company, the payment of the sum of one dollar and fifty cents ($1.50) upon each one hundred ($100.00) dollars of the gross receipts of the company derived from, business done between points in this State by such cars, such tax being by statute imposed upon all sleeping and parlor car companies in the State. Sec. 47 Chap. 5596 Acts of 1907; Sec. 45 Chap. 6421 Acts of 1913; Sec. 596qq Compiled Laws of 1914. Relief is sought upon the theory that the statute 'imposing such tax violates the State and Federal Constitutions in that it deprives the complainant of its property without due process of law and denies to it the •equal protection of the laws. Injunction is asked on the ground that the remedy at law is inadequate. A demurrer to the bill of complaint was sustained and the bill dismissed. The complainant company appealed. As the Attorney General asks for a decision on' the merits of the case, the right of the complainant' to-proceed in an equity forum will not be discussed, in view of the nature and uses of sleeping and parlor cars on which a levy is sought to be enjoined.
The argument is that since the Pullman Company pays a property tax upon its cars used in this State, and also pays “a license tax of five thousand five hundred dollars ($5,500.00)” for doing intrastate business in thi,s State, the tax of $1.50 upon each $ioO'.oo of the gross intrastate receipts from the Pullman cars violates the taxation and due process of law provisions of the State Constitution, and the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution. That the tax here complained of does not violate the Federal Constitution has been directly adjudicated in Pullman Company v. Knott, Comptroller, 235 U. S. 23, Sup. Ct. Rep. . It does not appear that the tax is an oppressive burden arbitrarily or otherwise illegally put upon the complainant. See Peninsular Casualty Co. v. State, 68 Fla. 411, 67 South. Rep. 165. License taxes are not required to be uniform; but under the constitutional authority to provide for levying a tax on licenses, the legislature may impose such purely license, occupation or privilege taxes as it deems proper when no property right that is secured by the constitution is thereby violated. No provision of the constitution forbids the imposition of license or privilege taxes on the right to do> business in the State and also on the gross receipts of such business. Both of these exactions are; in the nature of license or privilege or occupational taxes. See Afro-American Industrial & Benefit Ass’n of the United States v. State, 61 Fla. 85, 54 South. Rep. 383; Johnson v. Armour, 31 Fla. 413, 12 South. Rep.
842. The character and extent of taxes imposed are within the legislative discretion when constitutional limitations are not violated. By imposing a license tax as a condition precedent to the right to do intrastate business in the State and also a tax upon the gross receipts of such business, the legislature has not violated the constitution or exceeded its powers; and it is not material whether the two taxes are imposed bygone or by different statutes enacted concurrently or at different times. The policy disclosed in the exactions made is not subject to judicial review. The provisions imposing the taxes are fairly covered by the title to' the acts, and there is nothing to indicate that they were not duly enacted. The exactions as made do not deny to the complainant due process of law. Pullman Company v. Knott, Comptroller, supra; Peninsular Casualty Co. v. State, supra. The principle announced in Afro-American Industrial & Benefit Ass’n of the United States v. State, supra, is applicable to this case, and the statute imposing the percentage tax upon the gross intrastate receipts of sleeping and parlor car companies in the State does not violate the tax provisions of the State constitution or the constitutional property rights of the complainant. See Peninsular Industrial Ins. Co. v. State, 61 Fla. 376, 55 South. Rep. 398; Peninsular Casualty Co. v. State, supra.
The decree is affirmed.
Taylor, C. J., and Shackleford, Cockrell and Ellis, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Amos v. Shelton J. Gunn, 84 Fla. 285 (Fla. 1922)…. 442, 70 South. Rep. 446. That the Act imposes a tax of five dollars for each place of business and one cent per gallon on gasoline sold, is not objectionable, as double taxation. Both exactions amount to one license tax. See Pullman Co. v. Knott, 70 Fla. 9, 69 South. Rep. 703; Peninsular Industrial Ins. Co. v. State, 61 Fla. 376, 55 South, Rep. 398. [*360] The objection that the tax of one cent per gallon is an “Excise tax” and- therefore not within the two classifications of advalorem and license tax…
-
The State of Fla. ex rel. L. S. Bonsteel v. Allen, 83 Fla. 214 (Fla. 1922)…ch organic provisions do not forbid or render inoperative reasonable differences in the amounts of license taxes that are predicated upon just classifications. State ex rel. Clarkson v. Philips, 70 Fla. 340, 70 South. Rep. 367; Pullman Co. v. Knott, 70 Fla. 9, 69 South. Rep. 703. The differences in license taxes between motor vehicles operated for hire and those operated for private use, do not relate to the weight of the vehicle and load which may be operated on the highways but to the privilege of lic…
-
City of Lakeland v. Amos, 106 Fla. 873 (Fla. 1932)…etc., the amount of the tax to be determined by reference to a stated percentage of the “gross receipts derived from” the stated intrastate business occupations, which occupations are subject to license taxes. See Pullman Co. vs. Knott, Comptroller, 70 Fla. 9, 69 So. 703; Afro-American Ind. & Benefit Ass’n. v. State, 51 Fla. 85, 54 So. 383; Orange State Oil Co. v. Amos, 100 Fla. 884, 130 So. 707. It is in no sense a “tax upon the income of residents or citizens of this State” within the terms or the inte…
Previewing 3 of 7 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Peninsular Indus. Ins. Co. v. State, 61 Fla. 376 (Fla. 1911)
- Pullman Co. v. Knott, 235 U.S. 23 (U.S. 1914)
- Peninsular Cas. Co. v. State, 68 Fla. 411 (Fla. 1914)
- Afro-American Indus. & Benefit Ass'n of the United States v. State, 61 Fla. 85 (Fla. 1911)
- Johnson v. Armour & Co., 31 Fla. 413 (Fla. 1893)