193 Mass. 168 | Mass. | 1906
These are four petitions for the abatement of taxes assessed upon real estate of the petitioners in the town of Amherst by the assessors of Amherst for the years 1901, 1902, 1903 and 1904. Abatements were refused by the assessors and thereupon the taxes were paid under protest and appeals taken to the Superior Court. The cases were heard together by a judge without a jury. The petitioners contended in each case that the'property was exempt from taxation. The judge found for the petitioners in each case and ordered judgment against the inhabitants of the town for the amount paid, with interest, and by agreement of parties reported the cases to this court; judgment to be entered on the findings if correct, otherwise such judgments to be entered as the court should deem proper.
The respondents contend generally that the property was rightly assessed. They contend further in regard to the taxes assessed for the years 1901 and 1902 that the lists filed by the petitioners were not sworn to, and the judge found, as a fact, that they were not. They contend still further in regard to the tax for the year 1901 that the application for abatement was not made within six months after the date of the tax bill.
We take up first these formal matters, assuming, without deciding, that the provisions of the Revised Laws in regard to abatements apply to the tax* of 1901 though it was assessed before they went into effect. Some contention is made by the petitioners that the evidence, which is stated in the report, did not warrant a finding that the lists of 1901 and 1902 were not sworn to. But we deem it enough to say of this contention that the finding appears to us to have been clearly warranted by the evidence. The question remains on this branch of the case as to the effect of the finding on the right of the petitioners to an abatement of the taxes for those years.
The petitioners concede that previous to the Revised Laws the
We also think that application for the abatement of the tax of 1901 was not made within six months after the date of the tax bill. The statute provides that “ The collector shall forthwith, after receiving a tax list and warrant, send notice to each person who is assessed, resident or non-resident, of the amount of his tax.” R. L. c. 13, § 3. An examination of the corresponding sections of previous statutes shows that, in St. 1889, c. 334, § 1, of which the present provision is a re-enactment, the word “ notice ” was substituted for the term “ tax bill ” which had been the word used hitherto, but the term “ tax bill ” was still retained in the provision relating to an application for an abatement. R. L. c. 12, § 73. Manifestly as there used it has reference to the notice which the collector is required to send to each taxpayer of the amount of his tax. In the present case the notice that was sent consisted of a postal card which bore on its face the address, “ Amherst College, Amherst, Mass.,” with the postmark “ Amherst Mass., July 17, 1901” and on the back the words printed and written that are printed in the footnote.
There remain the taxes for the years 1903 and 1904. In regard to these the only question is whether the several parcels of real estate for which the petitioners were assessed were or
So ordered.
The words printed and written on the back of the card were as follows:
Tax Collector’s Notice.
M...... Amherst College
Tour town county & state taxes for 1901 are $1542.60 Watering Streets 17.50
Taxes are now payable at the collector’s office Interest added after October 10, 1901.
C. H. Edwards, Collector town of Amherst, Mass.