195 Ky. 608 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1922
Opinion op the Court by
Reversing in part and affirming in part.
The judgment from wMc]i this appeal is prosecuted was rendered in the Fayette circuit court on June 14, 1922, in an agreed action under section 637, et cetera, wherein Fayette county, et al., were plaintiffs, and the State Tax Commission and its members were defendants, instituted for the purpose of obtaining a construction of the revenue and taxation laws of this Commonwealth enacted at the special session of 1917, and the regular sessions of 1918 and 1920, especially with respect to the mode of procedure which the State Tax Commission, the county hoard of supervisors and tax commissioner of Fayette county should adopt under the agreed state of facts set forth in the pleadings, to which pleadings is attached a prayer that the court consider-
The pleadings confess that the regularly elected, qualified and acting Tax Commissioner of Fayette county, at the time and in the manner provided by law, as of July 1,1921, made an assessment of the property of Fayette county for the purpose of taxation for the year 1922, but it is the contention of the State Tax Commission that in making said assessment the said county commissioner failed to assess said property at it's fair cash value, estimated at the price it would bring at a fair voluntary sale, or at a value equivalent to that at which other property of like character is assessed in other counties of the state. It is also admitted that the county tax commissioner furnished recapitulations and schedules of all property of said county to the State Tax Commission and otherwise performed such ministerial duties as devolved upon him as such officer; that said State Tax Commission received said recapitulations, and at the time and in the manner provided by law met at the State Capitol as a board of equalization for the purpose of equalizing the assessment with the assessments of other counties; that while sitting as such board of equalization and after having examined the recapitulation of the tax commissioner’s books of Fayette county and after having compared the same with the data which the State Tax Commission had obtained from other sources, found that the lands, town lots and tangible personal property other than livestock, assessed for taxation in Fayette county, were not assessed at their fair cash value .estimated at the price the said property would have brought at a fair voluntary sale on July 1, 1921, and the said property was not assessed at as great a percentage of said fair cash value as other property of the same character in the state located outside of Fayette county was assessed as of said date, and said State Tax Commission entered a tentative order on its records directing that the assessed value of lands' in Fayette county, on July 1,1921, should be increased $600,000.00; that the assessed value of town lots- as, of said date should be increased $3,000,000.00 and that the assessed value of the tangible personal property other than live stock should be increased $7,500,000.00; that the State Tax Commission gave to the county court of Fayette county notice, by
It is the contention of Fayette county that the State Tax Commission has no authority or right to order or to make a reassessment of the property of that county for the purposes of taxation for the year 1922, nor has it right or authority to employ or send its ag'ents or representatives into Fayette county for the purpose of making such reassessment. It also contends that before any reassessment may be legally made, proper notice of such action must be given to every person whose property is proposed to be reassessed, and that as the act under which the State Tax Commission is< proposing to proceed to reassess the property of said county does not provide for a notice to such taxpayers, none can be given, and the act on that account and to that extent is unconstitutional and void. Fayette county also claims that in any and all event® the county judge of Fayette must appoint the board of supervisors and that this board has quasi judicial functions which it may freely exercise without restraint or interference from the courts, and this board having been appointed and having-performed it® duties within a soimd discretion, its conclusions cannot be overturned by the State Tax Commission or in any way save by appeal of the individual taxpayer, as provided in section 4128, Kentucky Statutes. In addition to the foregoing there are many other contentions, amid semi-contentions made both by the county of Fayette and the State Tax Commission with respect to their rights and powers which we deem it unnecessary here .to set out.
Our standard of valuation and app'raisemeint of property for the purposes of taxation are fixed by section 172 of our Constitution which reads, “All property, not exempted from taxation by this Constitution, shall be assessed -for taxation at its 'fair cash value, estimated at the price it would bring at a fair voluntary sale.” We think it may be admitted that the State Tax Commission has not only power to equalize the assessed value of property of the various counties of the state, but by pursuing the course pointed out by our revenue and taxation laws may enforce the same either directly or if necessary through the medium of the courts.
We think a large part of the apparent irreconcilability of section 4128a-3 with section .4114Í-18 will vanish with an understanding’ of the history of the legislation.
It is first insisted -that section 4128a-3, Kentucky Statutes, is in -conflict -with section 181 -of onr Constitution, which provides, “The General Assembly shall not impose taxes for the purposes of any -county, city, town or other municipal corporation, but may, -by general laws, confer -on the- proper authorities thereof, respectively, the power to assess aind collect such taxes . . . .” In -support -of this contention appellants s-ay that the state-, through its t-ax commission, is attempting to impose taxes on the county of Payette, and that -this is specifically prohibited by siaid -section of the Constitution. A careful reading -of thi-s .section, however, do-es not -sustain the- -contention of appellants. The State Tax Commission -is not attempting to, nor could it, impose taxesi on the county of Payette. All it is undertaking to do is to equalize the property of the state, according to the provisions of the statutes ou the subject which give it the power to l-ower -or raise the assessment made- by the tax commissioner of Payette county as supervised by the P-ayette County Board. Thi-s- is -in no selns-e an imposition of -a tax but is merely an appraisement or valuation -of the property of the taxpayers of that county, which is s-oúght by the State Tax Commission. It, therefore, appears that the board was acting within its- l-egal rights when it gave notice to Payette oouinty in the manner directed by the statutes, section 4114Í-17, that the board toad made a tentative raise -of appraisement of certain classes of its property and fixed a day on which, to hear witnesses and representatives- of the county upoto said proposed raise, -and it was als-o- within its- rights when, after hearing -such evidence and considering the same with other facts before the board, it made a final
Again it is said the State Tax Commission is proposing under section 4128a-3 to send its agents and assistants into the county of Fayette to make a reassessment of its property and to charge the cost thereof to the county. With respect to the imposition of the cost of the reassessment by the State Tax Commission upon the county, we think it sufficient to say that the Commonwealth, through its;, agency, the tax eommissiohi, (has n© power to impose upon a county such a charge nor to appropriate funds of the county to the payment of obligations created by the state or its said agencies. While we have not had this exact question before us, we have discussed and have decided analogous questions in the cases of Campbell County v. City of Newport, 174 Ky. 712, and McDonald v. City of Louisville, 113 Ky. 431. A very enlightening discussion upon the general subject may be found in Justice Cooley’s work on Taxation (third edition), p. 1353; 18 R. C. L. pp. 210-214 and 277.
Neither do we think the 'State Tax Commission has authority, as claimed by it, under section 4128a-3, to make a reassessment and equalization of the property of a county in cases where the county board of supervisors neglect to carry out orders of the state board by sending into the county its agents and representatives to make a house to house canvass of the taxpayer® for the purpose of making said reassessment. True the said section provides for just such a thing, but said section is a part of the original act passed in 1917 before th© passage of section 4114L18, providing for equalization and judicial review iim cases where the county is dissatisfied with the raise in appraisement made by the state board. These two sections were intended to accomplish the •same purpose. They were enacted at different times. The legislature, no doubt, concluded that the method first.
It is plain from chapter 147, page 652, Acts of 1920, that notice shall be given in every case where an assessment of property is raised before it can become effective. The act is not,- therefore, unconstitutional on the ground that no notice is provided and consequently due process of law cannot result.
After the state board has finally fixed the valuation placed upon the different classes of property in a given
For these reasons the judgment is affirmed in part and reversed ini part for proceedings consistent with this opinion.