166 P. 883 | Okla. | 1917
In its return to the county assessor for taxes for the year 1914 the First National Bank of El Reno, being the owner of state funding bonds in the sum of $12,600, deducted, in addition to the assessed value of its real estate, a sum equal to the face value of the bonds, on account of the claim that such bonds were by law exempt from taxation. Acting under instruction of the state board of equalization, the county assessor of Canadian county, on July 3, 1914, added to the assessed valuation of the property of the bank the face value of the bonds, and on the same day notified the bank of the action of the state board in raising the bank's assessment, and of his compliance with the board's instruction. On December 10th next thereafter the bank filed with the board of county commissioners its petition, charging that the bonds were exempt from taxation and that its assessment should be reduced in a sum corresponding to the face value thereof. This the board of county commissioners, on February 6, 1915, refused to do. Thereupon the bank prosecuted its appeal to the district court of Canadian county, where, on the 24th of April, 1915, judgment was entered directing that the bank's assessment be corrected by deducting therefrom "said state of Oklahoma 4 1/2 per cent. funding bonds of 1913 in the amount of $12,600."
The proceedings instituted by the bank before the board of county commissioners was obviously brought under authority of section 14 of chapter 152, being an act of the Legislature approved March 25, 1911 (Sess. Laws 1911, pp. 331-337) June 15, 1915, the opinion in Johnson v. Grady County,
It is not required that we determine the scope of the 1911 act, or its effect upon the provisions of the Revised Statutes found in the sections referred to, for the reason that though we were to hold that said sections of the Revised Statutes were at the time in full force, yet the bank in its proceedings before the board neither complied with the statute nor invoked the relief there authorized. Section 7353 authorizes the boards of county commissioners to correct, either upon the assessment rolls or upon the tax rolls of the county, any double or erroneous assessment of property for taxation in the manner provided in 7354, and not otherwise. The procedure for correcting the rolls provides that upon complaint of the person beneficially interested, his agent or attorney, if it should be made to appear by the testimony of the claimant and at least one reputable witness, borne out by the records of the county, "that the same property, whether real or personal, has been assessed more than once for the taxes of the same year, or that property, whether real or personal, has been assessed in the county for the taxes of a year to which the same was not subject," the board is empowered to issue to the complainant a certificate of error showing that the complaint has been investigated by said board and that the board is satisfied of the truth of the allegations of the complaint. The certificate referred to is directed to the county treasurer of the county, and instructs him to accept it as a payment of cash to the amount found by the board to have been unjustly assessed, whereupon the assessment shall by the treasurer be corrected upon the tax roll against the tax so found to be erroneous. This was neither done nor contended for.
It will be seen from the foregoing that the authority of the board of county commissioners under the statute is confined to assessments of two classes only: (1) Where the property has been assessed more than once for the taxes of the same year; and (2) where the property has been assessed in the county for the taxes of a year to which the same was not subject. It is a well-recognized and very general rule that a board of county commissioners can exercise only such powers as are conferred upon it by the organic or statutory laws of the state, or such as may arise by necessary implication from an express grant of power. Tulsa Street Railway Co. v. State,
It being made to appear that the board of *211
county commissioners was without power to reduce the bank's assessment on account of the bonds owned by it, claimed to be exempt from taxation, the district court on appeal could acquire no jurisdiction not possessed by the board of commissioners. Bostick v. Board of County Commissioners, supra; Milam et al. v. Smith-Mauer Bros., supra; Parker v. Board of County Commissioners,
As the question presented is one of jurisdiction, no alternative is left but to direct a reversal of the judgment of the district court, which is accordingly done.
All of the Justices concur, except TURNER, J., who is absent.