Opinion ID: 2019452
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Right of the City to Raise the Issue of Constitutionality.

Text: The relationship of municipalities was thoroughly considered by this court in Madison Metropolitan Sewerage Dist. v. Committee on Water Pollution (1951), 260 Wis. 229, 50 N. W. (2d) 424. It was therein held that a municipality, being a creature of the legislature and an instrumentality of the state, had no standing to attack the constitutionality of a statute on the ground that such a statute worked a denial of due process to the municipality in violation of the Fourteenth amendment. On this point, see also Douglas County v. Industrial Comm. (1957), 275 Wis. 309, 81 N. W. (2d) 807. Likewise, a municipality cannot raise the issue that a statute denies to it the equal protection of the laws. 16A C. J. S., Constitutional Law, p. 331, sec. 508. The New Jersey court in Clifton v. Passaic County Board of Taxation (1958), 28 N. J. 411, 422, 147 Atl. (2d) 1, 7, has recently declared: Moreover, municipalities are political subdivisions of the state for the exercise of delegated governmental powers; and in the very nature of the relation the restraints of the Fourteenth amendment have no application. However, in the instant appeal the city is not contending that there has been any denial to it of due process or equal protection of the laws by sec. 182.032 (8), Stats. Rather the city stands here in a representative capacity and in behalf of its resident taxpayers, who might be adversely affected if such statute is made effective as to plaintiff's property, raises the constitutional objection that it does. We were presented with a somewhat-similar situation in the recent case of Fulton Foundation v. Department of Taxation, ante, p. 1, 108 N. W. (2d) 312. There the instrumentality of the state and creature of the legislature, which raised the issue of the constitutionality of a statute exempting certain gifts to charitable organizations from gift tax, was the Wisconsin department of taxation. Our opinion therein pointed out that the department had no personal interest which was affected by the statute under attack. It further cited the general rule, that state agencies cannot question the constitutionality of a statute unless it is their duty to do so, or unless they will be personally affected if they fail to do so and the statute is held invalid. However, we further determined that an exception should be made to such rule in the situation where the constitutional issue presented is one of great public concern or interest. In our original opinion in the Fulton Foundation Case we held that the question of whether a particular tax exemption granted by the legislature denied the equal protection of the laws was not one of great public concern. While not expressed in the opinion, the underlying reason for such holding was that such exemption was only of concern to other taxpayers of the same general class, and that they were the ones who should be required to litigate the constitutional issue and not the department. However, in our memorandum opinion on the motion for rehearing, ante, p. 14a, 109 N. W. (2d) 285, we have receded from our original holding and have now held that this particular constitutional issue was one of great public concern which the department should be permitted to raise. Likewise, in the instant appeal, we hold that the issue, of whether the particular tax exemption now before us violates the uniformity-of-taxation provision of our state constitution and denies equal protection of the laws, is one of great public interest which the city should be permitted to raise.