State v. American Sugar Refining Co.

Citations

• 51 La. Ann. 562
• 25 So. 447
• 1898 La. LEXIS 590

Syllabus

<p>Syllabus.</p> <p>The words and terms of a constitutional article, like those of a statute, are to be construed and understood in their most usual signification ; and an exemption from taxes or licenses must receive a strict interpretation. .</p> <p>If no precise exemption can be pointed out as applicable to that claimed, the demand will be disallowed.</p> <p>On Rehearing.</p> <p>The proof disclosing that a business corporation purchases from planters and other sources, a large supply of sugar in a completely manufactured state, and, by skillful manipulations, through the instrumentality of vast, elaborate and lomplicated machinery, and an application thereto of steam. power anfi great air pressure, same is first melted, then cleansed of its impurities, then bleached and improved in color, and then dried, granulated and brought into sugar again — in exactly the same state it was when these manipulations were commenced, though greatly improved in purity and beauty of appearance, and rendered more merchantable — it is not a manufacturer in the sense of article two hundred and six of the Constitution of 1879, which exempts manufacturers from license taxation.</p>