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Republic of the Philippines
SUPREME COURT
Manila

EN BANC

G.R. No. L-47917             October 30, 1942

PANAGAN MINING ASSOCIATION, plaintiff-appellant,
vs.
ALFREDO L. YATCO, Collector of Internal Revenue, defendant-appellee.

Agustin Alvarez Salazar for appellant.
Office of the Solicitor-General Ozaeta and Solicitor Kapunan, Jr. for appellee.

BOCOBO, J.:

1. TAXATION; EFFECT OF REPEAL OF LAW IMPOSING TAX. — Act No 4243 imposing the tax in question was repealed on November 7, 1936, by Commonwealth Act No. 137, and this tax was paid on December 29, 1936. It is, however, well-settled principle of taxation that taxes are due according to the law in force when they were levied, and that the rule favoring a prospective construction is appealable to statutes repealing tax lay.

2. ID; EFFECT OF NON-PAYMENT OF TAX IN QUESTION.lâwphi1.nêt — The tax under Act No. 4243 is not a kind of privilege tax the non-payment of which merely causes the loss of the privilege of obtaining the patent to mining claims. A reading of Act No. 4243 shows that this tax must necessarily be paid by every locator of a mining claim who does not do any assessment work in any given year, regardless of whether or not he subsequently continues fulfilling all the requirements for securing a patent. This is to insure good faith on the part of locators.

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