Court Opinion

ID: 9629215
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:39:18.722048+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:13:03.351616
License: Public Domain

CROCKETT, Chief Justice
(concurring in part, dissenting in part):
I concur in that part of the decision which affirms the district court’s refusal to grant plaintiff’s petition to disconnect Lagoon from Farmington City.
But I am unable to agree with the adjudication that the two percent tax upon revenues received by places of amusement within the city is void as being unconstitutional.
The main opinion is commendably clear in its exposition of the issue involved and the principles upon which it should be determined. This is done commencing with reference to Article XIII, Section 5 of our state constitution and the statutory implementation thereof in Sections 10-8-80, U.C. A.1953, which vests municipal corporations with power to assess taxes for municipal purposes and 10-8-39, which empowers *1248them to “license, tax and regulate . shows and amusements.”
I am in hearty agreement with the foundational principles stated: acknowledging that it is essential to the proper functioning of city government that elected officials should be allowed a considerable latitude of judgment in carrying out their responsibilities. Consequently, legislative actions of the city are entitled to a presumption of validity and constitutionality and courts should exercise restraint by not intruding or interfering with a city’s enactments unless they are clearly outside the authority granted, or in conflict with constitutional provisions or established law.
It is further pleasing to note and agree with the main opinion’s sound observations that the foregoing principles apply specifically in the area of municipal taxation;1 and that so long as a tax is imposed upon all individuals or businesses which are within a legitimate and similar classification, the fact that only one presently falls within that class does not render the tax invalid as discriminatory.2
The disconcerting thing about the main opinion is that it does such an admirable job of setting forth the principles that should govern the situation, and then departs from them in the conclusion it reaches. Its rationalization as to the burdens that are created by imposing the 2 percent tax upon amusements within the city, (which presently happens to fall only on Lagoon) and “adds to an already stiff tax burden” upon a business which operates at a “low margin of profit” may well raise questions as to the good judgment and practicality of Farming-ton City imposing that tax. But, in my opinion, that does not transgress the powers granted to the city, nor does it rise to any such level that it can properly be characterized as so oppressive and burdensome that the court can declare it to be confiscatory and therefore invalid.
I think there is no basis upon which to justify the court’s intrusion into the prerogatives of the governing body by declaring the tax void as being in conflict with any constitutional prohibition or limitation. Accordingly, I would reverse that portion of the district court’s judgment.

. See footnotes 3 and 11, main opinion.

. See footnotes 8 and 9, main opinion.