Mississippi Mills v. Cook

Citations

• 56 Miss. 40

Syllabus

<p>1. Taxation. Exemption of corporations. Intendment of sect. 13, art. 1%, of the State Constitution.</p> <p>Sect. 13, art. 12, of our State Constitution declares that “the property of all corporations for pecuniary profits shall be subject to taxation, the same as that of individuals.” This section was not intended to confer power on the Legislature to tax property of corporations of the class mentioned, for that existed without this section, as an inherent legislative power. It was not intended to require the taxation of property of corporations whose charters, previously granted, secured them from taxation, for this was beyond the power of the framers of the Constitution. It was not designed to establish the rule that all corporations for pecuniary profits must always be taxed; nor was it intended to exempt from taxation the property of corporations other than those for pecuniary profits.</p> <p>2. Same. Exemption of corporations. Sect. 13, art. IS, of State Constitution, construed.</p> <p>Sect. 13, art. 12, of the State Constitution does not declare that the property of all corporations for pecuniary profits shall \\>s subjected to taxation, hut that it shall he “subject ” to taxation, — that is, liable to taxation. Audit makes such property subject to “ taxation the same as that of individuals; ” so that, subject to the twentieth section of the same article, the Legislature may at ail times impose taxes on the property of such corporations, just as it may on the property of individuals. Sect. 13 fixes beyond legislative act the condition of the property of such corporations as being liable to the exercise of the taxing power at the will of the Legislature, and as subject to the same taxation that the property of individuals may be subjected to. The Legislature may exempt property of a particular class, whether the owners be corporations or natural persons. But the property of corporations for pecuniary profits cannot be placed beyond the reach of the taxing po