Appeal of Pilot Freight Carriers, Inc., 250

• Decision Date: 15 January 1965
• Docket Number: No. 250,250
• Citation: 263 N.C. 345,139 S.E.2d 633
• Parties: Appeal of PILOT FREIGHT CARRIERS, INC. to the State Board of Assessment from the 1962 ad valorem valuation placed by Meckienburg County on Personal Property of the Said Pilot Freight Carriers, Inc.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 633

139 S.E.2d 633

263 N.C. 345

Appeal of PILOT FREIGHT CARRIERS, INC. to the State Board of

Assessment from the 1962 ad valorem valuation

placed by Meckienburg County on Personal

Property of the Said Pilot

Freight Carriers, Inc.

No. 250

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Jan. 15, 1965.

Dockery, Ruff, Perry, Bond & Cobb, by Hamlin L. Wade, Charlotte, Hasty, Hasty and Kratt, by Fred H. Hasty, Charlotte, for Mecklenburg County, appellant.

Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice, by Leon L. Rice, Jr. and Wade M. Gallant, Jr., Winston-Salem, for Pilot Freight Carriers, Inc., appellee.

SHARP, Justice.

This appeal presents two questions: (1) Did the State Board of Assessemt have jurisdiction to determine the tax situs of the line-haul tractors and trailers owned by Pilot Freight Carriers, a North Carolina corporation, whose principal place of business is in Forsyth County? (2) If so, did it correctly rule that the tractors and trailers in question were not situated in Mecklenburg County within the meaning of G.S. § 105-302(d), and, therefore, did not have a tax situs there?

The County Board and the State Board are both creatures of the legislature, and each has only such powers as the legislature confers. State v. Curtis, 230 N.C. 169, 52 S.E.2d 364. G.S. § 105-327(g) prescribes the powers of the County Board:

'(1) It shall be the duty of the board of equalization and review to equalize the valuation of all property in the county, to the end that such property shall be listed on the tax records at the valuation required by law; and said board shall correct the tax records for each township so that they will conform to the provisions of this subchapter.

'(2) The board shall, on request, hear any and all taxpayers who own or control taxable property assessed for taxation in the county in respect to the valuation of such property or the property of others.

'(3) The board shall examine and review the tax lists of each township for the current year; shall, of its own motion or on sufficient cause shown by any person, list and assess any real or personal property or polls subject to taxation in the county omitted from said lists; shall correct all errors in the names of persons, in the description of property, and in the assessment and valuation of any taxable property appearing on said lists; shall increase or reduce the assessed value of any property which in their opinion shall have been returned below ow above the valuation required by law; and shall cause to be done whatever else shall be necessary to make said lists comply with the provisions of this subchapter * * *'

This statute obviously gives a county board jurisdiction to list, value, and assess only property situated in its county, but it is equally apparent that it imposes upon it the duty to see that all property in that county is listed for taxation at the valuation required by law. This duty necessarily implies the power to consider and decide whether property is located in the county for tax purposes, i. e., to pass upon its tax situs. A determination of that fact is a requirement precedent to any legal listing, assessment, and valuation for tax purposes. In most instances the taxpayer who appeals the veluation placed upon his property by the County Board raises no question of situs; he is usually concerned only with having the valuation reduced, not eliminated there. Where, however, the question of tax situs is raised before the County Board, it is an integral part of its duties to pass upon the question. In doing so, it is not passing upon the taxpayer's liability for the tax. Pilot concedes the liability; the only question is whether it is liable to Mecklenburg County.

G.S. § 105-329 authorizes the property owner or any member of the County Board of Commissioners to appeal from a decision of the County Board to the State Board. The jurisdiction of the latter is fixed by G.S. § 105-275, which provides:

'Duties of the Board.--The State Board of Assessment shall exercise general and specific supervision of the systems of valuation and taxation throughout the State, including counties and municipalities, and in addition it shall be and constitute a State Board of Equalization and Review of valuation and taxation in this State. It shall be the duty of said Board: * * *

'(3) To hear and to adjudicate appeals from boards of county commissioners and county boards of equalization and review as to property liable for taxation that has not been assessed or of property that has been fraudulently or improperly assessed through error or otherwise, to investigate the same, and if error, inequality, or fraud is found to exist, to take such proceedings and to make such orders as to correct the same. In case it shall be made to appear to the State Board of Assessment that any tax list or assessment roll in any county in this State is grossly irregular, or any property is unlawfully or unequally assessed as between individuals, between sections of a county, or between counties, the said Board shall correct such irregularities, inequalities and lack of uniformity, and shall equalize and make uniform the valuation thereof upon complaint by the board of county commissioners under rules and regulations prescribed by it, not inconsistent with this subchapter * * *

'(5) To discharge such other duties as may be prescribed by law, and take such action, do such things, and prescribe such rules and regulations as may be needful and proper to enforce the provisions of this subchapter and the Revenue Act. * * *' (Italics ours.)

Valuation is merely one aspect of taxation, as the preamble to G.S. § 105-275, quoted above, recognizes. The statute makes the State Board a board of equalization and review of valuation and taxation in this State. Subsection (3), italicized above, specifically authorizes the State Board to hear and adjudicate appeals from the County Board 'as to property liable for taxation' which either has not been assessed or has been improperly assessed and then to make such orders as are necessary under the law. Subsection (3) is specific statutory recognition that jurisdiction over ad valorem taxation includes the power to determine the tax situs of the property which a county has assessed. One of the primary functions of the State Board is to maintain reasonable uniformity throughout the 100 counties in carrying out the provisions of the revenue laws and...