259 Mo. 52 | Mo. | 1914
This is a suit for city taxes. The circuit court sustained a general demurrer to the petition and plaintiff appealed;
. The pleaded facts pertinent to the .questions presented here are that in 1907. and 1908 defendant was a citizen and resident of the city of Gallatin; that in 1907 Gallatin was operating under a special charter, and June 1st that year the city assessor duly assessed defendant’s personalty for taxation as of the value of $6155, and the township assessor, on the same date, made a like assessment of the same property, and this last assessment was duly returned, with all other assessed property of the township, to the county clerk of Daviess county and duly equalized and adjusted by the county board of equalization, as the law provides; that the city taxes for 1907 were extended on the assessment made by the city assessor as of June 1, 1907; and defendant, in the same year, paid the city taxes for 1907 so extended against his personalty; that in February, 1908, the city of Gallatin became a city of the fourth class by virtue of lawful procedure under the general statutory provisions governing such action but did not elect a city assessor or make provision for one; that on June 30, 1908, the mayor, pursuant to the statute (See. 9347, R. S. 1909) and an ordinance duly passed, procured from the county clerk of Daviess county, in which county Gallatin is situate, an abstract of the assessment of all property in the city taxable for State and county purposes, including the property of
Other facts are alleged in the petition and those referred to are more particularly stated therein, but those set out sufficiently present the questions decisive of the case.
Respondent’s position is that the petition discloses a case of duplicate taxation and that the ordinances are insufficiently pleaded.
Appellant contends the petition is open to neither of these objections.
“By duplicate taxation in this sense is understood the requirement that one person or any one subject of taxation shall directly contribute twice to the same burden, while other subjects of taxation belonging to the same class are required to contribute but once.” [1 Cooley on Taxation (3 Ed.), p. 394.]
In this ease the city assessor and township assessor made their assessments in 1907 at the same time and assessed the same property, affixing identical valuations; but the taxes extended upon the city assessor’s assessment were the city taxes for the year 1907, while the taxes extended on the abstract procured June 30, 1908, were the city taxes for the year 1908. The taxes were, therefore, extended for two entirely different years and in no sense can it be said the defendant or
Neither does it make any difference whether the levy for 1907 on the city assessment for that year was valid or invalid. The single question here is as to the validity of the levy for 1908. The cases cited by respondent are those stating generally the rule pro
Even in an indictment it is not necessary to plead pertinent ordinances in full. [State v. Dineen, 203 Mo. l. c. 634.]
The judgment of the circuit court is reversed and the cause remanded.
PER CURIAM. — The foregoing opinion of Blair, C., is adopted as the opinion of the court.