Court Opinion

ID: 9811196
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 22:12:44.813399+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:07:32.031219
License: Public Domain

Stacy, C. J.,
dissenting: Two vending machines stand side by side. One sells a package of chewing gum or other merchandise for five cents and is taxed $1.00. The other sells a bottle of Coca-Cola or other soft drink for five eents and is taxed $30.00. What is the relevantly rational basis of distinction between the two vending machines which justifies a differentiation in classification? Leonard v. Maxwell, 216 N. C., 89, 3 S. E. (2d), 316. The events upon which the taxes are laid, to wit, the method and amount of each sale, are the same in both instances. Change either, and, regardless of the character of the article sold, the tax would not apply.
It will be noted that the subjects of the levies are not the different businesses, hut the manner and value of each transaction. The tax in each case is on a designated use of the vending machine and nothing else. In the one it is thirty times greater than in the other. Thus the same thing is taxed at different rates and results in discrimination. It is only when the article of merchandise or the soft drink is sold through the vending machine and at the price of five cents that the tax is applicable.
The classification seems arbitrary. Kenny Co. v. Brevard, ante, 269, 7 S. E. (2d), 542.
WiNBORNE, J., joins in this opinion.