1. A state statute empowering a local governing body, like the
police jury in Louisiana, to create road districts and with the
approval of a popular vote to construct roads and issue bonds to
pay for them, to be met by taxation
ad valorem of the land
in the district, need not allow the taxpayer a hearing on these
matters (aside from the valuation of his land for taxation), to be
valid under the Fourteenth Amendment. P.
277 U. S.
159.
2. The Constitution of Louisiana did not inhibit the collection
in 1926 of a tax partly intended to supply funds to meet
installments of principal and interest upon bonds maturing in
March, 1927.
Id.
3. The legality of a general
ad valorem tax on the
property in the road district to pay for construction or
improvement of roads does not depend on receipt of any special
benefit by the taxpayer.
Id.
4. Louisiana statutes provide ample opportunity for contesting
valuations of property for taxation purposes.
Id.
Page 277 U. S. 158
5. A local
ad valorem tax on the property of a carrier
engaged in interstate commerce does not amount to regulation of
interstate commerce. P.
277 U. S.
159.
27 F.2d 766 affirmed.
Appeal from a decree of the district court dismissing the bill
of the railway company seeking to enjoin the collection of taxes
levied on its property for the purposes of satisfying road
improvement bonds.
MR. JUSTICE McREYNOLDS delivered the opinion of the Court.
This cause was heard by a specially constituted district court,
three judges. Judicial Code, §§ 238, 266. It dismissed
the bill and directed that the costs, together with 10 percent
damages, be assessed against appellant. The opinion of the court,
considered with the argument here, so plainly demonstrates the lack
of merit in the claims advanced that we need not discuss them at
length.
The appellant owns a line of railroad lying partly in Bossier
Parish, Louisiana, also all stock of the corporate owner of the
bridge over Red River at Bossier City. Purporting to proceed as
directed by the state statute, the police jury of that parish
undertook to create from the major part of its territory a
consolidated road district, to issue bonds thereof to pay for
constructing a highway therein, and to lay an
ad valorem
tax upon all property within the district to meet the obligation.
Appellant asked for an injunction prohibiting any attempt to
Page 277 U. S. 159
collect the taxes levied and assessed for the year 1926. None of
the alleged grounds for relief is substantial.
In Louisiana, the police jury, subordinate to the state
legislature, is the governing body of the parish. A statute of the
state empowers these juries to create road districts from such
portions of their parishes as they may determine, and, with the
approval of a popular vote, to construct roads and issue bonds to
pay therefor.
The validity of this statute is challenged upon the ground that
it fails to provide the taxpayer with proper opportunity to be
heard. A sufficient short answer is that, under the repeated
decisions here, this is not essential.
Valley Farms Co. v.
Westchester County, 261 U. S. 155;
Hancock v. Muskogee, 250 U. S. 454. But
here, in fact, the appellant had abundant opportunity to present
objections to the proposed plan.
We find nothing in the Constitution of Louisiana, when
reasonably construed, which inhibited the collection in 1926 of a
tax partly intended to supply funds to meet installments of
principal and interest upon bonds maturing in March, 1927.
As the assailed tax was general and
ad valorem, its
legality does not depend upon the receipt of any special benefit by
the taxpayer.
The local statutes provided ample opportunity for the appellant
to contest the valuation of its property for taxation purposes.
Without doubt, a local legislative body, when properly
authorized, may lay general
ad valorem taxes upon all
property within its jurisdiction, including that of common carriers
engaged in interstate commerce, without violating the federal
Constitution. That such taxation does not amount to regulation of
interstate commerce is settled doctrine.
The decree below is
Affirmed.
