City of Hannibal v. Bowman

• Decision Date: 03 February 1903
• Citation: 71 S.W. 1122,98 Mo. App. 103
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals
• Parties: CITY OF HANNIBAL ex rel. BASSEN v. BOWMAN et al.<SMALL><SUP>*</SUP></SMALL>

71 S.W. 1122

98 Mo. App. 103

CITY OF HANNIBAL ex rel. BASSEN v. BOWMAN et al.^*

Court of Appeals at St. Louis, Missouri.

February 3, 1903.

TAXATION—BACK ASSESSMENTS.

1. Rev. St. 1899, § 9199, providing that, where there has been a failure to assess the property in a county for any year, the assessor of the county for the time being shall assess it for the year in which the failure occurred, applies only where there was a total failure to make an assessment in the county for a year; and, in the absence of other authority, there cannot be an assessment for a prior year where there was a mere omission of personal property of an individual from assessment.

Appeal from Hannibal court of common pleas; David H. Eby, Judge.

Suit by the city of Hannibal, on the relation of Joseph Bassen, against E. P. Bowman and others. Judgment for defendants. Plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

The petition in this case covers 20 pages of printed matter. The material facts alleged are that the city of Hannibal was incorporated by an act of the general assembly passed in the year 1845, with power to levy and collect certain city and special taxes set forth in the petition; that Joseph Bassen is the collector of taxes in and for said city, and defendants are the administrators of the estate of Daniel Coney, who died in the year 1898; that, for many years prior to his death, Coney was a resident of the city of Hannibal, and his personal property was at all times situated in said city, and was the proper and legitimate subject of taxation by said city; that for each of the years 1893, 1894, 1895, 1896, and 1897, he was duly called upon by the assessor of said city to furnish a correct list of his personal property for taxation; that in each of said years he did furnish to the assessor a list of his personal property for taxation, to which he made affidavit, but that for the year 1893 he omitted from said list, and fraudulently concealed from said assessor, personal property (promissory notes) subject to taxation for city purposes of the value of $33,343.53; that, by means of said false list and fraudulent concealment, said property wholly escaped taxation for the said year 1893; that, by a like false list and concealment, personal property of Coney (promissory notes) of the value of $34,893.93 escaped taxation for the year 1894; that, by a like false list and fraudulent concealment, personal property (promissory notes) of Coney of the value of $36,770.42 escaped taxation for the year 1895; by a like false list and fraudulent concealment, property (promissory notes) of Coney of the value of $53,948.08 escaped taxation for the year 1896; and, by a like false list and fraudulent concealment, personal property (promissory notes) of Coney of the value of $73,799.56 escaped taxation for the year 1897; that assessments of property subject to taxation by said city for all of said years were duly made, and city taxes were duly levied and collected thereon; that the falsehood and fraud of Coney was not discovered until the administrators of his estate filed their inventory of the assets, from which it was discovered that Coney had willfully and fraudulently withheld from the assessor the promissory notes aforesaid for the years 1893, 1894, 1895, 1896, and 1897; that upon this discovery the assessor assessed to Coney, by entering upon the assessor's book for the year 1893, promissory notes aggregating $33,343.53, and assessed to Coney and entered upon the assessor's book for the year 1894 promissory notes aggregating $34,893.93, and assessed to Coney and entered on the assessor's book for the year 1895 promissory notes aggregating $36.770.42, and assessed to Coney and entered upon the assessor's book for the year 1896 promissory notes aggregating $53,948.08, and assessed to Coney and entered on the assessor's book for the year 1897 promissory notes aggregating $73,799.56; that the said city clerk extended the taxes on these several assessments on the proper back tax book for each of said years. The assessments are set out in detail. The date, amount, and names of the makers of the notes assessed are given, and the notes are otherwise fully described in the petition. From the back-tax books the city clerk made out, in due and regular form, tax bills for each of the years above mentioned. These tax bills are made the foundation of the suit. The defendants demurred to the petition on the following grounds: "(1) Because, as appears on the face of said amended petition, the plaintiff has not legal capacity to sue or maintain this action. (2) Because, as appears on the face thereof, said ...