Gentlemen:
We are in receipt of House Resolution 71, adopted June 21, 1963, which is as follows:
(1) We answer your first question in the affirmative. Section 212 of the Constitution provides: "The power to levy taxes shall not be delegated to individuals or private corporations or associations." In Schultes v. Eberly, 82 Ala. 242, 2 So. 345, this court held that Sec. 212, together with the provisions of Sec. 23 of the Constitution, "nor shall private property be taken for private use, or for the use of corporations, other than municipal," prohibits the Legislature from authorizing a public corporation, other than a municipal corporation, to levy taxes. (Emphasis supplied). This holding was followed in Bradley v. State, 210 Ala. 166, 97 So. 543, and Collins v. Hollis, 212 Ala. 294, 102 So. 379.
House Bill No. 526 authorizes the Mobile County Hospital Board, subject to a referendum, to "levy, * * * an annual license tax and registration fee in the amount of $5.00 upon every motor vehicle," owned by individuals living in Mobile County and by corporations having an office or place of business in the county.
The Mobile County Hospital Board is not a municipal corporation. Under the authorities cited supra, the attempted delegation of the power to tax to a non-municipal corporation contravenes Secs. 23 and 212 of the Constitution of 1901. In Collins v. Hollis, supra, this court said:
(2) We answer this question in the negative. A similar bill and question was before us in 1957, and we opined that the bill did not violate the provisions of Sec. 104 of the Constitution if the tax was levied by the governing body of the county. Opinion of the Justices, 266 Ala. 363, 96 So.2d 634.
(3) We answer this question in the negative. We have held that Sec. 94 of the Constitution relates to private corporations only. Alabama State Bridge Corporation v. Smith, 217 Ala. 311, 116 So. 695; Opinion of the Justices, 263 Ala. 174, 81 So.2d 699. The Mobile County Hospital Board clearly is not a private corporation. Clark v. Mobile County Hospital Board, 275 Ala. 26, 151 So.2d 750.
(4) and (5) These questions are moot at this time because the bill, as now written, is unconstitutional. However, if the license could or should be properly levied,
Respectfuly submitted,
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