57 Ind. App. 508 | Ind. Ct. App. | 1914
Action by appellee as a taxpayer of Knox County, to enjoin appellant Scott, as auditor of said county, from placing on the tax duplicates of the county a ten per cent increase in the assessment of all personal property in the county made by the State Board of Tax Commissioners, and to enjoin appellant Ruble, as treasurer of the county from attempting to collect taxes on the increased assessment. Appellee in his complaint alleged that the order of the State Board of Tax Commissioners was void because it did not comply with the statutes of the State, in that notice was not given to the taxpayers of the county as provided in §§10295, 10296 Burns 1914, Acts 1905 p. 105, and that the auditor of 'Knox County did not, as provided by said section, call the board of county commissioners of said county to meet in special session on a day fixed by him within five days of the receipt of the certificate as provided in said act, and said board was not in regular session within said five days or at any other time when said board might take action regarding said purported action of said State Board of Tax Commissioners. A demurrer to the complaint was overruled, and a demurrer sustained to the special answer filed by appellants showing what steps had been taken to notify the taxpayers. Trial was had on an agreed statement of facts and the court found for appellee and rendered judgment accordingly.
The only question of importance in the case is whether, under the procedure followed, the increase ordered by the State Board of Tax Commissioners is valid. We quote so much of the agreed statement of facts as is relevant to this question. “The State Board of Tax Commissioners of the State of Indiana, during the first five days of its second session in the year 1913, considered the assessments of personal property of the various counties of the State, and determined the counties in which the assessments of personal property appeared to be too low; and said State Board of Tax Commissioners fixed a day in their regular next succeeding meeting, to wit, July 30, 1913, which time was more than fifteen days from the expiration of the first five days of the said second session of said board, when said board would consider the matter of the increase of the assessments of personal property of said Knox County; and said State Board of Tax Commissioners then and there made an order directing the manner in which a hearing might be had with reference to said matter, and provided in said order that any representative of the board of commissioners of said Knox County, or any taxpayer therein, might appear in person or by attorney, and be heard with reference to the proposed increase of the assessment of personal property of said county, and provided that said hearing would be
‘Notice to Taxpayers, Vincennes, Indiana, July 11, 1913. The taxpayers of Knox County, Indiana, are hereby notified 'that the State Board of Tax Commissioners has fixed the 30th day of July, 1913, at 9:30 a. m. at the office of said board, for the consideration of the assessments of personal property of Knox County, for the purpose of equalizing said assessments and for the purpose of considering the matter of increasing the assessments of the personal property of said county, and to determine the rates of addition to or reduction from the listed or assessed valuation of said property in said county. At such hearing any representative of the board of county commissioners or any taxpayer of said county, may appear in person, or by attorney, and be heard. This hearing has nothing to do with appeals from county board of review.
Witness my hand and official seal this 11th day of July,
Said notice was published July 11, 1913. Said auditor or Knox County did not, within five days from the receipt of said certificate above referred to, call the board of commissioners of said Knox County to meet in special session on a day fixed by him, and said board of commissioners was not in regular session any time within said time, and was not in regular or special session during the month of July, 1913, after the tenth day thereof, and said board of commissioners did not know of said hearing until after July 30, 1913. At the time fixed for such hearing no representative of the board of county commissioners of said Knox County, and no taxpayer to be affected by said proposed increase of assessment, appeared either in person or by attorney. After the hearing provided for by law relating to the increase of the assessment of personal property in the various counties, including the said county of Knox, had been concluded, said State Board of Tax Commissioners proceeded to equalize assessments of personal property in the various counties of the State, as provided by law. Said state board took into account the valuation of similar property in other counties. In equalizing the assessment of personal property in the various counties of the State, said state board ordered an increase of the assessment of all the personal property in said Knox County of ten per centum, and made and entered of record on the records of said board an order increasing the said assessment of personal property in Knox County of said ten per centum above the assessment thereof as returned by the several township assessors of said county and as revised by the county board of review of said county; and thereafter on September 30, 1913, said state board certified said order and increase of assessment to the defendant John T. Scott, auditor of Knox County, directing him as such .auditor to add said ten per centum increase in the assessment of personal property, to all the personal
We are of the opinion, however, that in order to make valid an increase in assessments such as that under consideration, the notification of the hoard of county commissioners and the calling into session of that hoard, prescribed hy §10296 Burns 1914, supra, is as essential as the notice to.the taxpayers prescribed hy the same section. By virtue of its position, the hoard of county commissioners is peculiarly the guardian of the taxpayers of the county in matters such as the present. Further, §10296, supra, ren
The reasons for holding the jurisdiction of the State Board incomplete unless the board of county commissioners has been notified as such, and has been in session, are as important as the reasons for holding such jurisdiction incomplete unless the posted and published notices have been given the taxpayers.
We find no error on the part of the trial court. Judgment affirmed.
Note. — Reported in 106 N. E. 891. As to right of taxpayer to notice and opportunity to be heard on assessment for taxation of omitted property, see 12 Ann. Cas. 468. See, also, under (1, 2) 37 Cyc. 1274; (3) 37 Cye. 971,