212 Wis. 357 | Wis. | 1933
The following opinion was filed June 6, 1933:
The appellant urges that the determination of the county board of review to set aside the additional assessment is a final and conclusive decision; that the board’s conclusion upon the fact of value of the stock at the time of the gift in December, 1922, made after reviewing conflicting testimony, must be accepted for the purposes of assessment if the finding in that respect is supported by substantial evidence. The argument for this contention is based
“Every system of taxation consists of two parts, — first, the elements that enter into the imposition of the tax, and, second, the steps taken for its assessment and collection.” 1 Cooley, Taxation, § 78.
The first part is a legislative function; the second, the part with which we are concerned on this appeal, relates to the mechanism by which the power to value property for taxation purposes is exercised. The necessity of supervising by a central administrative body of the infinite variety of interests affected by the tax-assessment process is obvious and there is no obstacle in the way of the legislature placing supervising control of this process in the Tax -Commission.
The result reached in the case of Turneaure v. Tax Commission, 207 Wis. 436, 240 N. W. 807, 242 N. W. 150, as to the distinction between procedural methods in settling questions raised before administrative bodies and the procedure followed by the courts is adhered to. We said:
“The Tax Commission does not function as a reviewing body in the sense that a court reviews the determination of an inferior tribunal. It is under the statute in certain cases the final administrative authority for the determination of the amount of the assessment, and for that reason an appeal to the court lies from the determination of that body in cases where the record has been removed to it under the provisions of sec. 71.15.”
Should it be held that the function of the Tax Commission is only to review the record made before the board of review for the sole purpose of correcting errors in accordance with established principles of law applicable to courts, there would be imposed upon the Tax Commission a purely judicial function which would destroy any administrative
“The Tax Commission shall review such assessments from the record thus submitted, and shall make necessary corrections and certify its conclusions
This same section provides that the corrected assessment is to be entered on the assessment roll.
The powers and functions of the Tax Commission were reviewed at some length in the case of Peninsular Power Co. v. Tax Commission, 195 Wis. 231, 218 N. W. 371. It was there said: “The Tax Commission is the supreme administrative body of the state with reference to matters of assessment and taxation.” When the record before the county board of review is passed upon by the Tax Commission and the determination of the board of review is corrected to conform to what the Tax Commission decides to be the correct assessment under the law and facts, then that decision becomes the assessment.
Appellant contends that certain words in the income statutes necessitate the construction that the Tax Commission is confined to a consideration of whether evidence to support the findings of the county board of review exists. In sub. (8) of sec. 71.16 the following words do occur:
“The proceedings of the Tax Commission and the county board of review shall be presumed to be legal, and the determination of the Tax Commission or the county board of review shall not be impaired, vitiated or set aside upon any grounds not affecting the legal groundwork of the tax.”
On the other hand, the review by the Tax Commission of additional assessments against individuals upon appeal is provided for in sec. 71.15 and under it “The Tax Commission shall review such assessments from the record thus submitted, and shall make necessary corrections and certify its conclusion to the county clerk, who shall duly notify the per
We do not consider the doctrine of Lewis v. Racine, 179 Wis. 210, 190 N. W. 476, applicable to .this situation. Prior to 1925 the determination made by the county board of review was reviewable on certiorari. The amendments to the law since then confine the court review to determinations of the Tax Commission. The statute now authorizes and directs the commission to review the assessment. This necessarily involves an independent consideration of the matter. An appeal from the county board of review to the Tax Commission is a necessary prerequisite to a judicial review, and appeals from the Tax Commission are now the method for obtaining a court review of any assessment of income or surtaxes. The court is required upon such hearings to disregard omissions not affecting the legal groundwork of the tax and to enter an order confirming such assessment, directing judgment accordingly, unless it shall appear that such assessment is in part or in whole illegal.
The legislature having made the Tax Commission the final administrative authority, it cannot also be presumed to have
By the Court. — Judgment affirmed.
The following opinion was filed September 12, 1933 :
Upon the motion for rehearing the appellant contends that sec. 71.15 as interpreted deprives the appellant of his property without due process of law in violation of sec. 1, art. XIV, of the amendments to the federal constitution, in that the statute makes no provision for the
The court has considered these contentions and has said in the opinion deciding the case: “The necessity of supervising by a central administrative body of the infinite variety of interests affected by the tax-assessment process is obvious and there is no obstacle in the way of the legislature placing supervising control of this process in the Tax Commission.”
The claims thus advanced are without foundation.
Motion for rehearing denied, with $25 costs.