Court Opinion

ID: 9727251
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 13:28:01.536533+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:35.596831
License: Public Domain

CAPPY, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
I agree with the Majority that the Counties have failed to carry their burden of showing that the stock clause of the personal property tax is a compensatory tax and that the stock clause therefore violates the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution.1 Furthermore, I agree that the exemption should be severed. I cannot, however, agree with the Majority’s conclusion as to what remedy is due; I therefore respectfully dissent as to that portion of the Majority’s opinion.
As noted by the Majority, the Annenbergs argue that once this court has determined that constitutional law mandates that they are entitled to a remedy for the unconstitutional collection of this tax, then statutory law dictates that only one type of remedy is allowed: a refund. In support of this argument, the Annenbergs cite to 72 P.S. § 5566b, a statute which dictates that when a governmental entity has collected a tax to which it “is not legally entitled,” it shall provide a “refund of such taxes” to the taxpayer.
The Majority, however, rejects this argument. Instead, it notes that the United States Supreme Court’s decision in McKesson v. Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, Dept. of Business Regulation of Florida, 496 U.S. 18, 31, 110 S.Ct. 2238, 110 L.Ed.2d 17 (1990) did not mandate that a refund must always issue whenever it is determined that a tax has been unconstitutionally collected, but rather allowed the State great leeway in fashioning a backward-looking remedy. The Majority contends that this court, in fashioning a remedy *607in the matters sub judice, has that myriad of options available to it; it posits that our discretion is not circumscribed by the legislature’s pronouncement that the only remedy for an illegally collected tax is a refund to the taxpayer. Rather, the Majority stridently contends that the dictates of 72 P.S. § 5566b do not apply here because “Montgomery County has not levied a tax to which it was not legally entitled, but has instead granted an illegal exemption from a tax to which it was legally entitled.” Majority op. at 352 (emphasis in the original).
I believe that the reasoning espoused by the Majority is internally inconsistent. First, the Majority finds that the stock clause violates the Commerce Clause. The Counties’ collection of the personal property tax on stock held by taxpayers in out-of-state entities was therefore unconstitutional. And yet, the Majority paradoxically proceeds to hold that the Counties were nonetheless legally entitled to collect this tax, and the provisions of 72 P.S. § 5566b therefore do not apply. With all due respect, I simply cannot fathom how the Majority can logically conclude both that a tax was unconstitutionally collected and that the Counties were legally entitled to collect that very same tax.
The legislature has plainly stated that where a tax has been collected to which the government entity “is not legally entitled,” then the taxpayer shall be given a refund.2 In my opinion, a tax which was unconstitutionally collected is without question one to which the governmental entity was “not legally entitled.” Thus, I believe the only remedy available in the matters sub judice is the one mandated by 72 P.S. § 5566b: a refund. As I am not persuaded by the Majority’s attempt to *608avoid this apparently unpalatable conclusion, I must respectfully dissent from this portion of the majority opinion.
Justice NIGRO joins this concurring and dissenting opinion.

. U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 3.

. I believe that the statutory requirement of providing a "refund” could be met in at least two fashions. One way would be to provide an immediate, lump sum payment of money. Another way of satisfying the dictates of 72 P.S. § 5566b would be to allow the Counties to compensate the affected taxpayers by granting them a credit equal to the amount of taxes illegally collected pursuant to the discriminatory stock clause. This credit could be utilized to offset any taxes owed by that taxpayer to the county, whether those taxes be owed pursuant to the stock clause of the personal property tax or any other tax.