Bd. of Com'Rs of Custer Cnty. v. City of Clinton

• Decision Date: 11 January 1916
• Docket Number: Case Number: 7422
• Citation: 1916 OK 45,154 P. 513,49 Okla. 795
• Parties: BOARD OF COM'RS OF CUSTER COUNTY et al. v. CITY OF CLINTON.
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

1916 OK 45

154 P. 513

49 Okla. 795

BOARD OF COM'RS OF CUSTER COUNTY et al. v. CITY OF CLINTON.

Case Number: 7422

Supreme Court of Oklahoma

Decided: January 11, 1916

Syllabus

¶0 1. TAXATION--Delinquent Taxes--Interest, Penalties and Forfeitures--Disposition. By section 2, art. 3, c. 43, Sess. Laws 1895, p. 220, amending section 1, art. 10, c. 70, St. 1893, and by section 3, art. 9, c. 32, Sess. Laws 1897, p. 257, it was provided that all interest, penalties and forfeitures upon delinquent taxes should be paid into the county sinking fund.

2. SAME--Repeal of Statute. Said provisions were not repealed by the act of March 12, 1897, amending section 2, art. 3, c. 43, Sess. Laws 1895.

3. TAXATION--Delinquent Taxes--Penalties--Disposition--Validity of Statute. Sections 6771 to 6775, Rev. Laws 1910, both inclusive, imposing penalties upon delinquent taxes and making provision for the disposition thereof, are constitutional and valid.

4. CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--Equal Protection--Due Process--Taxation. Such statutes do not deny the taxpayer the equal protection of the laws, nor deprive him of his property without due process of law. Sharp, J., dissenting.

A. E. Darnell, for plaintiffs in error.

Geo. T. Webster, for defendant in error.

HARDY, J.

¶1 The city of Clinton brought suit in the district court of Custer county against the board of county commissioners of Custer county and G. D. Witt, treasurer, and his successors in office, seeking to recover against said defendants certain sums alleged to be due plaintiff as penalties upon certain city taxes levied upon property within the corporate limits of said city of Clinton. Upon trial of the case judgment was rendered in favor of plaintiff in the sum of $ 2,022.10, and defendants bring error. The questions of law involved in this case with reference to the right of the city or of the county to the penalties upon such taxes have been determined in Geo. K. Hunter, County Treas., v. State ex rel. City of Shawnee, ante, p. 672, 154 P. 545, in which it was held that, under the laws in force at the time the penalties involved accrued, it was the duty of the county treasurer to pay same into the county sinking fund, and to that extent the decision in that case is controlling here. A number of counsel have been permitted to appear as amici curiae, and different questions have been presented by them, one of the propositions urged being that should the court be of opinion that the county was entitled to the penalties involved, this holding would not be conclusive in an action brought by a city having a charter form of government. This question is not involved in this case, and was not presented or considered in the case of Hunter v. State ex rel. City of Shawnee, supra. It is further urged by counsel that, if the statute be construed so as to entitle the...