Court Opinion

ID: 9659569
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 21:49:34.10204+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:09.451710
License: Public Domain

Donald L. Corbin, Justice, dissenting. I dissent. The majority’s decision is based on a long-standing precedent that entitlement to a tax exemption has to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. It gives no consideration to the legislative intent declared by the Hospital Revenue Bond Act, Ark. Code Ann. § 14-265-102, the enabling act in this case. The burden here is too onerous. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is a criminal standard and should not be applicable in a civil proceeding because it violates due process guaranteed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article 2 of our Arkansas Constitution. It is no small wonder that there have been several efforts to seek a new constitution over the past twenty or so years. I suspect that it is the very strictness and narrow-mindedness of this court’s interpretations of our 1874 Constitution that has led to the dissatisfaction with that Constitution. I am forced to the inescapable conclusion that, historically, it is rare to find a tax that this court does not like. The record in this case outlines the critical atmosphere of modern rural Arkansas as it relates to the delivery of health care to our rural citizens. Hospitals have closed their doors throughout rural Arkansas. Crittenden County recognized the critical shortage of doctors in rural Arkansas and made a noble effort to protect the health and welfare of its citizens by establishing a plan to attract physicians to its rural location. Today we condemn these efforts, placing the future health and welfare of Crittenden County residents at risk. Thornton, J., joins in this dissent.