Portal:Supreme Court of the United States

“ For many years the revenue laws of Colorado have contained a section [1] imposing on the board of county commissioners 'in all cases' the duty of refunding to the taxpayer 'without abatement or discount' 'any tax, interest or costs, or any part thereof,' which is found to have been 'erroneous or illegal,' and by a necessary implication conferring on him a correlative and substantive right to have the same so refunded. ”

“ In 1911 Colorado established a state tax commission and conferred on it extensive supervisory powers over the administration of the revenue laws of the state, including the acts of assessors and boards of county commissioners. ”

“ An examination of the new statute shows that the controversy just outlined is not without some real basis and that its solution is not free from difficulty. The question is purely one of state law, and, so far as we are advised, the Supreme Court of the state has not passed on or considered it. A ruling by us on the question would neither settle it for that court nor be binding in an action to recover the tax if paid. In these circumstances it cannot be said that the company certainly or plainly has an adequate and complete remedy at law. ”