Opinion ID: 2195444
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: confiscatory

Text: In Hoyt Bros. v. City of Lincoln, 130 Neb. 79, 263 N.W. 898 (1936), the undisputed evidence was that Lincoln was charging the plaintiff's peddlers a monthly license fee of $15 and a monthly occupation tax of $40, for a total of $55 per month. The evidence further showed that each peddler's average earnings was only $2 per day. This court held that the ordinances approving these charges, as applicable to the plaintiff, were confiscatory and amounted to a prohibition to transact business in Lincoln. This court noted that if the license fee and occupation tax were enforced, [p]rofit, the incentive to private enterprise, will be gone. Hoyt Bros. v. City of Lincoln, 130 Neb. at 81, 263 N.W. at 899. Another instructive case is P.F. Petersen Baking Co. v. City of Fremont, 119 Neb. 212, 228 N.W. 256 (1929). In Petersen Baking Co., we held that where the net profit of a bakery was $420 per year, and the tax imposed by Fremont was $300, the incentive to sell and deliver bread in Fremont would be destroyed, amounting to an illegal prohibition of the right to do so. Since it is the appellants' contention that the occupation tax is confiscatory, it is the appellants' burden to prove this allegation. It is a fundamental principle that the burden of proof in any cause rests upon the party who, as determined by the pleadings or the nature of the case, asserts the affirmative of an issue. Miller v. Westwood, 238 Neb. 896, 472 N.W.2d 903 (1991). The burden of proof means the duty resting on one party or the other to establish by a preponderance of the evidence an issue essential to recovery. Id.; Hill v. City of Lincoln, 249 Neb. 88, 541 N.W.2d 655 (1996). The appellants have failed to put forth any evidence establishing that they are unable to carry on their business as a result of the occupation tax. Because they have failed to meet their burden of proof, we determine that the appellants' final claim is without merit.