13. MINING BURDENS-EFFECT ON ASSESSMENTS. The burdens and mining disadvantages which are shown as to particular coal lands necessarily affect its value and distinguish it from other coal properties in the county. If these burdens and difficulties disappear either wholly or partially as the mining operations proceed, opportunity will be afforded at the triennial assessment to rate the property at its true value when such future assessments are made. When a burden is shown to exist, such as the presence of excessive quantities of water rendering mining impossible without large outlays of capital, a court on appeal may reduce the assessment of such coal lands below that of other lands without doing injustice to other taxables of the county. Berwind-White Coal Min. Co. v. Clearfield County, 18 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 545, p. 549. 14. ASSESSMENTS IN DIFFERENT TOWNSHIPS. Unseated coal lands should be assessed in the district where located and if a tract is divided by a township line each part should be valued and assessed upon the acreage in the respective townships. Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Co. v. Northumberland County, 229 Pa. 460, p. 471. ASSESSMENT-COAL MINED OUT-APPEAL. LAWS 1909, P. 491. MAY 8, 1909. AN ACT amending sections 11, 12, and 13 of an act of assembly, entitled "An act relating to county rates and levies and township rates and levies," approved April 15, 1834. NOTE. The original act of 1834 has no application to coal or mineral lands and is not given. SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.: That section 11 of an act of assembly, entitled "An act relating to county rates and levies and township rates and levies," approved April 15, 1834, which reads as follows: (here follows sec. 11 of the act of 1834), same is hereby altered and amended so as to read as follows: be and the SEC. 11. On or before the first day of April in each of the two years succeeding the triennial assessment the commissioners of the respective counties shall send a transcript of such triennial assessment to the assessor of every ward, townshp, and district therein, together with their precepts, requiring him to take an account of all freemen and of all personal property taxable by law, together with a just valuation of the same, and also a vluation of all offices and posts of profit, professions, trades, and occupations taxable by law, enjoining such assessor to make a just return to them within thirty days after the date of such precept, and to note in such return such alterations in his ward, township, or district as may have been occasioned by the transfer or division of real estate, or by the destruction of buildings, or by the mining out of coal, ore, or other minerals, assessed under the triennial assessment, and also noting all single freemen who have arrived at the age of twenty-one years since the last triennial assessment, and all others who have since that time come to inhabit in such ward, township, or district, together with the taxable property such persons may possess and the valuation thereof, agreeably to the provisions of this act. SEC. 2. That section 12 of the said act, which reads as follows: (here follows sec. 12 of the original act of 1834), be and the same is hereby altered * and amended so as to read as follows: SEC. 12. It shall be the duty of the several assessors, in each of the two years succeeding the triennial assessment to give notice to the taxable inhabitants, in like manner as after the triennial assessment, but in the following cases only; namely, in the case of real property, where buildings or other improvements have been destroyed, and where coal, ore, or other minerals, assessed under the triennial assessment, have been mined out since such triennial assessment; and in the case of personal property, offices, professions, trades, and occupations, where there has been any alteration in the assessment, occasioning a different valuation from the former year, and also where persons have come to inhabit in the county since such triennial assessment. SEC. 3. That section 13 of the said act, which reads as follows: (here follows sec. 13 of the original act of 1834), be and the same is hereby altered and amended so as to read as follows: SEC. 13. At the time and place fixed for the appeal, which in each of the two years after the triennial assessment shall be held in the commissioners' office of the proper county, the commissioners shall attend and hear all persons who may apply for redress, and grant such relief as to them shall appear just and reasonable: Provided, That the commissioners shall not make any allowance or abatement in the valuation of any real estate in any other year than that in which the triennial assessment is made, excepting where buildings or other improvements have been destroyed, or where coal, ore, or other minerals, assessed under the triennial assessment, have been mined out, subsequently to such triennial assessment, in which cases such allowance or abatement shall be made. SEC. 4. That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith be and the same are hereby repealed. ANNOTATIONS. 1. COAL LANDS OMITTED REASSESSMENT. 2. ASSESSMENT REDUCED. 1. COAL LANDS OMITTED-REASSESSMENT. Where coal lands were omitted from assessment for taxation at the triennial assessments they may be included in an assessment made in the following year under the authority given by the act of April 10, 1849, although no building or other improvements have been made thereon since the last preceding triennial assessment. Union Coal Co. v. Cooner, 27 Pa. Supr. Ct. Rep. 97, p. 99. 2. ASSESSMENTS REDUCED. No reduction of valuation for assessment can be made except within the strict terms of the act. Lehigh Coke Co.'s Appeal, 24 Pa. Dist. Rep. 686, p. 689. TAXATION OF OIL, GAS, AND COAL-STATE CONFERENCE. LAWS 1911, P. 1044. JUNE 19, 1911. A JOINT RESOLUTION providing for the issuing of an invitation to neighboring States to a conference with respect to the taxing of oil. gas, and bituminous coal. Resolved (If the house of representatives concur), That the governor of the Commonwealth be requested to issue an invitation to the States of Ohio, West Virginia, and Maryland to participate in a joint conference with this State upon the subject of a tax of the same amount to be laid by each State upon oil, gas, and bituminous coal, and upon the method of laying the same; and Be it further resolved, That upon the governor of the Commonwealth receiving from the governors of the States of Ohio, West Virginia, and Maryland an indication of the willingness of their respective States to participate in such a conference, the governor be and he is hereby authorized to appoint three delegates to meet and confer with delegates from all those States, when the same shall be designated, at a time and place to be mutually agreed upon; and, Be it further resolved, That the expenses of such delegates be paid out of a sum to be appropriated in the general appropriation bill, and be drawn from the State treasury upon the warrant of the chairman of the delegation, who shall be designated as such by the governor. LAWS 1913, P. 639. ANTHRACITE COAL-TAXATION. JUNE 27, 1913. AN ACT laying a tax on anthracite coal and providing for the collection and distribution of the same. SEC. 1. Be it enacted, etc.: That hereafter every ton of anthracite coal of the weight of two thousand two hundred and forty pounds avoirdupois, prepared for market in this Commonwealth, shall be subject to a State tax of two and one-half per centum of the value thereof when prepared for market, to be settled and collected as provided by law for other State taxes. SEC. 2. Every operator of an anthracite coal mine or mines in this Commonwealth shall report to the auditor general, in the month of January in each year thereafter, the number of such tons of anthracite coal mined by such operator within the calendar year then next preceding, and the value thereof prepared for market. Such report shall be in writing, under the oath of the operator, if an individual, or of one of them if more than one individual, or of a principal executive officer of a corporation, limited partnership, or joint stock association. SEC. 3. If any such operator shall fail to furnish such report within the time required, it shall be the duty of the accounting officers of the Commonwealth to add ten per centum to the tax for each and every year for which such report was not so furnished, which percentage shall be settled and collected with the said tax in the usual manner of settling accounts and collecting such taxes; and if any individual operator, or the officers of an operator being a corporation, limited partnership, or joint stock association, or any of them, shall intentionally fail to make such report, he or they shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be sentenced to pay a fine of five hundred dollars, and undergo imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both or either, at the discretion of the court. SEC. 4. If the auditor general or State treasurer is not satisfied with the report so made, they are hereby authorized and empowered to make an estimate of the number of tons mined by the operator, and to settle an account on the basis of such estimate for the taxes, penalties, and interest due the Commonwealth thereon, with the right to the operator, dissatisfied with any settlement so made, to appeal therefrom in the manner provided by law; and, if no such report is made, the auditor general and State treasurer shall make an estimate and settle an account as aforesaid, from which settlement there shall be a right of appeal in the manner provided by law. SEC. 5. Each county shall receive from the State treasurer, for the use of the several cities, boroughs, and townships thereof, one-half of the said tax collected from operators in said county; and the treasurer thereof shall, within thirty days thereafter, pay over the same to the treasurers of the several cities, boroughs, and townships in said county pro rata, according to their respective populations as shown by the last preceding United States census. (Repealed by act of 1915.) ANNOTATIONS. TAXATION OF ANTHRACITE COAL. 1. CONSTITUTIONALITY OF ACT. 2. PURPOSE OF ACT-POWER TO IMPOSE TAXES. 3. TITLE OF ACT-NOTICE OF PENAL PROVISIONS. 4. ACT NOT LOCAL-APPLICATION TO ANTHRACITE COAL. 5. CLASSIFICATION OF COAL FOR TAXATION-LEGISLATIVE POWER-CONSTITUTIONAL RESTRICTIONS. 6. DISCRIMINATION BETWEEN ANTHRACITE AND BITUMINOUS COAL. 7. UNIFORMITY OF TAXATION-TAX ON ANTHRACITE COAL. 8. DOUBLE TAXATION POSSIBLE-EFFECT. 9. OPERATOR REQUIRED TO PAY THE TAX. 10. VALUATION FOR TAXATION-TIME FOR MAKING-FIXING VALUE AND RATE-FAILURE TO OBJECT. 1. CONSTITUTIONALITY OF ACT. The act of June 27, 1913 (P. L. 639), is unconstitutional on the ground that it makes artificial and arbitrary distinctions and discriminations between anthracite and bituminous coal, subjecting the former to tax for public purposes, and not the latter. The act makes a distinction between the two commodities and the distinction made does not rest upon a sufficient or substantial difference as necessary to make either variety of coal a proper subject of particular and exclusive legislation. Commonwealth v. Alden Coal Co., 251 Pa. St. 134, p. 137. See Commonwealth v. Lehigh Coal & Nav. Co., 26 Pa. Dist. Rep. 1076. The right of classification is allowed in order to avoid or correct inequalities, but never to create them. The details of the legislation with respect to taxation for public purposes, and the exemptions proper to be made, rest primarily within the discretion of the legislature, and in classifying subjects for taxa. tion, it can not be required to state the grounds of the classification; but it is no less true that the action of the legislature in any particular case is subject to judicial revision to the extent of seeing that the classification adopted rests upon real distinctions, not artificial or irrelevant ones, in the subjects classified, and has not been adopted for the purpose of evading any constitutional prohibition. When upon judicial revision it clearly appears that the classification adopted rests upon no substantial difference in the subject, and if the difference bears no correspondence to the end and object of the act, it is the right and duty of the court to assert and maintain supremacy of the constitution, though it results in the defeat of the legislation. Commonwealth v. Alden Coal Co., 251 Pa. St. 134, p. 140. See Commonwealth v. Lehigh Coal & Nav. Co., 26 Pa. Dist. Rep. 1076. 2. PURPOSE OF ACT-POWER TO IMPOSE TAXES. This act is a measure to raise revenue and at the same time provides for the distribution of the funds so raised to certain municipalities. If the purpose for which the tax is levied is a public one there is no doubt of the power of the legislature to impose the tax. One-half of it is to be used for the State generally and the other half to be paid over to certain municipalities. The payment of taxes by the State to its municipal divisions is using it for a public purpose and the State always has distributed revenues to the several townships and counties from its general revenues. Commonwealth v. Alden Coal Co., 43 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 353, p. 360. See Commonwealth v. Plymouth Coal Co., 43 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 365. Commonwealth v. St. Clair Coal Co., 43 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 367. 3. TITLE OF ACT-NOTICE OF PENAL PROVISIONS. This act is not defective or invalid because there is no notice in the title of the penal provisions of the act for failure of a mining company to make the required report of the number of tons prepared for market and the value thereof. Commonwealth v. Alden Coal Co., 43 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 353, p. 355. See Commonwealth v. Plymouth Coal Co., 43 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 365. Commonwealth v. St. Clair Coal Co., 43 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 367 The penal provision of this act is the means of enforcing the production of the report required, and it is auxiliary to the collection of the tax of which notice is given in the title, and it is necessarily covered by such notice Commonwealth v. Alden Coal Co., 43 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 353, p. 355. 4. ACT NOT LOCAL-APPLICATION TO ANTHRACITE COAL. This act imposes a tax on anthracite coal, but in no way purports to legislate for any particular locality. The fact that anthracite coal is found only in eight counties of the State does not render it a local act. Anthracite coal may be found in other counties in the future, but if it should not be, the act is not local if it operate in every county where the subject of the tax is found. Commonwealth v. Alden Coal Co., 43 Pa. County Ct. Rep. 353, p. 356. 5. CLASSIFICATION OF COAL FOR TAXATION-LEGISLATIVE POWER-CONSTITUTIONAL RESTRICTIONS. The differences recognized between bituminous and anthracite coal by the various statutes of the State do not, either singly or in combination, suggest a reason why one should be taxed and not the other, whether regard be had to diversity in inherent or incidental qualities, diversity in commercial uses, in method of production, or even incompatiblity or inconvenience in adopting the same methods of taxation for both. The difference in price might be a proper consideration in determining a line of public policy, but the court must deal with the single question of constitutional restriction upon the legislative power to tax for public revenue. The legislature can not by process of classification on a basis of market value throw the entire burden of a tax upon a selected few of an er tire class indistinguishable in its members in any other regard. To permit the legislature arbitrarily to determine the question would be to defeat the very object of the constitutional restrictions and make taxation an instrument not of revenue but of monopoly. Commonwealth v. Alden Coal Co., 251 Pa. St. 134, p. 141. A classification of bituminous and anthracite coal must rest upon the difference between the two varieties peculiarly requiring it to the end that injustice and inequality might be avoided, likewise there must be a correspondence between the difference which is made the basis for the classification and the 125672°-2060 |