Thе assessors appeal from a decision of the Appellate Tax Board abating a tax assessed for the year 1951 in the sum of $49,639.44 on the machinery, poles, wires and underground conduits, wires and pipes of the company located in Haverhill. The board ruled thаt the assessment was invalid.
At the time of the assessment it was provided by G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 59, § 39, as appearing in St. 1933, c. 254, § 36, and as amended by St. 1939, e. 451, § 22, 1 that local assessors should assess the machinery, poles, wires and underground conduits, wires and pipes of telephone and telegraph companies at a value determined by the commissioner of corporations and taxation and certified by him to the assessоrs, or in case of appeal by the assessors from the commissioner’s valuation, at the value determined by the Appellatе Tax Board. Instead of complying with this section, the assessors used a valuation fixed by themselves which was $550,000 greater than that certified tо them by the commissioner. They now contend not only that § 39 was unconstitutional but also that § 41, as appearing in St. 1933, c. 254, § 37, 2 which provided for returns by the companies to the com *359 missioner to enable him tо make his valuations, and § 73, as appearing in St. 1933, c. 254, § 44, 1 which provided that a company aggrieved by the taxes assessed on it might apрly to the commissioner for an abatement, were likewise unconstitutional.
These sections, or some of them, have been the subject of a series of decisions in recent years at the instance of the assessors of Springfield and of Haverhill.
Commissioner of Corporations & Taxation
v.
Assessors of Springfield,
1. There is no violation of the requirement of Part II, c. 1, § 1, art. 4, of the Constitution of the Commonwealth that аssessments, rates and taxes be proportional and reasonable. The value to be determined by the commissioner
2
under § 39 is the fair cash value of the property. This is implicit in § 39 and is made explicit by the reference to “fair cash value” in § 73. The basis of valuatiоn is therefore the same as that upon which the assessors must act under G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 59, § 38, in determining the value of other property in the city. And оf course the tax rate must be the same as that applied to other property. § 39. The only possible ground for the contentiоn that the tax
*360
assessed upon the company under the statutes in question is not proportional and reasonable is that the value may be finally determined by the commissioner
1
upon application for abatement rather than by the assessors or the Appеllate Tax Board. But taxes are not rendered disproportionate or unreasonable merely because the values оf different types of property may under the law be fixed by different officers whose judgments may differ as to value and as to the best methоd of determining it. There is no requirement that all valuations for tax purposes be made by a single officer or a single board.
Cummings
v.
Merchants’ National
Bank,
2. There is no denial of due process or of equal protection of the laws in the provision of § 73 granting an appeal to a company aggrieved by the commissioner’s
2
refusal of an abatement without granting any corresponding appeal to the assessors. Assessors are strictly public officers.
Burr
v.
Boston,
3. There is no denial of equal protection of the laws in providing for the propеrty of telephone and telegraph companies described in § 39 a method of assessment different from that provided for somewhat similar property of other owners, including such other public service companies as electric light and power cоmpanies, gas companies, railroads, and street railways. Sufficient ground for valid classifica
*361
tion is found in the differing nature of the serviсes rendered and of the means employed in rendering them. In recognition of inherent differences these types of public serviсes have been from the beginning governed by differing statutory provisions. The reasons for adoption of the present method of valuing the machinery, poles, wires, conduits, and pipes of telephone and telegraph companies sufficiently appear in
Assessors of Springfield
v.
New England Telephone & Telegraph Co.
4. There is no unconstitutional delegatiоn of power to the commissioner.
1
Authority finally to fix values must be placed in some officer or board. In
Commissioner of Corporations & Taxation
v. Assessors
of Haverhill,
5. But there is a further underlying reason why this appeal cannot succeed. No personal or property rights of the assessors are here involved. “It is a general principle that no one can question in the courts the constitutionality of a statute already enacted except one whose rights are impaired thereby.”
Horton
v.
Attorney General,
As ordered by the Appellate Tax Board the tax must be abated in the amount of $49,639.44.
So ordered.
Notes
Subsequent changes are found in St. 1953, c. 468, and St. 1953, c. 654, § 32.
Subsequently amended by St. 1953, c. 654, § 34.
Subsequently amended by St. 1953, c. 654, § 36.
Now by the State tax commission. St. 1953, c. 654, § 32,
Now by the State tax commission. St. 1953, c. 654, § 36.
Now State tax commission’s, St. 1953, c. 654, § 36,
Now State tax commission. St. 1953, c. 654, §§ 32, 36.