Court Opinion

ID: 9688564
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 17:56:40.865226+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:40.306973
License: Public Domain

Beer, J.,
(dissenting). The following concise statement of proceedings and facts has been accepted by all parties to this appeal:
“1. The Board of Street Railway Commissioners (herein called the plaintiff) is an unincorporated board of the city of Detroit, a Michigan municipal corporation and under the provisions of the Charter of the city of Detroit (Chapter XIII, title IV) has been and is charged with the duty of acquiring, owning and operating a system of transportation lines, as an agency of and for and on behalf of and in the name of the said city of Detroit, for conveying passengers within and without the limits of the city of Detroit.
“2. Under the provisions of the ‘general property laws’ (CL 1948 § 211.1 et seq. [Stat Ann 1960 Rev § 7.1 et seq.]) the real and personal properties of a municipal corporation are exempt from tax assessment, levy and collection.
“3. Under the provisions of the ‘home rule act’ (CL 1948, § 117.4f [Stat Ann 1949 Rev § 5.2079]) the real and personal properties of a municipally owned transportation system have been subject to an annual assessment and payment of an annual indebtedness in the form of a ‘tax’, notwithstanding the exemption provisions of the ‘general property tax laws’, supra.
“4. For years prior to August 2, 1965, plaintiff paid such annual ‘tax’ or indebtedness to the county of Wayne, however on such date, immediate effect Act No 116 of the Public Acts of 1965, whereby the words, ‘and county’ were deleted from the ‘home rule *626act’, supra, was enacted into law, the effect of which eliminated the provisions of the ‘home rule act’ under which plaintiff had been required to pay the annual ‘tax’ or indebtedness to the county of Wayne, as aforesaid.
“5. Prior to August 2, 1965, to wit: on January 15, 1965 and February 11, 1965, plaintiff paid such annual ‘tax’ or indebtedness to the county of Wayne for the fiscal period commencing on December 1, 1964 to November 30, 1965, in the sum of $150,579.84.
“6. After August 2, 1965, to wit: on January 17, 1966 and February 11, 1966, plaintiff paid such annual ‘tax’ or indebtedness to the county of Wayne for the fiscal period commencing December 1, 1965 to November 30, 1966 in the sum of $146,120.92.
“7. Said ‘taxes’ or indebtedness so paid prior to August 2, 1965 was [sic] not paid under protest and that paid after such date was paid under protest.
“8. On February 15, 1966, plaintiff instituted this action in the circuit court for the county of Wayne for the recovery of the sum of $49,516.57, plus interest, representing the pro-rata sum of the said ‘taxes’ or indebtedness for the period from August 2, 1965 to November 30, 1965 and for the recovery of $146,120.92, plus interest, for the period from December 1, 1965 to November 30, 1966, which it had paid to the defendants.
“9. On March 7,1966, after service of copies of the complaint and summons had been had upon defendants, they filed a motion of an accelerated judgment of no cause for action on the grounds that the plaintiff had failed to state a cause of action as a matter of law.
“10. On March 9, 1966, plaintiff filed an answer to the defendant’s Motion for accelerated judgment, in which plaintiff denied the allegations of such motion.
“11. Arguments of counsel for the respective parties were submitted on briefs, after which the court, *627on January 3,1967, rendered an opinion in which, the court concluded that plaintiff is entitled to recovery of the indebtedness aforesaid, paid the defendants for the periods accruing after August 2, 1965, but not awarding plaintiff interest thereon.
“12. On January 20, 1967, additional argument was had before the court regarding the issue of whether plaintiff was entitled to interest upon the judgment to be entered in its favor and thereafter such issue was submitted in form of briefs by the respective parties.
“13. On March 2, 1967, judgment was entered in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendants in the sum of $195,637.49, without interest, costs ox-attorney fees.
“14. On March 16, 1967, defendants filed claim of appeal together with notice thereof, removing the cause to the Court of Appeals.
“15. On March 29, 1967, plaintiff filed claim of cross-appeal, together with notice thereof.
“16. Plaintiff and defendants have filed proofs of service of the foregoing and have paid the required entry and appeal fees.
“17. A copy of plaintiff’s complaint and first amended complaint, together with all exhibits pertaining to this cause are annexed hereto.”
The county of Wayne and the county treasurer, Louis H. Punk, had the following exception to this concise statement:
“With the exception to the use of the term ‘indebtedness’ instead of ‘taxes’ and to the statement that plaintiff paid such annual tax or ‘indebtedness’ to the county of Wayne for ‘fiscal’ periods rather than ‘calendar tax years’, defendants accept the concise statement of proceedings as certified to by Honorable John B. Swainson, Circuit Judge.”
The attorney general of the State of Michigan, intervenor, had an exception to this concise statement reading as follows:
*628"■"“The ‘concise statement of proceedings and facts,’ certified by the Honorable John B. Swainson, Circuit .Judge, and filed in this cause, accurately portrays the background of the pending controversy and except for certain irrelevant legal conclusions contained therein, it is accepted.”
Neither of the exceptions is controlling of this opinion. The learned trial judge below rendered his ruling January 3, 1967 granting judgment to the plaintiff, and his opinion reads as follows:
“Defendant, county of Wayne, and its treasurer, move the court to dismiss plaintiff’s complaint by filing a motion for accelerated judgment claiming th&t the 1965 assessment and levy of county tax was validly made pursuant to lawful authority and that Public Act 116 of 1965, effective on August 2, 1965, does not have any bearing on the 1965 county taxes, based on the taxable status of said property on tax day, December 31, 1964, but will be prospectively effective for the 1966 tax year.
“Plaintiff claims that its property has been and is .exempted from taxation by virtue of the provisions of the said ‘tax laws’ and that there never has been any tax assessment nor liability for payment of taxes on its property arising out of any provisions of either the ‘tax laws’, or directly under any other statute dealing with the assessment and collection of taxes on real and personal property.
“The 1965 Wayne county tax upon the real and personal property of the plaintiff was paid by the plaintiff in pursuance of the provisions of the ‘home rule act’ and not by virtue of any provisions included in the ‘tax laws’ from which plaintiff is and has been exempt. -
“On August 2, 1965, the Michigan State Legislature, by passage of a law given immediate effect, (Public Act 116) amended the ‘home rule act’ so as to delete the reference to county taxes as those re*629quired to be paid by a municipally owned transportation utility. The result of the enactment of a statute given ‘immediate effect’ has been to cause plaintiff to forthwith revert to its normal municipally owned n on-taxable status. This is the status the plaintiff would have had had it not been for the inclusion of the words ‘and county’ in the so-called ‘home 'rule act’. The amendment to the ‘home rule act’ with which we are concerned in this case did not create an exemption in favor of the plaintiff, as defendant argues, but instead it eliminated an exception to an exempt status and the effect thereof was immediate and prospective and not retroactive.
“Plaintiff, not being subject to any obligation for payment of county taxes under the general property tax laws, or any other law, is relieved from the payment thereof commencing with the enactment of Public Act 116 of 1965, and is entitled to a refund of any taxes paid to the county covering any period after August 2,1965.
“Upon presentation, a judgment for the plaintiff will be entered in the amount of $196,637.49 without interest, and without costs, there being a public question involved.”
I would affirm in substance were it not for my holding upon the constitutional issue invoked by the plaintiff in its brief. I note an error in the trial court’s opinion and state as a matter of law that PA 1965, No 116 became effective on July 2, 1965. A constitutional issue, of course, may be asserted at any time during the course of a proceeding.
For more than 100 years our constitutions have provided:
“No law shall embrace more than one object which shall be expressed in its title.” Const 1850, art 4, § 20; Const 1908, art 5, § 21; Const 1963, art 4, § 24.
Plaintiff here renews its contention that the portion of CL 1948, § 117.4f, supra, which imposed upon *630plaintiff the obligation to pay an annual sum of money to the county, denominated by statute a “tax”, violates the above constitutional provision. I agree and would so hold.
The constitutional provision has often been interpreted and applied by our Supreme Court. Prom these decisions certain principles applicable to our facts can be readily discerned. Liberal construction with a view to saving legislation rather than striking it down is the directive. Benson v. State Hospital Commission (1946), 316 Mich 66; Commerce-Guardian Trust & Savings Bank v. State of Michigan (1924), 228 Mich 316, cert. den. (1925), 268 US 700 (45 S Ct 636, 69 L Ed 1164), and cases there cited. The test applied in determining whether or not the body of the act contains constitutionally impermissible provisions is a most generous one as required by the spirit of liberal construction. The title of the act is construed broadly and all provisions in the body of the act “germane, auxiliary, or incidental to” the general purpose as expressed in the title pass constitutional muster. Loomis v. Rogers (1917), 197 Mich 265, 271. See, also, Continental Motors Corporation v. Township of Muskegon (1965), 376 Mich 170.
The title to the home rule act,1 now reads:2 “An act to provide for the incorporation of cities and for revising and amending their charters” CL 1948, § 117.4f, then, must be germane, auxiliary or incidental to the title of an act whose general purpose was to increase “local governmental control”. School District of City of Pontiac v. City of Pontiac (1933), 262 Mich 338, 349.
*631CL 1948, § 117.4f before PA 1965, No 116, authorized the county to tax plaintiff and is the only authority brought to our attention by which the county could tax plaintiff. Is a statute authorizing the county to impose a tax upon a public transportation system germane, auxiliary or incidental to incorporating cities and revising and amending their charters? In my understanding of those terms I would hold that portion of CL 1948, § 117.4f, here involved to be unconstitutional as embracing an object not expressed in the title. I do not say the legislature could not enact such a statute, only that it constitutionally does not belong in the home rule act.
In summary, the governmental right to tax never should be exercised under an inappropriate statute nor tax legislation be buried in a statute not related to taxation.
I would vacate the judgment of the lower court and remand the cause to determine again the extent of plaintiff’s recovery now that plaintiff, by virtue of my opinion, is in the position of one who has paid an unconstitutional tax.
No costs, a public question being involved.

 CL 1948, § 117.1 ei seq. as amended (Stat Ann 1949 Eev and 1969 Cum Supp § 5.2071 et seq.).

 Earlier titles as applied to these facts are not materially different. See PA 1909, No 279; PA 1911, No 203.