Johnston v. Hartford Fire Insurance

Citations

• 109 Miss. 808
• 69 So. 686

Syllabus

<p>Levees. Special tax. Validity of ordinance.</p> <p>Under Laws 1902, chapter 80, authorizing a board of levee commissioners to levy a tax upon all privileges exercised -within its district and providing that any corporation desiring to enjoy any privilege upon which a tax is levied, shall first pay the tax as prescribed, and obtain a license, where such board by ordinance required a tax to be paid by insurance companies operating within the district of two and one half per cent, on gross earnings, less return premiums, such an ordinance was invalid, since the tax which said board is authorized by said chapter to levy is such a tax, and only such tax, as may be paid in advance, before exercising the privilege, and inasmuch as the percentage tax levied upon insurance companies by said board upon their gross earnings annually could not be known nor paid in advance, the ordinance of said board in that regard was ultra vires and void.</p>