Aero Mayflower Transit Co. v. Georgia Pub. Svc. Comm’n, 295 U.S. 285 (1935)
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Aero Mayflower Transit Co. v. Georgia Public Service Commission
No. 586
Argued April 4, 1935
Decided April 29, 1935
295 U.S. 285
APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF GEORGIA
Syllabus
1. A state statute imposing upon private carriers operating motor vehicles in the business of transporting persons or property for hire over any public highway in the State an annual license fee of $25 per vehicle for the maintenance of the highways held not unconstitutional in its application to a carrier operating such vehicles in interstate commerce. P. 289.
2. Imposition of a uniform state license fee of so much for each vehicle used by private carriers on the state roads does not create an undue burden upon interstate commerce as applied to an interstate carrier merely because that carrier has less occasion to use those roads than local carriers have. One who receives a privilege without limit is not wronged by his own refusal to enjoy it as freely as he may. P. 289.
3. A Georgia statute (Ex.Sess., 1931, p. 99) imposing an annual license tax on private carriers by motor vehicle of $25 per vehicle using the state highways, the proceeds of which tax are applied to the upkeep of state highways, does not violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by exempting:
(1) Vehicles engaged in hauling passengers or farm products between points not having railroad facilities, and not passing through or beyond municipalities having such facilities, with certain limitations as to the number of the passengers and the quantity of the freight, and
(2) Vehicles engaged exclusively in the transportation of agricultural or dairy products, whether the "vehicle is owned by the owner or producer of such agricultural or dairy products or not, so long as the title remains in the producer." P. 290.
Smith v. Cahoon, 283 U.S. 553, distinguished. P. 291.
4. A state legislature has a wide discretion in the classification of trades and occupations for the purpose of taxation and in the allowance of exemptions and deductions within reasonable limits. P. 292.
5. Exemption of private carriers of farm and dairy product from a tax, though one imposed for highway upkeep, stands on a different footing from an exemption from a general requirement that private carriers provide bonds to insure the safety of the public on the highways. P. 293.
6. Upon review of a judgment of a state court sustaining a state statute against objections based on the Federal Constitution, this Court will not entertain other objections, not raised in or passed upon by the state court and which involve doubtful provisions of the statute which the state court has never considered. P. 294.
179 Ga. 431, 176 S.E. 487, affirmed.
Appeal from a judgment affirming the dismissal of the complaint in a suit to enjoin the Public Service Commissioners, and other officials of the State of Georgia, from enforcing an annual tax or fee on motor vehicles.