Court Opinion

ID: 9721934
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 09:12:58.010837+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:05:26.560043
License: Public Domain

GARTZKE, P.J.
(dissenting). I agree that the sisters are retailers whose sales are subject to taxation under *559sec. 77.52(1), Stats. I agree that the sisters are not restaurateurs but are engaged in the exercise of their religion when they sell meals to business groups who use their facilities. Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 U.S. 105 (1943), convinces me, however, that the tax is on the sisters’ exercise of their religion and is therefore unconstitutional.
Murdock, 319 U.S. at 113, held that a state may not impose a charge or tax for the enjoyment of a right granted by the federal constitution. See also Follett v. McCormick, 321 U.S. 573, 577-78 (1944) (license tax on expression of faith by priest or preacher would be obnoxious to the constitution).
Section 77.52(1), Stats., imposes a tax on retailers for the privilege of selling. It is therefore a tax imposed upon the privilege of selling. Ramrod, Inc. v. Department of Revenue, 64 Wis.2d 499, 502-03, 219 N.W.2d 604, 606 (1974). The word “privilege,” as used in the statutes taxing privileges, is synonymous with “right.” State ex rel. Froedtert G. & M. Co. v. Tax. Comm., 221 Wis. 225, 230-31, 265 N.W. 672, 674 (1936). Thus, sec. 77.52(1) places a tax on the right to sell meals.
The free exercise of religion is a constitutional right. Because the sisters exercise their religion when they sell meals, the tax on those sales is a tax on their exercise of a constitutional right. The tax is prohibited by Murdock, 319 U.S. at 113. See also State v. Van Daalan, 69 S.D. 466, 11 N.W.2d 523 (1943) (constitution as interpreted by Murdock prohibits imposition of sales tax on sale of religious tracts).
The lead opinion would avoid this conclusion because the sales tax may be collected from the consumer. Sec. 77.52(3), Stats. The pass-through provision is irrelevant to the issues before us. Section 77.52(1) expressly imposes liability for the tax on the sisters as retailers. The tax in law and fact is and must be paid by the sisters. *560The sisters must pay the tax even if it is not collected from their customers. Who would doubt that a tax on the sisters for admissions charged to persons attending religious services conducted by the sisters would be a tax on their exercise of their religion even if the tax could be passed on to those attending? The hypothetical is based on unlikely facts, but the meals furnished by the sisters appear to be as much an exercise of their religion as would the holding of religious services.
Furthermore, the sisters may collect the sales tax from future customers, but the state has demanded records of sales made as early as September 1, 1969. The sisters may not be able to pass their accrued tax liability to past customers. There is then no way to escape the conclusion that enforcement of the tax as to past sales by the sisters is a tax upon an exercise of their religion.
I conclude that, under the circumstances presented, the sales tax is an unconstitutional tax on the right to free exercise of religion.