Court Opinion

ID: 3544573
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2016-07-05 22:56:00.330574+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:56:00.800285
License: Public Domain

The majority opinion is based upon and attempted to be supported by the fallacious premise that the exactions in question "are imposed upon the presumption that the state owns the highways within its borders, and the exactions are imposed as compensation for their use, and the revenue derived therefrom shall be expended to build, maintain and supervise such highways." I can find no support for any such presumption. I fully appreciate the problem of maintaining our highways, and the necessity of exacting a fair compensation for their use by foreign-owned trucks, but I cannot, as a matter of expediency, lend my support to the exaction of such compensation by judicial edict.
Section 3847.27, Revised Codes, provides: "In addition to all other licenses, fees and taxes imposed upon motor vehicles in this state and in consideration of the use of the highways of this state, every motor carrier holding a certificate of public convenience and necessity issued by the public service commission, shall * * * file with the public service commission a statement showing the gross operating revenue of such carrier for the preceding three months of operation, or portion thereof, and shall pay to the board a fee of one-half of one per cent of the amount of such gross operating revenue; provided, however, that the minimum annual fee which shall be paid by each class A and class B carrier for each vehicle registered and/or operated under the provisions of the motor carrier act shall be thirty dollars ($30.00) and the minimum annual fee which shall be paid by each class C carrier for each vehicle registered and/or operated under the motor carrier act shall be fifteen dollars ($15.00)."
Section 3847.28 provides: "All fees collected from motor carriers shall be, by the commission, paid into the state treasury and shall be, by the state treasurer, placed to the credit of the motor carrier fund. * * *." Disposition of this fund is directed *Page 140 
by section 3847.17, as follows: "Such funds shall be available for the purpose of defraying the expenses of administration of this act and the regulation of the businesses herein described, and shall be accumulative from year to year. All expenses of whatsoever kind or nature of the board incurred in carrying out the provisions of this act shall be audited by the state board of examiners and paid out of the `motor carrier fund.' * * *"
Since the defendant company is engaged solely in interstate commerce, three questions involving the interpretation of the quoted sections immediately present themselves, viz.:
1. Does section 3847.27 include only motor carriers holding a certificate of public convenience and necessity, or does it contemplate all motor carriers? Section 3847.23 contains the provision "that it shall not be necessary for any interstate or international motor carrier, in order to obtain a permit as herein provided, to make any showing of public convenience and necessity, except as to the transportation of passengers and/or freight between points within this state * * *." It would seem that the wording of section 3847.27 restricts the operation of that section to motor carriers to those holding certificates of public convenience and necessity. The defendant company, being engaged only in interstate commerce, is not included within such class.
2. In computing the amount of the exaction prescribed by section 3847.27 (one-half of one per cent of the amount of the gross operating revenue), what is to be the measure of the gross operating revenue of the carrier employed only in interstate commerce? Is it to be based upon the proportionate mileage travelled over Montana highways of the aggregate distance travelled by the vehicle? Or shall it be calculated upon the gross revenue of the carrier from all sources? If the provisions of this section were intended to include interstate motor carriers, it is apparent that the gross operating revenue, from whatever source, must be the yardstick of the exaction. Such an exaction would be so manifestly unfair, discriminatory *Page 141 
and unreasonable as to impel the conclusion that the legislature did not intend the inclusion of strictly interstate carriers. It is urged that the practice of the plaintiff board has been to exact only the minimum fee prescribed. But such is only a minimum, and is not an alternative exaction; and the test to be applied, of course, is what might be done under the statute, not what has been done.
3. Does the purpose for which the tax is collected and applied constitute an interference with and a burden upon interstate commerce, prohibited by the federal Constitution and statutes, as defined by the Supreme Court of the United States? The majority opinion quotes extensively from the leading case of Interstate Transit, Inc., v. Lindsey, 283 U.S. 183, 51 S. Ct. 380, 381,75 L. Ed. 953. But it would seem to me that the holding of that case refutes rather than supports the conclusion arrived at here. As quoted in the majority opinion, Justice Brandeis in his opinion said:
"While a state may not lay a tax on the privilege of engaging in interstate commerce, Sprout v. [City of] South Bend,277 U.S. 163, 48 S. Ct. 502, 72 L. Ed. 833, 62 A.L.R. 45, it may impose upon motor vehicles engaged exclusively in interstate commerce a charge, as compensation for the use of the public highways, which is a fair contribution to the cost of constructing and maintaining them and of regulating the traffic thereon. * * * As such a charge is a direct burden on interstate commerce, the tax cannot be sustained unless it appears affirmatively, in some way, that it is levied only as compensation for use of the highways or to defray the expense of regulating motor traffic. This may be indicated by the nature of the imposition, such as a mileage tax directly proportioned to the use, * * * or by the express allocation of the proceeds of the tax to highway purposes, * * * or otherwise where it is shown that the tax is so imposed, it will be sustained unless the taxpayer shows that it bears no reasonable relation to the privilege of using the highways or is discriminatory. * * *
"Being free to levy occupation taxes, states may tax the *Page 142 
privilege of doing an intrastate bus business without regard as to whether the charge imposed represents merely a fair compensation for the use of their highways. * * * But since a state may demand of one carrying on an interstate bus business only fair compensation for what it gives, such imposition, although termed a tax, cannot be tested by standards which generally determine the validity of taxes. Being valid only if compensatory, the charges must be necessarily predicated upon the use made, or to be made, of the highways of the state. * * * In the present act the amount of the tax is not dependent upon such use. It does not rise with an increase in mileage travelled, or even with the number of passengers actually carried on the highways of the state. Nor is it related to the degree of wear and tear incident to the use of motor vehicles of different sizes and weights, except in so far as this is indirectly affected by carrying capacity. The tax is proportioned solely to the earning capacity of the vehicle. Accordingly, there is here no sufficient relation between the measure employed and the extent or manner of use to justify holding that the tax was a charge made merely as compensation for the use of the highways by interstate busses."
For two reasons, then, it is apparent that the imposition in question is not, and was not intended to be, exacted as compensation for use of state highways by interstate motor carriers. First, the act specifically provides that the funds derived shall be used for defraying the expenses of the board of Railroad Commissioners in administering the Motor Carrier Act. This court will take judicial notice of the fact that the building and maintenance of state highways, and regulation of traffic thereon, is a function of the state highway department, and entirely foreign to the prescribed functions and powers of the Railroad Commission. Secondly, the amount and character of the attempted imposition bear no relation to the only purpose for which such imposition would be valid, that is, as compensation for use of the state highways. And this is so no matter which method is applied in determining the gross *Page 143 
operating revenue. As in the Lindsay case, this exaction is proportioned only to the earnings of the vehicle. I think there can be no question but that the state has power, by appropriate legislation, to require compensation for the use of its highways by vehicles engaged in interstate commerce. I further think that such legislation must emanate from the legislative arm of the state government. This court may, perhaps, point out that the state is overlooking a possible source of revenue for the maintenance of its highways, but may not enact the legislation for the purpose of its collection, under the guise of judicial interpretation.
Rehearing denied September 19, 1946.
Affirmed United States Supreme Court 92 L. Ed. 153.