Constitutional Law, Taxation. Tax, On bonds registered under St. 1914, c. 761, Constitutionality. Words, "Fee."
An act of the Legislature will not be declared void unless it is impossible by any reasonable construction to interpret its provisions in harmony with the Constitution.
The justices of this court, when called upon, sitting as a court, to deal with questions on which they have expressed opinions upon the requirement of a branch of the Legislature or of the Governor and Council under c. 3, art. 2 of the Constitution, regard it as their "duty most sedulously to guard against any influence which might flow from . . . previous consideration" of the same questions in their advisory capacity. Citing Green v. Commonwealth, 12 Allen, 155, 164.
St. 1914, c. 761, which was passed by the Legislature and approved by the Governor before the adoption of the forty-fourth Amendment to the Constitution, provided that "A bond secured by mortgage on tangible property situated within or without the Commonwealth which is subject to taxation wherever situated and which is there actually taxed shall be exempt from taxation within the Commonwealth, if the fact of the taxation of such property is determined by the tax commissioner," and that, if the holder of any such bond pays "a fee at the rate of thirty cents for each hundred dollars of the par value of the bond," the tax commissioner "shall register the bond as exempt from taxation for one year from the date of such registration . . . and such bond shall not be taxed during the said year," and that "One half of the fees for registration of bonds as herein provided shall be distributed, credited and paid to the several cities and towns in which . . . it appears that such holders of bonds resided." Held, that the statute is void as an attempt to provide for a taxation of bonds of the kind described which would be unequal and disproportional and accordingly in violation of c. 1, § 1, art. 4 of the Constitution.