50 Wash. 349 | Wash. | 1908
In this action the appellant sought to recover from King county the sum of $343.22, paid as taxes on an overassessment. The facts out of which- the controversy arises are, in substance, these: The ápp’ellant owned a tract of land, situated in King county, and subject to taxation therein, containing 12.22 acres. This property was not assessed by any of the regular deputy assessors for the year 1906, and the fact of its omission was discovered when making up the assessment roll. The assessor thereupon assessed it at the same valuation per acre that surrounding and adjacent property was assessed. In making up the assessment,, however, he estimated the tract to contain 22.22 acres, and assessed it at some $13,000 more than he otherwise would had he known its exact area. The taxes were carried out on the assessment roll on the basis of this valuation. The appel
On the foregoing facts, the trial court held the appellant to be without remedy, entering a judgment against it of dismissal, and for costs.
The respondent contended in the court below, and it argues in this court, that the appellant is barred from recovery because it has shown nothing more than a mistake on the part of the assessor resulting in an overvaluation, and that a court will never interfere to correct a mere mistake of the assessing officer in matters of taxation, but that it must appear that the officer, in making the assessment, has acted maliciously, fraudulently, or capriciously, or without the exercise of his fair judgment before his acts will be disturbed by the courts; and further, that the record here does not show any of the elements necessary to warrant interference.
“Fraud on the part of the assessing officer may be presumed from a palpably excessive or exorbitant overvaluation. The court will grant relief for an arbitrary, fraudulent, or malicious excessive valuation by the assessing officer. Where the assessing officer has exercised an honest judgment, and no fraud or arbitrary or capricious action in making the assessment is shown or can be presumed, the court will not interfere. Where it appears that the assessing officer endeavored honestly to get at the true value, and there is an honest difference of opinion as to the value, the judgment of the officer is conclusive. If property, even if overvalued, is assessed in the same proportion as other like property within the jurisdiction of the assessing officer, and the system of valuation adopted operates equally on all other property, the constitutional provision as to uniformity of taxation is complied with.”
It announced the same principle, also, in the subsequent cases of Henderson v. Pierce County, 37 Wash. 201, 79 Pac. 617, and Dickson v. Kittitas County, 42 Wash. 429, 84 Pac. 855. These cases, it will be observed, lay down the rule as contended for by the respondent, with the exception, perhaps, that fraud, capriciousness, and the want of exercise of an honest judgment, may be inferred from the fact that the assessment greatly exceeds the value of the property, and is higher proportionally than the assessment upon other like property. It is perhaps true, also, that the language of these cases does not cover a case such as the present record presents. Here there was no fraud or capriciousness on the part of the assessor, or the failure to exercise an honest judgment by that officer on the facts as he understood them. The overassessment was caused by the fact that the officer made a mistake as to the quantity of land he was assessing.
We conclude, therefore, that the appellant made a prima facie showing entitling it to relief. The judgment appealed from will be reversed, and .the cause remanded with instructions to reinstate the case and put the county upon its defense.
Hadley, C. J., Mount, and Crow, JJ., concur.