Opinion ID: 1687458
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Louisiana State Department of Agriculture v. Sibille, 207 La. 877, 22 So.2d 202 (1945)

Text: An act imposed a tax of one cent per bushel on all sweet potatoes shipped in the state to be collected by the State Department of Agriculture and Immigration for the benefit of the Louisiana Sweet Potato Advertising Agency. This agency created by the act was charged with the duty of planning and conducting a campaign for promoting increased consumption of sweet potatoes. The tax was held to be an excise or license tax. The Louisiana Supreme Court said: Appellees' fourth complaint, listed in Paragraph (d) of their plea, is that the statute violates Article 4, Section 1 of the Louisiana Constitution, by providing for the disbursement of public money from the State Treasury without any specific appropriation and by undertaking to distribute the proceeds of the tax for a longer period than two years. The referred to constitutional provision reads in part: No money shall be drawn from the treasury except in pursuance of specific appropriation made by law; nor shall any appropriation of money be made for a longer term than two years. According to Section 6 of the statute, the proceeds of the tax must be deposited in a special fund and all used by the Louisiana Sweet Potato Advertising Agency in conducting its publicizing and promotion campaign. By this method there is created a dedication, not an appropriation, and the mentioned constitutional provision is not violated.