School Dist. of Berkeley v. Evans, 42837

Decision Date09 June 1952
Docket NumberNo. 2,No. 42837,42837,2
Citation250 S.W.2d 499,363 Mo. 208
PartiesSCHOOL DIST. OF BERKELEY v. EVANS et al
CourtMissouri Supreme Court

Erwin Tzinberg, Clayton, for plaintiff-appellant, C. Wheeler Detjen, St. Louis, for St. Louis County, defendant-intervenor-appellant.

James E. Crowe, City Counselor, Charles J. Dolan, John P. McCammon, Associate City Counselors, St. Louis, for respondent City of St. Louis.

WESTHUES, Commissioner.

The question for decision in this case is whether an airplane manufacturing and assembly plant, located on the Lambert-St. Louis Municipal Airport and owned by the City of St. Louis, is subject to taxation for the year 1950. The trial court held the property was exempt by virtue of Article 10, Section 6 of the 1945 Constitution of Missouri, V.A.M.S. An appeal was granted to this court.

The question arose in the following manner: Prior to World War II the plant in question was owned by the Curtis Manufacturing Company. It was acquired by the United States Defense Plant Corporation which leased it to the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation for the duration of the war. During all of these years the plant was taxed and taxes were paid. The land upon which the plant was located belonged to the City of St. Louis and the land was not taxed. In May, 1948, the City of St. Louis purchased the plant from the Defense Plant Corporation and leased it to the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation. In 1951 the plant was sold to the McDonnell Corporation. In July, 1950, the Board of Equalization of St. Louis County in which county the plant is located made an order that the plant be assessed for taxation. It was assessed at $3,486,360. The City of St. Louis appealed the assessment to the State Tax Commission which ruled that the assessment was void for the reason that the property was exempt from taxation. On appeal to the Circuit Court the ruling of the State Tax Commission was affirmed. An appeal to this court followed.

Section 6 of Article 10 of the 1945 Constitution of Missouri reads as follows:

'All property, real and personal, of the state, counties and other political subdivisions, and nonprofit cemeteries, shall be exempt from taxation; and all property, real and personal, not held for private or corporate profit and used exclusively for religious worship, for schools and colleges, for purposes purely charitable, or for agricultural and horticultural societies may be exempted from taxation by general law. All laws exempting from taxation property other than the property enumerated in this article, shall be void.'

It will be noted that the section of the Constitution provides that all property of the state and other political subdivisions shall be exempt from taxation. The same section provides that property used exclusively for religious worship, schools, etc., may be exempted from taxation by general law. (Italics ours.) The test to be applied to property held by the state and its political subdivisions is ownership while the test as to other exemptions which may be granted by general law is whether the property is being used for the purposes enumerated. The rule applicable in such a situation is thus stated in 61 C.J. 420, Section 455:

'* * * Where municipal ownership is made the sole test of the exemption, the purpose of the use is immaterial, especially where use is made a condition in other exemption provisions in the constitution and omitted in the provision relating to municipal corporations, and even where the exemption statute further provides that 'nothing herein contained shall be construed to exempt from taxation any part of a lot or building used for any private purpose or for profit,' where the exemption itself is construed as having no reference to city property; * * *.'

In the case of City of Yankton v. Madson, 70 S.D. 627, 20 N.W.2d 371, the court reviewed this question. Note what the court said, 70 S.D. loc.cit. 631, 20 N.W.2d...

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