Cnty. of Appanoose v. Vermilion

• Decision Date: 16 December 1886
• Citation: Cnty. of Appanoose v. Vermilion, 70 Iowa 365, 30 N.W. 616 (Iowa 1886)
• Parties: COUNTY OF APPANOOSE v. VERMILION AND OTHERS, EX'RS.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

70 Iowa 365

30 N.W. 616

COUNTY OF APPANOOSE

v.VERMILION AND OTHERS, EX'RS.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

December 16, 1886.

Appeal from circuit court, Appanoose county.

The plaintiff seeks to recover of the defendants, who are executors of the last will and testament of B. Bowen, deceased, a judgment in damages, upon the ground that the deceased, in his life-time, fraudulently concealed a large amount of his money and credits from the assessor for taxation, by reason of which fraudulent concealment the decedent avoided and escaped the payment of a large amount of taxes which he ought to have paid.A demurrer to the petition was sustained.Plaintiff appeals.Geo. D. Porter, for appellant.

Vermilion & Evans, for appellee.

ROTHROCK, J.

In the case of Worthington v. Whitman,25 N. W. Rep. 124, the plaintiff, who was a county treasurer, sought to recover of the executor of an estate an amount of money which it was alleged the deceased should have paid as taxes, but did not pay, because no assessment nor levy of any tax was made upon the property of the deceased.We held that no recovery could be had, because the taxing power can be exercised only in accordance with the forms of law.It is said in that case“that the assessment or recorded valuation of property by the officer or officers having power to make such assessment or recorded valuation is an indispensable step in the exercise of the taxing power.Such recorded valuation constitutes the basis of the levy, and without it there cannot properly be a levy.”

In the case at bar it is alleged that the deceased was assessed for taxation, but that, by reason of the fraudulent concealment of his property, his assessment was not large enough.In other words, the county seeks to recover damages from his estate because his property was not all assessed for taxation.It is not a suit to recover a tax, because the amount claimed was never levied as a tax.It is in the nature of an action by the county for an alleged fraud upon the revenue laws of the state.We think it cannot be maintained.Taxes are exactions made by the state upon the property of the people, for the support of the government.Without express legislative enactment or constitutional provision, the property of the people cannot be subjected to taxation.The laws of this state provide in detail the manner in which the necessary public revenue shall be obtained from the owners of property in the state.The listing and valuation of the...