City of L.A. v. L.A. Indep. Gas Co.

Citations

• 152 Cal. 765

Syllabus

<p>Municipal Corporations—Los Angeles—License Tax on Business— Gradations op Tax—Discrimination.—The provision of the charter of the city of Los Angeles (Stats. 1889, p. 457), authorizing it to impose a license tax upon occupations, business, and trades, to raise revenue for the city, “provided that no discrimination shall be made between persons engaged in the same business, otherwise than by proportioning the tax upon any business to the amount of business done,” does not require occupation taxes to be graded, in all eases, according to the amount of the business done. It forbids discrimination between persons engaged in the same business by the charging of a higher rate to one than to the other, in any case, except when it is done by grading the tax to the amount of the business, but it does not forbid the imposition of a uniform license tax upon all persons who engage in a particular calling.</p> <p>Id.—Constitutional Law—License not Tax on Property.—A license tax upon the privilege or right to carry on a particular trade within a city is not a tax upon property, within the meaning of article XIII, section 1 of the constitution, declaring that all property “shall be taxed in proportion to its value, to be ascertained as provided by law,” and that the word “property” includes “moneys, credits, bonds, stocks, dues, franchises, and all other matters and things, real, personal, and mixed, capable of private ownership.”</p> <p>Id.—Discrimination—Uniform Tax on Business.—A license tax imposing the same amount upon all engaged in the same business, regardless of business done, or the profits received therefrom, is not an unreasonable discrimination, although different persons in the business have much more capital employed and earn much more profit than others. Such uniform rate has always been recognized as a valid exercise of the taxing power.</p> <p>Id.—Gas Business—Police Power—Taxing Power.—An ordinance of the city of Los Angeles, imposing a license tax of one hun