Court Opinion

ID: 9845174
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:16:14.040777+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:53.711363
License: Public Domain

CALABRIA, Judge,
dissenting.
Because I believe that Session Law 2001-424 is a retrospective tax in violation of Article I, Section 16 of the North Carolina Constitution, I respectfully dissent.
*489Article I, Section 16 provides that, “[n]o law taxing retrospectively sales, purchases, or other acts previously done shall be enacted.” The majority attempts to dismiss plaintiffs’ appeal by holding that “an increase in an income tax rate is [not] properly included within the term ‘act.’ ” While I agree that “constitutional provisions should be construed in consonance with the objects and purposes in contemplation at the time of their adoption,” Perry v. Stancil, 237 N.C. 442, 444, 75 S.E.2d 512, 514 (1953) (citations omitted), I do not concur with the interpretation of Article I, Section 16 reached by the majority in the instant case.
While it is axiomatic that “[t]he Legislature has an unlimited right to tax all persons domiciled within the State, and all property within the State,” such right only exists to the extent it “has not been limited either by express words of the State Constitution or by plain implications.” Pullen v. Commissioners, 66 N.C. 361, 362 (1872). Prior to the adoption of Article I, Section 16, our Supreme Court, in State v. Bell, 61 N.C. 76 (1867), considered to what extent the North Carolina Constitution limited the legislature’s enactment of not only retrospective tax laws but also any other law retrospective in nature. In Bell, our Supreme Court stated that with regard to retrospective statutes not applying to crimes and penalties, “[t]he omission of any such prohibition in the Constitution of the United States, and also of the State [of North Carolina], is a strong argument to show that retrospective laws, merely as such, were not intended to be forbidden.” Id., 61 N.C. at 83. The Court went on to hold that,
[w]ith th[e] large and essential power of taxation unrestrained, except where it may come in conflict with the Constitution of the United States, with a well established right to pass a retrospective law which is not in its nature criminal, we can see nothing to prevent the people from taxing themselves, either through a convention or a legislature, in respect to property owned or a business followed anterior to the passage of the ordinance or the statute.
Id., 61 N.C. at 86.
It is certainly true, 'as the majority points out, that the controversy decided in Bell involved a criminal conviction for the defendant’s failure to pay a retrospective tax on purchases. However, the ramifications of the Bell decision, which prompted the enactment of Article I, Section 16, were clearly broader than enabling the legislature to enact retrospective laws taxing purchases. Indeed, Bell expressly gave the legislature the freedom to tax the citizens of North Carolina retro*490spectively without fear of constitutional infirmity. By reviewing the legislative history that preceded the submission of Article I, Section 16 to the delegation, it is clear that the Bill of Rights Committee (“the Committee”) considered the broad sweep of our Supreme Court’s ruling. While the initial proposed amendments contained the phrase “nor ought any law to be made taxing sales or purchases or transactions of any sort made before the passage of such law,” the Committee subsequently replaced “transactions of any sort” with the phrase “acts previously done.” This revision recognizes an intent on the part of the Committee to expand the protections of Article I, Section 16 beyond taxes on purchases, sales, and transactions, and to prevent retrospective taxes by our legislature on all acts. This proposition is further bolstered by the placement of this provision in our State Constitution, not within Article V, containing clauses dealing with finance, but within Article I, denominated as the “Declaration of Rights.” It is clear that this provision was not something to be construed narrowly but to be read in context as a part of the fundamental rights of all citizens to be free from retrospective taxation.
In any event, the cases interpreting the language of this provision support the conclusion that the term “other acts” should be read expansively and not limited in the manner proposed by the majority. In Unemployment Compensation Com. v. Trust Co., 215 N.C. 491, 2 S.E.2d 592 (1939), our Supreme Court addressed the meaning of “other acts” as contained in Article I, Section 16. The tax considered by the Court in Unemployment Compensation Com. was essentially a tax “upon the maintenance of the status of an employer” measured by the number of persons the taxpayer employed. Id. In the State’s brief to the Court, the Attorney General argued for the same statutory construction adopted by the majority in this case, urging that the canon of statutory construction, ejusdem generis, be adopted to limit the meaning of the term “other acts” to acts similar to sales or purchases. The Court rejected such a construction and stated that: “the requirement that employers make contributions ‘in respect to employment’ is in effect a tax upon an act or acts. If it be considered a tax upon the maintenance of the status of an employer, even then it is essentially a tax upon an act. To maintain the status of an employer one must employ and pay wages.” Id., 215 N.C. at 501, 2 S.E.2d at 599. In Unemployment Compensation Com. our Supreme Court had the opportunity to limit the phrase “other acts” and declined to do so. As such, it seems illogical to conclude that a tax based on the number of persons a taxpayer employs is any closer to a “purchase” or “sale” than is the act of earning income.
*491Although the majority tries to distinguish the Supreme Court’s holding in Unemployment Compensation Com. from the facts of the instant case, its reasoning is unavailing. The majority first points out that, unlike Unemployment Compensation Com., this case does not involve an entirely new tax. While this may be true, this distinction is not material to the issue in the case at bar. The issue of whether the tax is new or merely an increase in a tax rate is not in any way determinative of whether the term “other acts” encompasses a tax on income. There is no law cited by the majority that stands for the proposition, and it seems illogical to conclude that this provision would be inapplicable to a retrospective raise in the sales tax rate, requiring citizens to pay additional taxes on purchases previously made.
The majority also tries unsuccessfully to distinguish the instant case by arguing that unlike the tax at issue in Unemployment Compensation Com., the tax of Session Law 2001-424 “began to apply only in the year in which the statute was enacted.” However, this premise, if valid, is not determinative as to the issue of whether a tax on income can be considered a tax on an “act” under the meaning of Article I, Section 16. If taken as true, this conclusion only supports the proposition that the income tax law in the instant case is not “retrospective” within the meaning of Article I, Section 16. It does not serve to distinguish the holding of Unemployment Compensation Com. that the term “other acts” should be broadly defined.
Regardless of the majority’s belief that the tax in the instant case is not retrospective in nature, by holding that Article I, Section 16 does not protect against any retrospective tax on income, the majority has opened the door for the legislature to raise the tax rate for years in which assessments and payments have clearly been made, whenever they feel a budget crisis calls for such a measure. Such a broad holding will subject the citizens of this State to arbitrary and unfair taxation that is inapposite with our nation’s long history of disfavoring the retrospective application of laws and will allow our legislature unlimited authority to tax in a manner that is inconsistent with both the letter and spirit of our Constitution.
Because I believe that income taxes may be subject to the restrictions set forth in Article I, Section 16, I next address the issue of whether Session Law 2001-424 is “retrospective.” Appellants contend that under the provisions of the Individual Income Tax Act they were required to “pay” taxes throughout the year pursuant to mandatory withholding and reporting statutes. As a result, appellants *492argue the increased tax rate resulting from the enactment of Session Law 2001-424 represented a retrospective tax on acts previously done to the extent that it required additional taxes to be paid on income earned between 1 January 2001 and the enactment of Session Law 2001-424 on 26 September 2001.
Appellants first contend that the trial court erred in concluding that taxes can only be “paid” annually upon the filing of the 15 April tax return. North Carolina General Statutes § 105-134 (2003) provides that: “[t]he general purpose of [the Individual Income Tax Act] is to impose a tax for the use of the State government upon [] taxable income collectible annually[.]” Such tax “from the time it is due and payable, [becomes] a debt from the person ... to the State of North Carolina.” N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-238 (2003). Under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-134.3 (2003), “[t]he tax imposed by [the Individual Income Tax Act] shall be assessed, collected, and paid in the taxable year following the taxable year for which the assessment is made, except as provided to the contrary in Article 4A of this Chapter.” Emphasis added. However, Article 4A of the Individual Tax Act creates certain mandatory requirements for employees and self-employed individuals whereby portions of income received must be withheld and remitted to the Secretary of State. Specifically, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-163.2 (a) requires employers to “deduct and withhold from the wages of each employee the State income taxes payable by the employee on the wages . . . allowing] for the exemptions, deductions, and credits to which the employee is entitled under Article 4[.]” Emphasis added. Employers, including those who are self-employed, are required to file returns based on these withholdings quarterly, monthly, or semiweekly as directed by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-163.6, and the failure to make such returns and withholdings can result in criminal as well as civil interest penalties.
From a reading of the relevant statutes under the Individual Income Tax Act, it is clear and appellees do not dispute, that North Carolina has adopted the “pay-as-you-go” method of taxation, whereby certain residents are required to remit a portion of their income received to the State of North Carolina on a statutorily designated basis, well in advance of the actual date on which their taxes are assessed. Furthermore, although the State contends otherwise, I agree with appellants that the required withholdings under Article 4A are “payments” toward tax liability and not merely deposits. The collection statutes under Article 4A are replete with the terms “payable” and “paid” in reference to the required advance remittances. Also, the *493North. Carolina Department of Revenue Administrative Code expressly provides that North Carolina does not use a deposit system for income taxes withheld. 17 N.C.A.C. 6C.0201. Instead, our legislature has provided that taxes are a debt when they become due. For taxpayers who are either employees or self-employed, this debt becomes due not annually, but quarterly, monthly, or semi-weekly as provided by statute. As the employee withholding is not a deposit but rather the satisfaction of a debt, it is logical to conclude that the required remittances represent the payment of an income tax obligation or debt under the Individual Income Tax Act.
Appellants next contend that if the State of North Carolina requires them to pay their taxes in advance, and such payment was made, that any action by the legislature raising the income tax rate for taxes already paid is retrospective within the meaning of Article I, Section 16. As applied to statutes, the words “retroactive” and “retrospective” may be regarded as synonymous and may broadly be defined as having reference to a state of things existing before the act in question. Black on Interpretation of Laws, 247. In other words, “the application of a statute is deemed ‘retroactive’ or ‘retrospective’ when its operative effect is to alter the legal consequences of conduct or transactions completed prior to its enactment.” Gardner v. Gardner, 300 N.C. 715, 718, 268 S.E.2d 468, 471 (1980). However, a statute is not unconstitutional simply because it is applied to facts which were in existence before its enactment. Wood v. Stevens & Co., 297 N.C. 636, 650, 256 S.E.2d 692, 701 (1979). “Instead, a statute is impermissibly retrospective only when it interferes with rights which had vested or liabilities which had accrued prior to its passage.” Id.
In the instant case, the tax created by our legislature immediately placed appellants in arrears on taxes already paid by increasing the rate of taxation on income earned prior to the enactment of Session Law 2001-424. By the nature of. our taxation system, taxes are required to be paid in advance of April 15 and are spent by our legislature upon such payment in advance of April 15. By creating the obligation for taxpayers to make these payments in advance, taxpayers governed by the collection statutes in Article 4A, are subject to a debt or liability that must be dispensed. Although it is true that the Individual Income Tax Act taxes individuals based on net income for a one year period, the adoption of “pay-as-you-go” taxation has effectively required taxpayers to pay taxes incrementally on income earned over smaller periods of time. By paying their remittance, the tax liability for that income earned should be deemed satisfied to the *494degree a taxpayer has not underpaid based on tax statutes in effect prior to that earning period. That is to say that although the General Assembly is not prevented from levying a tax payable in the future, based upon the income of periods ending after the enactment of the levy, it may not levy a tax that alters the liabilities of taxpayers that have already accrued prior to the enactment of the statute. Such a tax in my opinion is retrospective as a matter of law and repugnant to the Constitution of this State.
As I believe that Session Law 2001-424 violates Article I, Section 16 of the North Carolina Constitution, I would reverse the trial court’s order dismissing the appellants’ claim and order the trial court to grant summary judgment in favor of the appellants. Therefore, I respectfully dissent.