STATE OF MICHIGAN

FRANK J. KELLEY, ATTORNEY GENERAL

Opinion No. 5561

September 17, 1979

TAXATION:

Mobile home tax

CONSTITUTION OF MICHIGAN:

Art 9, Sec. 31 (Headlee Amendment)

Inasmuch as Const 1963, art 9, Sec. 31 provides that units of local government are prohibited from levying any tax not authorized by law or charter when this section is ratified or from increasing the rate of an existing tax above that rate authorized by law or charter when this section is ratified without approval of a majority of the qualified electors of that unit of local government voting thereon, the current maximum tax on trailer coaches established pursuant to statute may not be increased.

Honorable Claude A. Trim

State Representative

The Capitol

Lansing, Michigan 48909

You have requested my opinion as to whether the tax on occupied trailer coaches currently imposed by section 41 of the Mobile Home Park Act, 1959 PA 243, MCLA 125.1041; MSA 5.278(71), may be increased. This tax is imposed at the rate of $3 per month and is a specific tax in lieu of any property tax levied upon the trailer coach.

The Headlee Amendment to the Michigan Constitution adopted by the electorate on November 7, 1978 amended Const 1963, art 9, Sec. 6 and added sections 25 through 34 to the Constitution.

Before addressing your question, it should be noted that the Headlee Amendment represents a new departure in terms of a constitutional limitation on government taxing and spending. No Michigan court has yet addressed itself to interpreting the sections added by the adoption of this proposition. In addition, our research has failed to disclose any similar constitutional provisions which have been interpreted by the appellate courts of other states.

As amended, Const 1963, art 9, Sec. 31 in pertinent part states:

In Youngblood v Sexton, 32 Mich 406 (1875), the Supreme Court held that a tax levied by general law throughout the state to be paid to municipalities is regarded as a local tax. Therefore, in view of the fact that the specific tax of $3 per month imposed upon trailer coaches is paid to the treasurer of the municipality in which the trailer coach park is located, 1959 PA 243, supra, Sec. 42, it must be deemed to be a local tax.

It is, therefore, my opinion that the specific tax of $3 per month per occupied trailer coach imposed by 1959 PA 243, Sec. 41, supra, may not be increased by the Legislature.

Frank J. Kelley