446 P.2d 670 | Or. | 1968
This is an appeal by the plaintiff taxpayer from an order of the tax court concerning plaintiff’s 1965 tax liability entered upon our mandate in Penn Phillips Lands, Inc. v. State Tax Commission, 247 Or 380, 430 P2d 349 (1967).
Plaintiff owns land in Christmas Valley which is located in the northern half of Lake County, Oregon. The county assessor had made a comprehensive reappraisal of the southern half of Lake county which was completed in 1963. He had not made a similar reappraisal of the northern half of the county. However, he did make a reappraisal of plaintiff’s lands. Plaintiff’s lands were assessed for the tax year 1965 at $60.00 per acre whereas like land adjacent to plaintiff’s land was assessed at $1.50’to $5.00 per acre.
In its original action plaintiff sought to have the assessed value of the neighboring land increased so as to be uniform with that of plaintiff. The tax court instead re-assessed plaintiff’s land at $10.00 per acre. We held that because the preponderance of the evidence supported the conclusion that the land was worth $60.00 per acre, the tax court erred in assessing the land
“* * * It is suggested that the taxpayer’s liability for 1965 be recomputed against the 1965 market value on the basis of the millage that would have been in effect if the relevant surrounding region of the county had been reappraised at its true market value at the same time the lands of the taxpayer were reappraised. This recomputation of millage would leave undisturbed the market values assigned to the taxpayer’s land in 1965. While the taxes actually paid by the neighboring owners would not be changed ex parte by this decision, the taxes which ought to have been paid by the complaining taxpayer can be determined, and a refund can be calculated accordingly.”
We then held that “[t]he judgment below should be modified to order a refund computed in accordance with the views expressed herein.”
The tax court following the formula endorsed in our original opinion put a value of $60.00 per acre on the neighboring lands; established a new millage figure
Plaintiff contends that “the due process clause of the Federal Constitution and the uniformity and equality clauses of the Oregon Constitution are violated by the court’s method of computation,” (relying upon Oregon Constitution, Art. I, § 13; Art. IX, § 1, and Constitution of the United States, § 1, Amendment M).
It is plaintiff’s position that the tax on its land should have been computed, not on the basis of 1965 values ($60.00 per acre for plaintiff’s and neighboring land), but upon the basis of the assessed values prior thereto. Using the values established by the previous assessment made in 1957, plaintiff’s land would then be valued at $1.50 to $5.00 an acre for a total value of $62,770 instead of $1,038,690, the value used by the tax court. Applying plaintiff’s formula its refund would be $36,480.73 as compared with $5,787.88 refund ordered by the tax court.
■ Plaintiff’s position seems to rest upon the theory that since at the time of its protest the taxing authorities could not have raised the valuation of neighboring land upon the basis of the 1965 values for the purpose of imposing an additional tax on those lands (because the tax had been imposed and the tax year had passed), plaintiff should be put in the same position. Defendant responds with the argument that the tax court employed the only formula it could apply consistent with our original opinion which keyed the recomputation of plaintiff’s tax to 1965 market values. Defendant further argues that to use 1957 values in comptiting
It is not necessary for us to appraise these arguments in deciding the present case. Even though it is assumed that our former opinion did not make it mandatory upon the tax court to recompute plaintiff’s tax upon the basis of the increased values established by the 1965 and 1966 assessments, our opinion at least constituted a holding that the suggested formula was a permissible method of recomputing plaintiff’s tax. Since plaintiff did not raise any objection to that part of our holding by filing a petition for rehearing, the suggested formula even if subject to the objections now asserted by plaintiff became the law of the case and its validity as a method of computing the refund cannot now be re-examined by us.
Plaintiff also argues that it has been discriminated against because, under the formula adopted by the tax court, plaintiff will not be made whole because it will be required to pay a part of the refund which it receives for the reason that the amount paid to it as a refund will subsequently be reflected in the increased millage which it will be required to pay. Defendant
The judgment of the tax court is affirmed.