31 Iowa 64 | Iowa | 1870
An examination of the question now upon its merits leads me to concur in the general conclusion reached in that case. I deshe briefly to assign the reasons which lead my mind to this conclusion^ The tax warrant is not so essential to the valid exercise of the taxing power, that, without it, no charge upon lands for taxes can be created. It does not, in point of importance, rank with the assessment which determines the vahee of the property to be taxed; nor with the levy which imposes the tax; nor with the sale. There is nothing inherent in the subject of taxation which renders the warrant essential. It is necessary only beccmse the law says it shall be used. It cannot be questioned that the legislature might have required the tax list to be placed in the hands of the treasurer, and that he should proceed to collect thereon without a warrant. Then, if the legislature had power to authorize the treasurer to proceed to collect taxes, and sell for delinquencies without a warrant, it had power also to provide that the failure to attach the warrant should not invalidate the proceedings. This has been done, in effect, by section 784 of the Revision, which provides that the deed shall be conclusive evidence that all the prerequisites of the law were complied with from the listing and valuation of the property up to the execution of the deed, and that all things whatsoever required by law to make a good and valid sale, and to vest the title in the purchaser were done,
There is no difference in effect between declaring that the absence of the warrant shall not vitiate the sale, and declaring that the deed shall be conclusive evidence of the fact of its existence. And as section 784 is unconstitutional only so far as it estops the party from showing a non-compliance with requirements essentially necessary to the valid imposition of a tax (McCready v. Sexton & Son, 29 Iowa, 356; West. Jur. vol. 4, p. 332), it is not, in my opinion, unconstitutional in its application to the present matter. My view is not that the law does not reqyrne a warrant to the tax list in order to justify a sale, but that the requirement is not inherently necessary and the deed is conclusive evidence of a compliance with it. Allen v. Armstrong, 16 Iowa, 508.
It follows, from the views above expressed, that the judgment of the district court must be
Reversed.