179 A. 904 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1935
Argued April 17, 1935. Max Leopold, a resident of Westmoreland County, held and possessed taxable personal property during the years 1929 to 1932, inclusive, which he failed to report for taxation and no assessment was made against him for those years by the assessor of his district or other taxing authority prior to his death on January 2, 1934. His executors filed an inventory and appraisement of his estate and this was certified to the county commissioners, when steps were taken to enforce a tax liability against his estate for the years mentioned. The county and the executors were heard before the board of revision of taxes for the county on May 10, 1934, and that board, after hearing, fixed the value of the decedent's personal property for each year at the sum of $80,000, added thereto a penalty of fifty per cent of such value and, with the total as a basis, computed the tax to which interest was added at the rate of six per cent per annum. An appeal was taken to the court of common pleas of Westmoreland County and, after argument, that court corrected the assessment by eliminating the fifty per cent penalty and from that order the county has appealed to this court. The fiduciaries *160 concede the correctness of the value of $80,000 and the right of the county to collect interest on the tax computed upon that valuation, but deny the right of the county to impose the penalty of fifty per cent. This presents the sole question for our consideration.
The legislature, by Act of June 17, 1913, P.L. 507 (72 PS 4821), imposed a four-mill tax for county purposes on various classes of personal property owned, held, or possessed by persons within this Commonwealth. This act of assembly was a substitute for the Act of June 1, 1889, P.L. 420, an act similar in its scope except that the earlier act imposed the tax for state in place of county purposes. There had been previous legislation of a similar character, particularly the Act of June 30, 1885, P.L. 193, a supplement to the Act of June 7, 1879. Serious abuses arose in the administration of these tax acts, in that many persons who should have borne a fair share of the burden of taxation were able to avoid their responsibility by failing to make returns and such failure was not discovered within a time when the assessments could be corrected. In Williamson's Estate,
To correct these abuses, the present Act of 1913 was amended successively by the Act of May 31, 1923, P.L. 474, Act of May 13, 1927, P.L. 985, and the Act of June 12, 1931, P.L. 544. These amendments were intended to correct the abuses to which we have referred and enable the county to enforce liability on some who had not borne their fair share of taxation.
By the Act of 1913, the collectors of taxes in the various townships, boroughs, and cities of the Commonwealth were furnished with blanks which such collectors were required to furnish to the taxable persons in their districts and on which such taxables should return the property made subject to taxation by the act. Upon a refusal or a failure of any taxable person to make a return promptly, it was made the duty of the assessor to make a return for such taxable person when it became the duty of the county commissioners or board of revision of taxes to revise and correct the same according to the best information at their command and to add to such revised and corrected estimate fifty per centum, "and the aggregate amount so obtained shall be [was made] the basis for taxation," provided that "if such taxable person . . . . . . on or before the day fixed for appeals from assessments, shall present reasons, supported by oath or affirmation, satisfactory to the proper county commissioners or board of revision of taxes, excusing a failure to make a return such as should be made to the assessors, and shall then make such return, the proper county commissioners or board of revision of taxes may substitute such return for that returned by the assessor" (
By the amendment of June 12, 1931, P.L. 544 *162
(
The legislature has the undoubted right to impose *163
penalties for the nonpayment of taxes and to impose a penalty upon a taxpayer who improperly withholds information which the state is entitled to have as to the condition or extent of his estate: Appeal of Fox and Wife,
Now it will be observed that the Act of 1913 set up a procedure for the assessment of this personal property tax which contemplated the initiation of the proceedings by an assessor with opportunity to the taxpayer to make a voluntary return and for further proceedings before the county commissioners and board for revision of taxes. By the amendments to which we have referred, there is another distinct procedure for collecting taxes from those who have theretofore escaped liability which is limited to a period of five years with the additional right to enforce collection either in the orphans' *164 court or by suit at law in any court of competent jurisdiction. In the latter case the amount which is authorized to be collected is "the balance of the tax which should have been paid together with interest thereon at the rate of six per centum per annum." If the legislature had intended, in granting this additional remedy to counties, to give them the right to exact penalties of both fifty per cent and interest, they would undoubtedly have said so in unambiguous words. On the contrary, all that is authorized to be collected is the amount which should have been paid with interest. It seems clear to us that the amount which should have been paid was the amount which would have been due after the taxpayer had made his return according to law and the tax had been assessed in the same way. As is pointed out by the court below in its opinion and by the appellees in their argument, the legislature evidently intentionally omitted the fifty per cent penalty in the amendments as they were careful to mention the fact that the taxpayer should not have any credit for any penalty assessed upon an inadequate assessment. By this additional legislation, another and separate remedy with different procedure was provided, and we can come to no other conclusion than that the legislature did not intend the fifty per cent penalty to apply where assessments were made after the year in which the tax should have been assessed or paid. The provision under the regular method of assessing such taxes also provided for the relief of the taxpayer from payment of a penalty under certain circumstances and no such provision is contained in the additional procedure. The tax authorities having failed to point to any statute which authorizes the imposition of this penalty under the procedure employed, it follows that the court below correctly decided the issue.
The order of the court below is affirmed at the costs of the appellant. *165