Court Opinion

ID: 9792601
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:31:40.72472+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:43.861545
License: Public Domain

Dore, J.
(dissenting)—The trial court ruled that the increased 1980 business and occupation tax (B & 0 tax) against Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Company (PNB) and Washington Natural Gas Company (WNG) had been constitutionally assessed. The majority now reverses the trial court's decision, holding that provisions of the 1980 tax ordinance were ambiguous and were retroactively applied to 1979 revenues. The majority holds that such B & 0 taxes can be applied only to 1980 revenues, and that the City of Puyallup is prohibited from taxing any company revenues for the 1979 calendar year.
I believe the subject ordinance is neither ambiguous nor retroactive, and that it is error to give PNB and WNG an unauthorized windfall by prohibiting the taxing of 1979 revenues. For the reasons stated below, I would affirm the trial court.
I
The Language of the Ordinance Is Not Ambiguous
Under sections 5.08.030 and 5.08.050 of the Puyallup Municipal Code, the collection dates for taxes measured by revenues generated during 1980 and subsequent years were accelerated. The revenue periods were broken into 2-month (instead of the previous 6-month) segments. The taxes measured by revenues generated during each segment or period became due at the end of the month immediately following the revenue period. As a result of the acceleration of the collection schedule under the amendments to sections 5.08.030 and 5.08.050 of the Puyallup Municipal Code, the measure of the tax imposed on the privilege of engaging in the utility business in the city in 1980 includes revenues from both 1979 and the first 10 months of 1980.
*454Chapter 5.08 of the Puyallup Municipal Code is a result of the exercise of that municipality's legislative power. It is, therefore, presumed valid. The burden is on PNB and WNG to rebut this presumption and to show the legislative action taken was invalid. O'Connell v. Conte, 76 Wn.2d 280, 283, 456 P.2d 317 (1969); Henry v. Oakville, 30 Wn. App. 240, 247, 633 P.2d 892 (1981).
The same rules of statutory construction apply to the interpretation of municipal ordinances as apply to the interpretation of state statutes. See Seattle v. Green, 51 Wn.2d 871, 874, 322 P.2d 842 (1958). The primary objective of statutory construction is to determine the intent of the legislative body. "The guiding rule and our major goal in an inquiry of this sort is to seek out, ascertain and give effect to the [legislative] intentions ..." Krystad v. Lau, 65 Wn.2d 827, 844, 400 P.2d 72 (1965). See also Amburn v. Daly, 81 Wn.2d 241, 245, 501 P.2d 178 (1972); State v. Douty, 20 Wn. App. 608, 614, 581 P.2d 1074 (1978).
To determine the- legislative intent, recourse should first be had to the language of the legislation itself. The following canons of construction, among others, are applicable:
(2) the words of the statute must be understood in their usual and ordinary sense in the absence of statutory definition; (3) they must be read in context; (4) they must be construed to make the statute purposeful and meaningful; (5) they must be construed to give effect to all the language used; (6) they must be construed to give effect to each word if possible; (7) they must be construed so that each part is given effect with every other part or section; and (8) the words should not be read in isolation.
(Citations omitted.) In re Kent, 1 Wn. App. 737, 739-40, 463 P.2d 661 (1969).
PNB and WNG are in agreement with the City that subsections 5.08.030 and 5.08.050 create an annual tax at 8 percent of revenue from and after January 1, 1980, for the privilege of doing business in the city in a given year. PNB and WNG concede that this portion of the tax code is clear, *455and that it first establishes the 8 percent tax in 1980.
The difficulties as perceived by WNG and PNB arise from section 5.08.050, which accelerated collection of the tax.
5.08.050 Due Date. The tax imposed by Section 5.08.030 which will become due and payable on January 1, 1980 for the six month period January through June, 1979 shall be payable on the said 1st day of January, 1980 at the rate of eight (8) per cent. The tax imposed by Section 5.08.030 for the six month period of July 1 through December 31, 1979 shall become due and payable on March 31, 1980 at the rate of eight (8) per cent. The tax imposed by Section 5.08.030 for the year 1980 and for subsequent years shall be due and payable bi-monthly, as follows: ... As used in this chapter, "due date" of a tax and the date a tax becomes "due" shall be the date on which the tax becomes due and payable as specified above. On or before the due date, the taxpayer shall file with the City Clerk a written return upon such form and setting forth such information as the clerk shall reasonably require, together with the payment of the amount of the tax due.
(Italics mine.) Clerk's Papers, at 110.
Section 5.08.030 establishes a B & O tax for the years 1980 and onward. Section 5.08.050 specifically refers to and incorporates section 5.08.030, then establishes the due dates for the B & O tax in 1980 and subsequent years. For the taxable year 1980, the revenues from 1979 are used to measure the tax, as in previous years. In addition, revenues generated in 1980, which under the old collection scheme would be used to measure the tax in 1981, also become part of the revenue base for measuring the tax due in 1980. In succeeding years, the B & O tax will be measured by 10 months' revenue during the taxable year, together with the last 2 months' revenue of the preceding year. The inevitable effect of adopting the new due dates is to accelerate or "bunch" collection during the first year under the new system.
*456II
The Transitional Provisions of the Utility Tax Code Do Not Operate Retroactively
The majority reads section 5.08.050 to refer to the B & 0 tax for 1979. The majority then holds that the language of the code is not sufficient to impose such a tax and that, in any event, such a tax would be impermissible as retroactive. It concludes, therefore, that the offending provision of this section must be stricken or ignored. When read together, however, sections 5.08.030 and 5.08.050 are not inconsistent with regard to 1979. The former section imposes an 8 percent tax and the latter establishes the collection dates for that tax measured by all of the utilities' 1979 revenues and 10 months of their 1980 revenues. No retroactive tax is created.
The mere fact that the tax relates, in part, to the year 1979 does not make it retroactive.
A statute is not retroactive merely because it relates to prior facts or transactions where it does not change their legal effect. It is not retroactive because some of the requisites for its actions are drawn from a time antecedent to its passage or because it fixes the status of a person for the purposes of its operation.
State v. Scheffel, 82 Wn.2d 872, 879, 514 P.2d 1052 (1973). See also Bates v. McLeod, 11 Wn.2d 648, 654, 120 P.2d 472 (1941); Lewis v. Medina, 13 Wn. App. 501, 505, 535 P.2d 150 (1975). The tax is not retroactive.
III
The Ordinance Does Not Result in Double Taxation
The majority in its opinion at pages 451-52 sets forth PNB's table illustrating how PNB paid its Puyallup utility taxes, measured on gross revenues, from 1958 through 1979:
Measured by Revenues for the Year Tax Year Tax Paid
1957 1958 $6,542.32
1958 1959 6,695.05
*4571960 7,056.38 1959
1961 7,524.47 1960
1962 9,171.62 1961
1963 10,657.98 1962
1964 11,376.39 1963
1965 11,912.96 1964
1966 12,641.48 1965
1967 13,463.33 1966
1968 14,310.81 1967
1969 20,597.17 1968
1970 21,816.01 1969
1971 24,311.07 1970
1972 25,051.50 1971
1973 28,012.35 1972
1974 47,079.40 1973
1975 50,290.67 1974
1976 53,330.04 1975
1977 57,337.76 1976
1978 61,250.28 1977
1979 69,909.90 1978
PNB and WNG argue that if the code were read to impose another 1979 tax, the following payments would be added to the columns in the above table:
1979 $98,610.36 1979
1980 114,373.00 (est.) 1980 (bimonthly revenues)
The appellants contend this would result in a double tax for the year 1979, which would be retroactively applied. In agreeing with this reasoning, the majority has incorrectly analyzed the above table.
Appellants' double listing of the year 1979 is inaccurate. Under the code, an accurate table would read:
$98,610.36 1980 Tax on 1979 revenues
*4581980 114,373.00 (est.) Tax on 1980 (bimonthly revenues for 10 months)
Consequently, the doubling of tax dollars in 1980 is a result of actually collecting the taxes on 1979 revenues and 10 months of 1980 revenues in the same year (1980).
All of the taxes paid by PNB in 1979 were based entirely on 1978 revenues. PNB paid no taxes on 1979 revenues in 1979 for they didn't become due until January 1, 1980. In addition, the B & O tax on 10 months of PNB's 1980 revenues became due in 1980 rather than on January 1, 1981. This is not double taxation.
IV
The Majority's Construction of the Code Results in No B & O Taxation in 1979
The majority holding is a windfall for PNB and WNG for it prohibits any taxation of these companies on their 1979 revenues. This is an unreasonable and illogical consequence. See Krystad v. Lau, supra; Scannell v. Seattle, 29 Wn. App. 175, 627 P.2d 1000 (1981); Williams v. Pierce Cy., 13 Wn. App. 755, 537 P.2d 856 (1975).
The "bunching" of revenues in 1980 as the measure of tax was an expected and intended consequence of accelerating the collection schedule. There was never an intent to forego a tax measured by the full year's revenues of 1979. The Washington State Legislature for many years has increased revenues by shortening collection periods.1 This *459is all the City of Puyallup was endeavoring to do with its ordinance. Previously, the tax period for the application of interest in the due period was 6 months behind. The amendment, in effect, merely provides that the collection period is shortened from 6 months to 2 months.
Conclusion
The indicia of intent found in the legislation passed by the Puyallup City Council, analyzed in the context of legislative construction, leaves but one conclusion: The City imposed on PNB and WNG an 8 percent tax for the privilege of engaging in the utility business in the city of Puyallup in 1980 measured by their 1979 revenues and the first 10 months of their 1980 revenues. There will be no tax applied twice on the same revenues. 1979 revenues will be taxed only once and 1980 revenues will be taxed only once. The majority, at pages 451-52, is incorrect in concluding:
No taxes will be missed by failing to apply an 8 percent tax to 1979 and 1980 revenues . . . The additional tax revenues arising from a retroactive application of the 8 percent B & O tax would clearly result in a one-time windfall for respondent.
There is no retroactivity in the Puyallup ordinance. There is nothing ambiguous or inconsistent in the two sections. The majority, in its failure to harmonize the two sections, gives a windfall to the two corporations for the 1979 calendar year. As a result, they will not pay any B & O tax on 1979 revenues. It is true the City of Puyallup will receive approximately the same amount of tax dollars during 1980 but it will be on 1980 revenues only and they will never, at any time, be able to collect B & O taxes on 1979 revenues.
The waiver of B & O taxes on 1979 revenues is unjustified and incorrect. I would affirm the trial court, both in the dollar amount of B & O taxes assessed against PNB and WNG under protest and penalties.

 This pending interpretation of the Puyallup ordinance is analogous to the lagged payroll system case which was recently argued before the Washington State Supreme Court. See Administrative Order 54, approved and adopted by the Washington State Office of Financial Management on August 30, 1982, State Register 82.18.049 (1982). The mechanics of that order provide that the pay for state employees will be deferred from the last day of the month to the 10th day of the following month, which gives the State a gain of $4 million additional interest. The same principle is involved in this case where the City of Puyallup, instead of deferring collection of the B & O tax 6 months after the taxable year, reduces the 6-month lag to 3 months for the last 6 months of 1979 revenues, and from 6 months to 2 months for 1980 revenues. This, in effect, doubles the revenues of the *459B & O taxes in 1980, but there is no retroactivity involved because each is assessed against revenues of a time period that is already past.