C.N. HODGES vs. MUNICIPAL BOARD OF THE CITY OF ILOILO

C.N. HODGES vs. MUNICIPAL BOARD OF THE CITY OF ILOILO

G.R. No. L-18129 January 31, 1963

                                                              

FACTS:

On June 13, 1960, the Municipal Board of the City of Iloilo enacted Ordinance No. 33, series of 1960, pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act No. 2264, known as the Local Autonomy Act, requiring any person, firm, association or corporation to pay a sales tax of 1/2 of 1% of the selling price of any motor vehicle and prohibiting the registration of the sale of the motor vehicle in the Motor Vehicles Office of the City of Iloilo unless the tax has been paid.

C. N. Hodges, who was engaged in the business of buying and selling second-hand motor vehicles in the City of Iloilo, is one of those affected by the enactment of the ordinance, and believing that the same is invalid for having been passed in excess of the authority conferred by law upon the municipal board, he filed on June 27, 1960 a petition for declaratory judgment with the Court of First Instance of Iloilo praying that said ordinance be declared void ab initio.

The court a quo rendered decision on December 8, 1960 holding that that part of the ordinance which requires the owner of a used motor vehicle to pay a sales tax of 1/2 of 1% of the selling price is valid, but the portion thereof which requires the payment of the tax as a condition precedent for the registration of the sale in the Motor Vehicles Office is invalid for being repugnant to Section 2(h) of Republic Act 2264. Both parties have appealed.

ISSUE:

Whether or not the ordinance in question is valid even with regard to the portion which requires the payment of the tax as a condition precedent for the registration of the sale in the Motor Vehicles Office of said city.

RULING:

The City of Iloilo has the authority and power to approve the ordinance in question for it merely imposes a percentage tax on the sale of a second-hand motor vehicle that may be carried out within the city by any person, firm, association or corporation owning or dealing with it who may come within the jurisdiction.

The requirement of the ordinance cannot be considered a tax in the light viewed by the court a quo for the same is merely a coercive measure to make the enforcement of the contemplated sales tax more effective. Well-settled is the principle that taxes are imposed for the support of the government in return for the general advantage and protection which the government affords to taxpayers and their property. Taxes are the lifeblood of the government.