Tax assessor

“ Whenever the county auditor shall discover or receive credible information, or if he shall have reason to believe that any real or personal property has, from any cause, been omitted, in whole or in part in the assessment of any year or number of years, from the assessment book or from the tax duplicate, he shall proceed to correct the tax duplicate, and add such property thereto, with the proper valuation, and charge such property and the owner thereof with the proper amount of taxes thereon, to enable him to do which he is invested with all the powers of assessor under this act. ”

“ To each assistant assessor, one dollar and fifty cents for every day actually employed in collecting lists and making valuations, the number of days necessary for that purpose being certified by the principal assessor and approved by the Comptroller of the Treasury, and three dollars for every hundred taxable persons contained in the tax list as completed and delivered by him to the principal assessor: and the assessors respectively shall be allowed their necessary and reasonable charges for books and stationery used in the execution of their duties. ”

“ The purpose of the bill is to restrain certain tax assessors and tax collectors from collecting taxes for specific years, and, if the amount of such taxes does not confer jurisdiction, it is, from the nature of things, impossible for a court to foresee what, if any, taxes may be assessed in the future. ”

“ If the increased valuation of property by the board without notice is void as to the railroad companies, it must be equally void as to every other owner of property in the State, when the value assessed upon it by the local assessor has been increased by the board of equalization. How much tax would thus be rendered void it is impossible to say. The main function of this board is to equalize these assessments over the whole State. If they find that a county has had its property assessed too high in reference to the general standard, they may reduce its valuation ”

“ The assessor has the duty of investigating the facts underlying all tax liabilities and is empowered by § 454 of the Code to subpoena taxpayers for the purpose of questioning them about statements they have furnished. ”

“ It shall be the duty of the county clerk of said county, annually, after the execution and delivering of such bonds aforesaid, to compute and assess upon all the taxable property returned by the assessor of such city, town, or township, a sum sufficient to pay the interest and costs of collection and disbursements upon all bonds so issued by the respective cities, towns, or townships; which tax shall be extended upon the collector's books as other taxes are, and, when collected, shall be paid to the treasurer of the county ”

“ Board of Assessors, 121 La. 116, 46 So. 122, where open accounts arising on the sale of merchandise were the subject of the assessment, the court said: 'There can be no serious question but that the legislature has provided that credits due upon open accounts arising out of business done in this state by nonresidents shall be taxed. . . . The state imposes this tax because of her need of the revenue to be derived from it; she extends to the business the protection of her laws, and seeks to make the business bear its just proportion of the burden of taxation. ”

“ But where a tax is levied on property not specifically, but according to its value, to be ascertained by assessors appointed for that purpose, upon such evidence as they may obtain, a different principle comes in. ”

“ Where, however, there is a statute which provides for an assessment, and gives jurisdiction to the taxing officer, under some circumstances, to make one, but the particular assessment is invalid for wnat of a notice to the taxpayer, or some other kindred objection, the equitable duty still rests upon him to pay what would be his fair proportion of the tax as compared with that laid upon other property, before he can ask the aid of the chancellor to enjoin the collection of the balance. ”

“ Coming now to the provisions for its enforcement, it is entirely clear that, as to the person actually carrying on the business, no notice of the assessment or levy of the tax is necessary. If the person carries on the business, the imposition of the tax follows as a matter of course. ”

“ One reason that state taxation of a resident on his intangibles is justified is that when the taxpayer's wealth is represented by intangibles, the tax gatherer has difficulty in locating them and there is uncertainty as to which taxing district affords benefits or protection to the actual property that the intangibles represent. There may be no 'papers.' If the assessment is not made at the residence of the owner, intangibles may be overlooked easily by other assessors of taxes. A state is dependent upon its citizens for revenue. ”

“ The mere fact that, in the absence of any information, the Commissioner might be compelled to assess the tax on the basis of the taxpayer's estimate, does not transform that simple estimate of the amount of the tax into the detailed return of the items of gross income, deductions, and credits required by the act. ”

“ Here, there was no question as to the validity of the taxing statute. It was the assessment which the railroad challenged. And an assessment is not an order made by an administrative board or commission, within the meaning of that section. The function of an assessing board is not that of issuing orders. Its function is informational. Its duty is to make findings of fact, and thereby furnish the basis on which other officials are to act in individual instances in levying and collecting the taxes. An assessment does not command the taxpayer to do, or to refrain from doing anything ”

“ They pay nothing for municipal and local taxes, either to the cities, towns, or districts in which they are located, and they are expressly exempted from all other taxation. Much weight is also due to the fact that the taxes are imposed directly by the legislature, without regard to investment or value, and if the amount was fixed by law, all, we think, would agree that the assessment was a tax upon the corporation, and not upon its property as contended by the defendants. ”

“ The law measures the assessment by the net income of the respondent, whose operations are carried on in a private, and not in a public, capacity for the personal gain of its cestuis que trust. The government asserts that the incidence of the tax is so remote from the activities of the municipality as to have no substantial adverse effect upon them. The respondent insists that as lessee of the lands in question it is a governmental agency, and any tax laid upon its income directly burdens governmental functions. ”

“ It is not for us to suggest in any case that a more equitable mode of assessment or rate of taxation might be adopted than the one prescribed by the legislature of the state. Our only concern is with the validity of the tax. ”

“ And it is too clear for argument that taxes not assessed are no liens, and that the obligation to assess taxes is not a lien on the property on which they ought to be assessed.' From the record before us, we think the decision of the court below, that no lawful assessment of the tax had been made; that no lien upon the lots in question exists ”

“ It is, therefore, manifest that exemption of Federal agencies from State taxation is dependent, not upon the nature of the agents, or upon the mode of their constitution, or upon the fact that they are agents, but upon the effect of the tax; that is, upon the question whether the tax does in truth deprive them of power to serve the government as they were intended to serve it, or does hinder the efficient exercise of their power. A tax upon their property has no such necessary effect. It leaves them free to discharge the duties they have undertaken to perform. ”

“ The result is an enormous disparity and discrimination between the various assessments upon the corporations. The most important function of the board, that of equalizing assessments, in order to carry out the provisions of the Constitution of the state in levying a tax by valuation, 'so that every person shall pay a tax in proportion to the value of his, her, or its property,' was, in this instance, omitted and ignored, while the board was making an assessment which it had jurisdiction to make under the laws of the state. ”

“ There is little to the contrary except the general presumptions arising from the statutory duty of assessors to assess at fair cash value and from the oath customarily required of individual taxpayers, and a large number of stereotyped affidavits made by former assessors to the effect that they endeavored to follow the law and assess all property at its fair cash value, and if any property was otherwise assessed it was unintentional, and not pursuant to any agreement between the assessor and the taxpayer. ”

“ There is a mass of legislation every year directed to the assessing and collecting of taxes, tending more and more to become inquisitorial, requiring the tax payer under oath to furnish full schedules of his property, with provision for an arbitrary assessment if he fails to do so. ”

“ Second, public rates and taxes.' This, we think, is conclusive that, for the purpose of proof and payment out of the estate, a personal tax is a debt.' The court further held that a tax list or tax duplicate, duly certified by the county auditor, as required by statute, was prima facie evidence of the due levy of the taxes in it. ”

“ The ordinance allows wide latitude for administrative construction, both by the provision which requires the comptroller to make interpretative rules and regulations, and that which commands him to prepare the form for the return on the basis of which the tax is to be computed. Until the form is prepared, the most that can be required of taxpayer is that they apply for the license and for the form on which to make their tax returns. Without the return there can be no tax, and no penalty can be imposed for its nonpayment. ”

“ He must first find the cash for a liability for which he may not have provided. * * * The first interest of all of the people is, of course, that the Government continue to function, and to do this it must have the means of prompt collection of the necessary supplies to keep it going, that is, taxes. The method was, therefore, the determination by the Commissioner of the amount of tax due, its collection and suit to recover. * * * (T) he tax as assessed had to be paid and the taxpayer was left to his remedy in the courts. ”

“ One of the reasons why a court should not thus interfere, as it would in any transaction between individuals, is, that it has no power to apportion the tax or to make a new assessment, or to direct another to be made by the proper officers of the State. These officers, and the manner in which they shall exercise their functions, are wholly beyond the power of the court when so acting. The levy of taxes is not a judicial function. ”

“ The duty of this court to examine taxing acts to see that the use of federal tax exempt subjects as a measure for taxes imposed in terms upon taxable subjects is not a cloak, under which the former in substance and effect are taxes, was never more imperative than now, when, by reason of increased and increasing public expenditures, states and municipalies are driven to search in every direction for additional sources of revenue. ”

“ Where a tax is imposed by a governmental body other than the legislature, even an administrative agency to which the legislature has delegated taxing authority, due process requires notice to the citizens to be taxed and some opportunity to be heard. ”

“ The adoption of the taxing act, as recommended by the commission, may therefore be taken, as appellant contends, to evidence a definite and specific legislative purpose to levy a new type of franchise tax, measured by corporate net income, including the tax exempt income from federal and state bonds. ”

“ In order to support an appeal to this Court it is necessary that the question of the validity of the state taxing statute be either presented to the state court or decided by it. It is not sufficient merely to attack, as here, the tax levied under the statute, or 'the right to collect the tax' which has been levied, or to show that the validity of the tax alone has been considered. ”

“ In ordinary taxation assessments, if not altered by a board of revision or of equalization, stand good, and the tax levied may be collected by a sale of the delinquent's property; but assessments in California, for the purpose of reclaiming overflowed and swamp lands, can be enforced only by suits, and, of course, to their validity it is essential that notice be given to the tax-payer, and opportunity be afforded him to be heard respecting the assessment. ”

“ In the first place, no attempt has been made by the Treasury to collect further taxes, upon the theory that the payment of the additional taxes creates further income, and the question of a tax upon a tax was not before the Circuit Court of Appeals, and has not been certified to this Court. We can settle questions of that sort when an attempt to impose a tax upon a tax is undertaken, but not now. ”

“ It is beyond the power of a court to usurp the Commissioner's function of finding that special assessment should be accorded, and equally so to substitute its discretion for his as to the factors to be used in computing the tax. The courts below were in error in adopting the rate chosen by the Commissioner and applying it to a net income other than that which he used in making his comparisons and arriving at the rate. The respondent's tax could only be computed in accordance with section 301 or under section 328. ”