| Show OPINIONS RENDERED attorney general bishop rendered an opinion in reap re apouse ohme ta a request from hon hoc john R park state superintend of public instruction inquiring whether the county commis alondra have hare a lawful right to change the salary of county superintendent of schools three moetta prior to the tb election in november 1 1896 after having baying fixed his bis salary once within thirty lya alter the takina effect of chapter ot of the laws lawa of 1893 1896 in accordance with section 4 thereof judge bishop holds bolda that when the abe county commissioners attempted to fix the calary of the county ent nt of schools three months brior to the election in november 1896 they diu so without authority of jaw the county superintendent is ie a county i officer him hi el estion ocean occurs la in july 1898 tad and ilia his salary alary should bi be fixed and determined at least three mouth month prior to that time and biennially hereafter while As aa to other county officers it would be three months month prior to the november No elea election tion in 1896 and hon B M cook chairman of the house committee on live lire took hall ha submitted to the attorney general a bill providing for the payment of a license on the raising etc of sheep asking king his opinion mj bishop sent the lowing loi reply dear sir in response to your request for an opinion as to the he of house bill no 28 A bill for an act to provide revenue for the support of the government of the state of utah and to provide for a license upon the basins busine ea of owning raising grazing herding or pasturing sheep in the several counties of the state of utah and to declare a violation thereof a misdemeanor and to 0 o provide a punishment I 1 beg leave to say the bill in its present form would be unconstitutional as being in conflict with chapter 6 5 of article 13 18 of the constitution of the state which provides as aa follows the legislature shall not impose taxes for the purpose of any county city town or other municipal pal tion but may by law vent rest in the authorities thereof respectively the power to assess and collect taxes for all pai poses ot of such corporation under the provisions of the bill the license tax is in to be imposed upon every person now engaged in or who may hereafter engage in the business of owning in 9 raising rai aing grazing herding or pasturing sheep etc in any county of the state of utah section 6 of said bill provides that all moneys collected collects d for such licenses shall be paid to the county treasurer and by him placed to the credit of the general fund ot of such county it will be observed that the object of the bill is in the raising of revenue for county purposes and under the section of the constitution above quoted tt it would toe be clearly unconstitutional the only power the legislature possesses in respect to the subject matter is the power to authorize aut nonze the corporate authorities of the county to assess anemia and collect tax taxes for all purposes of such corporation po ration the question might be raised as an to whether the revenue to be derived under the provisions of the said bill could be properly said to be a tax so no as an to bring it within the purview of the constitutional provisions above set out the purpose of the bill would seem to be to raise revenue for county purposes purpose am a distinguished from an authorization by license to carry on the business busin eoa mentioned therein in other words the object would seem to be to secure revenue for the county rather than to license the bu business ainess therein mentioned the one comes within the taxing power the other within the police power of state the license is issued under police power and the exaction of a license fee or tax with a view to revenue would be an exercise e of the power ot of taxation I 1 am therefore of opinion that the fee required under the provisions of the proposed bill would come within the purview of the constitutional provision supra and would therefore be unconstitutional tut ional As above suggested the only power possessed by the legislature respecting the subject matter is to vest in the corporate authorities of the respective counties the power to assess and collect taxes for all purposes of such corporation mis power was tally exercised in my opinion binton by the legislature as aa contained in subdivision 26 of seb 21 chapter of the laws law of liik 1896 in in denning defining the powers of the board of county it is in provided to license for purposes of regulation and revenue all and every kind of business not prohibited by law and transacted and carried on in such county outside the limits limit of incorporate cities to fix the rates of license tax upon the same and to provide for the collection thereof by suit or otherwise 11 under these provisions I 1 am of opinion that thai the boards of county commissioners ners neris of the respective counties of the state possess the power to enact ordinances din ances containing provisions similar to those of the proposed bill it follows therefore that no legislation upon this subject is needed for the purpose of ral baiting aing revenue for the re spec peo tive counties by the imposition of such a tax very respectfully yours your A C BISHOP attorney general the attorney general has baa submitted B opinion to secretary of state ham imond on OD the question of a foreign corporation po ration that nad aad filed original articles art loler iclet of incorporation with the secretary 0 she territory lot of utah and who now desires to go file in the secretary of state is office an amendment to its ita original argiel ts whether or not they would be required to pay an additional twenty guvo cents for tooh each thousand dollars ol of snob increase reference to ie made to the be constitution of at the state which reads no corporations organized outside of this state hall boball be allowed to transact business within this sate on conditions condition more favorable than those prescribed by law to similar amilar corporations corporation organized under the laws of this state ALtea gion to called to chapter 61 ot of the law or of 1896 wherein to la prescribed the she amount or of tees fees to be collected proceeding abe attorney general says say rat let ns no suppose that the foreign corporation conceiving ft ilio to be to its advantage to increase its capital stock and thus enlarge the scope of its business preau presumably mably to the disadvantage of its compe aitor it ft presents its amended articles for filing to the secretary of state showing an increase of capital stock from one million dollars to three million six hundred thousand thon sand dollars suppose that a fee of twenty five dollars only is in required for the filing of said amendments in the secretary of sta stales telis office on the other hand suppose the domestic corporation spurred purred on dy by the action of its competitor and realizing that in order to compete successfully it too must increase 1 lt capital stock and thus the extent of its business it presents its amended articles increasing its capital stock from one million dollars to three million six hundred thousand dollars under the law as it now stands there can be no question but that such corporation would b be required to pay a fee for the filing of its said amendment increasing its ita capital s i ock in the sum of twenty five cents for each thousand dollars ot of such increase chichin chin the case came we have supposed would amount to thus it will be seen that to place such a construction st upon the provisions of the statutes would be to discriminate in favor of foreign corporations which would allow them to transact business within the state upon more favorable conditions than those prescribed by law to similar corporations corporation i organized under the laws of this state as an in either case the payment of the required fee would be a condition precedent to the transaction of business upon a basis of capitalization resulting from the amended articles article to be filed it I 1 la fair to presume that in the enactment of these provisions the legislature intended that they should aronld harmonize with the provision of the constitution and reading and construing them together I 1 am of opinion that the exception in favor of foreign corporations organized prior to the taking effect of said law is limited to receiving and filing with the secretary of state their original articles or 01 incorporation and that they are not entitled to avail themselves of such rule in the matter of filing amendments to their original articles increasing their capital stock I 1 am therefore of opinion that in the case you suggest it would be your iduix im secretary of state to require the payment of twenty five cents upon each thousand dollars ofine rease of ca as pital stock before receiving and filing the said amendments |
