138 Ind. 94 | Ind. | 1893
Appellees brought suit against appellants to enjoin the collection of certain taxes.
The court overruled a separate demurrer of each of the appellants to the complaint,' for want of sufficient facts, and appellants refusing to plead further, and electing to stand on their demurrer, judgment was rendered upon said demurrer enjoining the tax.
The errors assigned, separately and jointly, are that the court erred in overruling each of said demurrers.
The complaint, after the title, is as follows:
“That plaintiffs are a firm, and have an office, as such, doing a banking business, with a view to profit, at Rockville, in Adams township, in Parke county, State of Indiana, in the name and style of the ‘Parke Bank,’
“United States Treasury notes.....$11,446 00
“United States bond.......... 600 00
“Other moneys.................. 2,242 00
“Deposits in other banks......... 56,651 00
“Notes and bills receivable........ 51,842 00
“Stock in Rockville B., L. F. and S. A........ 1,134 65
“Stock in Edgar Co. Nat’l Bank... 4,000 00
“Stock.in Rockville Opera House Co.......................... 750 00
“Office furniture and fixtures...... 1,000 00
“Real estate in Parke county...... 6,090 00
“And that such firm, in said name, owned no other property; that on said 1st day of April, 1891, they, as such firm, were indebted to their depositors, for deposits in their said bank, in the sum of $119,465; that on the 1st day of April, 1891, they, as such firm, made out and furnished to the assessor of said township a verified list and statement of all of the above personal property liable for taxation in said county, and also' a statement of said indebtedness; that in said statement and list of property returned for taxation, they returned their said deposits in other banks, the said sum of. ... $56,651.00
As credits with their other credits......... 51,842.00
The total amounting to.....:............$108,493.00
“First. The said assessment made pursuant to the order of said board of tax commissioners was without authority of law.
“Second. The said assessment against plaintiffs, by said auditor, was without any lawful notice or authority of law.
“Third. That on the 1st day of April, 1891, said deposits of $56,651 were not moneys belonging to them, but were credits to their bank, on the books of other banks where such deposits had been made in their usual course of business as bankers, and for banking purposes; and that no part thereof was on special deposits, and that all of their said deposits with said banks, amounting to $56,651, and all their other credits of $51,842, did not equal their indebtedness of $119,465 aforesaid. Wherefore plaintiffs pray judgment that the adding of said sum' of $55,651 to plaintiffs’ taxables, and assessing $1,046.24 taxes thereon, was without authority of law; that the said deposits were credits from which debts should bé deducted, and that the said $55,651 was not liable to taxation, and that the defendants and their successors in office be forever and perpetually enjoined from collecting or attempting to collect said taxes assessed on said $55,651, and for all other and proper orders,¡judgments, and decrees in the matter.”
The first question presented is whether the order of the State Board of Tax Commissioners complained of was valid. The powers of such board being purely statutory, that question must depend upon a proper interpretation of the tax law approved March 6, 1891;
' “By section 129 of the statute from which we have heretofore quoted, this same right to be heard given to all property owners, and the power vested in the county boards of review, to correct and change assessments, by section 114, is ingrafted into and made a part of the law governing the proceedings before the State Board as to valuations and assessments over which -such State Board has jurisdiction and control, for by section 129, supra, it is declared that the State Board is hereby given all the powers given to county boards of review. The right of parties to be heard, and the right of the county boards to hear showings as to assessments, and to correct and change assessments and valuations are a part of the powers vested in the county boards, and all their powers are transferred and invested in the State Boards, so that, if there is any power in the county boards to hear grievances and make corrections in relation to property and assessment over which they have jurisdiction, then the State Board has the same power in relation to property and assessment over which it has jurisdiction.”
This language clearly recognizes the appellees’ .contention that the powers of the State Board as to assessments and corrections of tax lists is by appeal, and not original, as appellant contends; indeed no part of the decision lends any support to appellants’ contention. Appellant contends that section 120 (subdivision 2) providing that the State Board shall have power “to construe the
Had such a contention been a tenable one, it would have afforded a happy and much easier solution of the grave constitutional questions than the one reached, and saved this court much labor and trouble. If that construction of the provision quoted were correct, then there was no constitutional question involved in that case, because, in that event, all property and all property owners would alike be subject to the original power and jurisdiction of the State Board to make assessments and valuations of all kinds of property of all kinds of owners, and corrections thereof, by adding thereto or deducting therefrom so as to equalize, etc., and the complaint of the appellant in that case would have been without any foundation as to a denial of the equal protection of the law.
There is another reason why such a construction is inadmissible, and that is section 142, authorizing the county auditor to add omitted property, with the valuation thereof, and the amount of tax thereon, to the duplicate, requires him, in case the owner lives in the county, to give him written notice of his intention to add such property requiring such person to appear before him at his office at a specified time within five days after giving such' notice to show cause, if any, why such property should not be added, etc. There is no provision we have been able to find, authorizing the State Board to issue or serve a notice on a property owner of their intention to
Another reason why that power was not intended to be exercised by the State board is its impracticability, and the great hardship and injustice to property owners to be required to attend at the State capital to have a cow properly appraised and valued for taxation that could be as well, if not better, done at their county seat. The construction contended for is at war with the principles of construction laid down in the case referred to. It is there said by this court: -Courts will presume that the Legislature intended its acts to be reasonable, constitutional and just;- and, when possible, consistently with any fair rendering of the words, will so construe them as not to make them otherwise. “If the Legislature manifests an intention to create a system for the govern
We, therefore, conclude that the State Board had no original jurisdiction to revise individual tax lists other than “railroad property” and the equalization of assessments of real estate. Hence, they had no power to order any part of the $56,651 to be added to the appellees' assessment, and they had no power to legally notify appellees of their intention so to do, or notify the auditor of Parke county to make such addition, and said auditor had no power to make such addition without giving appellees notice in writing of his intention so to do, and hence his act in making such addition was without authority of law, and void.
We are asked to go on and determine whether section 59 of the act is not unconstitutional, which requires unincorporated banking associations to return their deposits in other banks subject to draft, not as credits, but as money from which their indebtedness to their depositors can not be deducted, while other tax payers, as is contended, are authorized by the act to return their deposits as credits, and to deduct therefrom their indebtedness. While the courts ought not to shun the consideration of the question of the constitutionality of a statute they ought not to go out of their way to find or decide such questions unnecessarily.. They ought not to seek to draw such momentous questions into their adjudication collaterally, nor on trivial occasions. It is both more proper and respectful to a co-ordinate department of the State government, to discuss and pass upon the constitutionality of a statute only where that is the thing involved in the litigation, and where it is necessary to the determination. Thus presented and de
The judgment is affirmed.