ARK.] WISEMAN V. ARKANSAS-LOUISIANATIPE LINE Co. 195 WISEMAN V. ARKANSAS-LOUISIANA PIPE LINE COMPANY. . 4-3983 Opinion delivered June 24, 1635. 1. TAXATION—COLLECTION OF SEVERANCE TAX.—Under Ac6 1929, .No. 283, it is made the duty of the Revenue Commissioner to collect the severance tax. 2. TAXATION—DELINQUENT SEVERA NCE TAX.—Under Acts 1933, No. 82, and Acts 1935, No. 131, the Commissioner of Revenues is authorized to bring actions to recover the delinquent tax on natural gas. 3. TAXATION— COLLECTION—STATUTORY REMEDY.—As the power of the State to maintain suits for collection of-delinquent taxes is purely statutory, the p rocedure prescribed- by the statute must -be .folL lowed as a condition precedent to its right , to maintain such actions. 4. STATUTES— REPEALS.—Repeals of statutes by implication are not, favored. • 5. TAXATION—DELINQUENT SEVERANCE TAX—PaaTIES,Crawford & Moses', Dig., § 10,204, authorizing the Attorney General to bring
196 WISEMAN v. ARKANSAS-LOUISIANA PIPE LINE Co. [191 suits to recoVer overdue taxes due from corporations, has been impliedly repealed . as to delinquent severance taxes, the collection . of . which .has been conferred on the Commissioner of Revenues .. by Acts 1932, No. 82, and Aets 1935, No. 131. •Appeal from .Pulaski Chancery Court; Frank II. Dodge, Chancellor ; reversed. Chrisp &Nixon, for appellant. . H. C. Walker, Jr., W. H. Arnold, Jr., and- Moore, Gray, Burrok & Chowning; for appellee. McHkNE-y ; J. Appellant, who iS the .Commissioner of Revenues for the State of Arkansas, brought this action inlis name as such Commissioner for the.use 'and benefit of the State. : He alleged that he, has information, .and it is his belief, that, from February 1, 1930,, through September 30, 1934, the • appellee sold and delivered to• the Arkansas Western Gas Company 1;698,772,000 M.C.F. of natural gas, an itemized list of. said.deliveries being, attached to the complaint, and made a part•thereof. He further alleged that said gas liad.a value of -ten cents per M.C.F. at the point of severance, and , that there is due the •State a severance tax of 2 1/ 2 per,cent., of the value of said natural gas amounting to the sum of $42,- 669.30. Prayer was that the court ascertain the correct amount due as a severance . tax; and that judgment be rendered in appellant's favor . for said sum. An amendment was filed to the complaint which alleged the consent of the -Arkansas Corporation Commission. for . the bringing of „said suit. . Thereafter, 'appellee filed -a demurrer to . the. complaint and amendment on the ground that this is a , suit for the collection of back taxes, and tbat 'under the:law it can be brought only by the AttorneY General for and on behalf of the State and in its name, and that appellant has no power under the law to maintain this -suit. The court-sustained said demurrer, and, on appellant's declining to plead further, the cause was dismissed -for the want of equity. The only question presented for our consideration is whether the appellant, Earl R. Wiseman, as Commissioner of Revenues for the State of - Arkansas, has the-power to maintain this suit, or whether it is a snit under
ARK.] WISEMAN V. ARKANSAS-LOUISIANA PIPE LINE CO. 197 § 10,204 of Crawford & Moses Digest? It is true that in State v. Republic Mining & Manufacturing Co., 185 Ark. 1119, 52 S. W.. (2d) 43, it was held that §aid'§ 10,204 of Crawford- & Moses' Digest conferred authority uPon the Attorney General to sue for the collection of Overdue taxes from corporations from all sources, including the seVerance tax, and that said statute did not limit him to collecting back .taxes on property alone. This decision was rendered July 4, 1932. In 1933, the . Legislature enacted act 82, page 245, of the Acts of 1933, § 9, which reads as . follows : "The Commissioner of Revenues shall have the authority to institute .and prosecute in his name as such all suits and other, proceedings necessary for the collection of any taxes collectable by him, and which have become delinquent. ". This is 'broad language and confers plenary Power upon the Commissioner of Revenues in the institution and prosecution of suits in his name r "fo the collection of any taxes collectable by him, and which have become delinquent." The collection of the severance tax is a duty imposed upon the CM- missioner by act 283 of the Acts of 1929, p.- 1187. We think the complaint is sufficiently:definite to charge that appellee has severed a large amount of natural gas upon which a severance tax is due, and which has not been paid. Such being the case; under the allegations of the complaint, the , tax is delinquent. Sinee this is a tax collectable by him, and since it has become delinquent, by the plain provision§ of § 9 of the act, the Commissioner has been given authority to 'institute and maintain this action, and to this eitent the authority conferred by § 10,204 of CrawfOrd & MoSes' Digest upon . the Attorney General has 'been taken away from him, and Conferred upon the Commissioner of Revendes. The COmmissioner of Revenues has nothing to do with the collection of taxeS on property, and therefore § 10,204 Still confers authority upon the Attorney General to bring and- maintain actions against corporations for back taxes en property. Act 82 of the Acts of 1983 was passed, subsequent to our decision in the case of State v. Republic Mining & Mfg. Co., supra, and the Legislature, no doubt, had this decision in mind, and it was its purpoSe to change the
• 198 WISEMAN V. ARKANSAS-LOUISIANA PIPE LINE Co. [191 rule announced therein. As we said in State ex rel. Att'y General v. Standard Oil Co. of Louisiana, 179 Ark. 280, 16 S. W: (2d) 581 : "The power of the State to maintain suits such as the one at bar beinp; purely. .statutory,. the method and'procedure prescribed by the statute must be followed as a condition precedent to its right to main-. tain such an action, as judgment and discretion are involVed, and must be exercised by those on whom the law has placed the power and authority to act." The authority conferred• upon the Commissioner by said act of 1933 is further confirMed in act 131 Of, 1935, § 1 of which reads as follows : " The Revenue Commis-. sioner. of the State of Arkansas is hereby given author-it promulgate any and all . regulations, rules and orders which he may deem: necessary to effectively collect ali taxes, penalties, delinquencies, default and " other moneys required by.law to be collected by the State Revenue Department,. and Suits may be , filed in the nanie of the Commissioner of Revenues and at his instance to recover money due and payable to the State and collectable by bim. Within ten days. after any amonnt of money is dne and payable the Revenue Commissioner shall take -steps to collect the' same." We think there is no doubt about the authority of the Commissioner as conferred by the act of 1933,.but, if there be any such doubt, the language just quoted in the act of 1935 would lay. all doubt at rest. It clearly directs the Commissioner and confers power upon him to bring suit to collect ". all taxes, 'penalties, ,delinquencies, default and other moneys required by law to be collected by the State Revenue Department, and suits may be filed in the name of the Commissioner of Revenues and at his, instance to recover money due and -payable . to the State and collectable by him." • .13nt appellee Sa: T s that this operates as a repeal of. said § 10,204 by implication, and that repeals by implication are not favored. While it is true that repeals by implication are not favored, said § 10,204 has not been repealed except in this, that the power theretofore conferred upon the Attorney General-to bring such -a snit as
ARK.] 199 the one at bar has been, taken away, and conferred upon the Commissioner of Revenues. - The decree will be 'reversed, and the cause remanded with directions to -overrule the demurrer, and for such other and. further proceedings . as may be according 'to law, the principles of equity, .and not inconsistent herewith.
You are being directed to the most recent version of the statute which may not be the version considered at the time of the judgment.