44 Kan. 117 | Kan. | 1890
Opinion by
This is a proceeding in which the plaintiff in error, who was plaintiff below, on the 22d day of November, 1889, filed in the district court of Atchison county his petition praying the court to allow an order restraining the collection of certain taxes therein set out. The court heard the application December 2, 1889, upon the petition and oral evidence, and took the same under advisement until December 7, when it rendered judgment refusing to allow the order prayed for by the plaintiff in his petition; to which ruling rendering said judgment the plaintiff objected and excepted, and comes here by its case-made alleging that the court below erred in refusing said order, and asks that the judgment of the said court be reversed.
This case grows out of the action of the county commissioners of Atchison county, sitting as a board of equalization, by which they increased the assessment of the plaintiff for purposes of taxation. The assessor whose duty it was to assess the plaintiff called on the company, and received from J. W. Fisher, who was secretary and treasurer thereof, the personal-
Mr. Wilcox, chairman of the board, when asked how much the board increased the valuation of the first item in the plaintiff’s assessment as given in by itself to the assessor, and returned by him, to wit, the average of stock on hand during the preceding year, answered, “ We didn’t talk about the first item — the average stock. There was nothing said about it.”
The law requires the assessor to value the property listed at its true value. . Where the personal property to be listed consists exclusively of stock in trade, the statute declares what shall constitute the property to be listed. It is. the average of stock on hand during the preceding year, and the statute also points out the method by which such average may be ascertained. The sum in money represented by such average is the true value of such personal property. If, therefore, the assessor values the average of stock and returns the same
In the case at bar, there was no want of power properly lodged to enable the proper authorities to secure an assessment of all the personal property of the plaintiff. If the county clerk or board of county commissioners had reason to believe that the plaintiff' had not listed for taxation all of its personal property, they had ample power, under §70, above referred to, to secure a full assessment of all its personal property. They could have served notice on the plaintiff, issued process, and brought the officers of the plaintiff company, or any other persons having knowledge upon the subject, in to testify under oath, and thus learn all about the plaintiff’s property, and after such hearing add to its assessment as returned by the assessor any other personal property they found the plaintiff possessed of. The object of the commissioners seemed to be to secure a fair assessment of the property of the county for taxation, but they mistook the method. The legislature has not, and likely will not, confer arbitrary power upon the commissioners, or any other body or person to arbitrarily assess property-owners for taxation. The power lodged with the assessors, county clerk, and board of county commissioners by the legislature, is ample for all proper purposes of assessment and taxation, and we do not think the power should be extended to any tribunal not already in possession thereof.
The defendants in this case rely on the case of Gillett v. Treasurer of Lyon Co., 30 Kas. 166, and the court below seems to have regarded it at least as somewhat controlling in the case. We think a careful examination of that case will show it to be in perfect harmony with the conclusions herein reached. In that case the facts show that the assessors of Lyon county met pursuant to statute, and agreed upon a common basis of valuation for the property of their respective townships. Afterward the assessors of some of the townships ignored the agreement so made by the body of the assessors, and valued the property in their townships lower than the valuation
We recommend that the case be reversed, and remanded with instruction to allow the order of injunction.
By the Court: It is so' ordered.