Gibson v. Lawrence County

• Decision Date: 23 October 1922
• Docket Number: 208
• Parties: GIBSON v. LAWRENCE COUNTY
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

244 S.W. 341

155 Ark. 319

GIBSON v. LAWRENCE COUNTY

No. 208

Supreme Court of Arkansas

October 23, 1922

Appeal from Lawrence Circuit Court, Northern District; Dene H Coleman, Judge; affirmed.

Judgment affirmed.

Cohn Clayton & Cohn, for appellant.

Ponder & Gibson, for appellee.

Property is assessed in this State, whether it produces income or not. 119 Ark. 370. The findings and judgment of the circuit court will not be disturbed on appeal, where sustained by sufficient legal evidence. 138 Ark. 452. The market value of property is its value for any use to which it may be adapted. 116 Ark. 209.

OPINION

MCCULLOCH, C. J.

Appellant is the owner of a large number of improved and unimproved lots of real estate in the town of Hoxie, and she appealed to the county court from the valuations for taxation purposes made for the year 1921 by the county tax assessor and the township board of assessors. She also prosecuted an appeal to the circuit court from the judgment of the county court fixing the assessments, and has, in turn, appealed from the judgment of the circuit court.

The only contention here is that the judgment of the circuit court fixing the assessments is against the weight of the evidence adduced at the hearing.

Appellant presents a tabulated statement showing the assessments on these lands as they appear on the tax-books for the year 1920, and also the assessments made by the board of assessors, the amounts fixed by the county court, and the amounts fixed by the judgment of the circuit court.

The inquiry involves seventy-four separate valuations, in most instances each valuation covering several contiguous lots. The figures tabulated by appellant, showing the aggregate valuations, are as follows:

Total valuation for the year 1920

$ 35,245

Total valuation fixed by the board of ass-

essors

56,430

Total valuation fixed by the county court

44,865

Total valuation fixed by judgment of the

circuit court.

43,595

Counsel for appellant have discussed in the brief, in detail, each of the separate assessments, but it is unnecessary for us to do so in this opinion, as the appeal can be disposed of in a general discussion of all the valuations.

It appears from the testimony that the board of assessors sought to adopt, as the proper assessment, fifty per centum of the actual valuation of the land, and appellee introduced the county assessor and one of the members of the township board whose testimony tended to show that these lands were assessed on that basis, and that they were in uniformity with other assessments in the county. Several witnesses were introduced by appellant, and their testimony tended to show that many of the assessments were...