Opinion ID: 1475158
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The question of constitutionality.

Text: Little need be said with respect to the constitutional validity of the act, which was upheld by the Supreme Court in Broad River Power Co. v. Query, 288 U.S. 178, 53 S.Ct. 326, 77 L.Ed. 685, against attack under the Fourteenth Amendment. While the opinion of the Supreme Court deals with only two of the questions raised under the Fourteenth Amendment, the opinions of the lower court deal with a number of other questions raised under that amendment, and we refer to those opinions for a fuller expression of our views as to the interpretation and constitutionality of the act. See South Carolina Power Co. v. South Carolina Tax Comm. (D.C.) 52 F.(2d) 515; Id. (D.C.) 60 F.(2d) 528. The only difference in the constitutional argument made here and those presented in that case, is that it is now argued that the act as we have construed it discriminates against domestic power companies in that the sales tax imposed upon power brought into the state and sold, power sold by industrial plants, and power sold by municipalities, is measured by power actually delivered so that line or system loss is not taxed. The answer to this is that only the sales tax is imposed in the cases with which comparison is made; and it is manifestly no objection to a production tax that a sales tax is levied upon a different basis. The propriety of treating power companies, for purposes of the production tax, as in a class different from industrial plants which develop power for their own use and that of their employees and from municipalities, was clearly pointed out in the Broad River Power Company Case, supra. There was no error, and the judgment sustaining the demurrers and dismissing the actions will be affirmed. Affirmed.