131 Iowa 605 | Iowa | 1906
In December, 1903, the appellant, C. D. Carroll, as treasurer of Linn county, listed and assessed against the appellee, as agent for others who were not named, moneys, loans, and credits alleged to have been omitted from taxation for the years 1899 to 1902 inclusive. The plaintiff in this.action seeks to restrain the treasurer from collecting, or attempting to collect, the tax so assessed by him. By an amendment to the petition the plaintiff also seeks to restrain the appellant from making a proposed similar assessment for the year 1903. The original petition alleged that the board of supervisors of the county employed the firm of Fleener, Schleicher & Martin to assist the county treasurer in attempting to discover property omitted from taxation in said county; that on or about the 7th day of November, 1903, said firm,, for the purpose of extorting from the plaintiff any information it might possess as to property owned by
The defendant having appealed from the ruling on his demurrer to the amendment to the petition as well as from the ruling on the plaintiff’s demurrer to his answer, all of the questions raised by the plaintiff in his original petition are practically before us for determination notwithstanding, the affirmative averment of the answer which the demurrer admits.
The property in question was assessed to the plaintiff
In this case the plaintiff denied its agency and asserted that it had no property liable to assessment; hence, if the assessor found that the other conditions of the section existed, we think he was justified in assessing the property to appellee as agent without naming the owners thereof. Before an agent can be made personally liable for the tax, the fact of agency must be shown, and it must further be shown that he has possession or control of property for investment or use as provided by the statute. Code, section 1320; Trust Co. v. Board, supra.
8' Sfngs*: efflct of demurrer. The appellee claims that none of these requirements had been met when the treasurer made the assessment in question, and that he was therefore without jurisdiction and .his act absolutely illegal and void. The precise point is made that the treasurer . i i i • i • , acted solely on surmise and conjecture as to those matters. As to the tax for the years 1899 to 1902 inclusive, the answer alleges the existence of the agency and the other facts necessary to warrant an assessment, and the truth of the allegations are admitted by the demurrer. The appellee seeks to avoid the force of this position by arguing that the answer admits facts which show that the assessment was void, first, because it admits that the assessment was made in the name of the bank and failed to state the name of the owner of the property; it admits that the appellee denied holding any property as agent, and fails to allege that the agent refused to list the property of its principal. All of these contentions are practically disposed of by what has been said relative to the assessment to the plaintiff as agent. Tt is true, the answer admits that the appellee denied holding moneys or credits as agent, but such ad
The district court erred in sustaining the demurrers, and its judgment must be, and it is, reversed.