105 Ky. 302 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1899
Lead Opinion
delivered the opinion of the coubt.
When the assessor called at the appellee’s house to take her list, she was not at home, and he returned her list the same as the year before. On notice to her, the board of supervisors raised .her list $30,000. She appealed from this decision to the county judge, who held that the burden of proof was on her to show that the assessment was wrong. She declined to introduce any proof, and, her appeal having been dismissed, she appealed to the circuit court, which sustained her contention. Several points have been argued by counsel, but we deem it necessary to notice only two.
Section 4128 of ■ the Kentucky Statutes provides: “Any informality or irregularity in the execution of their duties as supervisors, and any failure of duty on their part, shall not render any assessment invalid. But any tax-payer feeling himself aggrieved by the action of said board of supervisors, may appeal to the judge of the cpunty court within ten days after the final adjournment of said board. It shall be the duty of the county attorney to appear and defend for the board.” Appellee proceeded under this section on her appeal to the judge of the county court from the action of the board of supervisors. The section allows an appeal
In Ward v. Beale, 91 Ky. 60, [14 S. W., 967,] it was held that the action of the board of supervisors, under the law in force before the adoption of the Kentucky Statutes, was final, and that no appeal lay from their decisions to the courts. The assessment of property for taxation lies at the very basis of civil government, because without the assessment there can be no taxation, and the government will be without means of subsistence. If appeals may be taken to the courts by all tax-payers aggrieved in the assessment of their property, the public revenues may be seriously affected, and a great increase of litigation placed upon the courts. The Legislature of this State has, for these reasons, manifested for many
Rehearing
Response to petition for rehearing was delivered by
Counsel insists, in the petition for rehearing, that the county court can not maintain this appeal. The appellants in this court are the same as the defendants to appellee's appeal in the circuit court. They are the _ only parties she made defendants to that appeal, and she can not be heard to say that they have not power to prosecute an appeal to reverse an erroneous judgment which she obtained against them over their objection. The board of supervisors and the county court are both appellants, and we see no reason why they may not appeal where they were the only parties defendant to the proceeding in the circuit court. It is true the Commonwealth should have been a party to the case. Appellee did not make it a defendant in the lower court, because the State can not be sued without its consent, and the Legislature has not provided for such suit against the State. We do not think it was contemplated that the county court or the board of supervisors should bear the responsibility of defending such cases as this. As the State is the real party in interest, and the Legislature has made no provision for such an action, we do not see how it can be maintained. The petition is overruled.