Gully, State Tax Collector v. Mississippi Valley Co

• Decision Date: 02 May 1938
• Docket Number: 33194
• Citation: 180 So. 745,181 Miss. 669
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: GULLY, STATE TAX COLLECTOR, v. MISSISSIPPI VALLEY CO

180 So. 745

181 Miss. 669

GULLY, STATE TAX COLLECTOR, v. MISSISSIPPI VALLEY CO

No. 33194

Supreme Court of Mississippi

May 2, 1938

Division B

TAXATION.

Where lots owned by a trustee for a railroad appeared on county assessment rolls and the board of supervisors adjudged that valuation should be assessed by the State Tax Commission which was done and the taxes paid, the state tax collector could not recover claimed back taxes regardless of any errors of fact or law of the board or commission and of whether the assessment was void on the ground that the lots were entirely disconnected from the railroad's business (Code 1930 section 3.201, and section as amended by Laws 1932, chapter 291).

HON. W A. WHITE, Judge.

APPEAL from the circuit court of Harrison county, HON. W. A. WHITE Judge.

Proceeding by J. B. Gully, State Tax Collector, against the Mississippi Valley Company to back tax lots belonging to defendant as having escaped taxation. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Affirmed.

Geo. R. Smith and White & Morse, all of Gulfport, for for appellant.

Appellee takes the position that although the property here involved is "wholly disconnected from railroad business'' that still the State Tax Commission, having attempted to assess it (pursuant to appellee's erroneous listing of the property as railroad property) and taxes having been paid pursuant to such illegal and void assessment, it is not now subject to a valid assessment.

Section 3201, Code of Mississippi of 1930, provides for assessment by the State Tax Commission of railroad property proper. Section 3204, Code of Mississippi of 1930, provides that real estate owned by railroads, wholly disconnected from the railroad business, shall not be assessed by the State Tax Commission, and not be placed on the railroad rolls compiled by the State Tax Commission, but shall be assessed as other real estate by the tax assessor of the county where situated.

The State Tax Commission was without authority to assess this land even had it been owned by a railroad, because it was not connected in any way with the railroad business. Can a void act be res judicata of anything? The Tax Commission was without color of jurisdiction. It could no more make an assessment than the porter of this court could. There being no assessment (always the first step) no taxes could be paid. The attempted assessment being a nullity, the tax payment was a nullity. It is all due to the act of appellee in making an improper return for taxation.

Miss. Valley Co. v. Chicago, etc., R. R., 58 Miss. 897; Robertson v. Puffer Mfg. Co., 112 Miss. 890.

The State Tax Commission was acting under a law complete in its details and limiting its power to assess. When it did more, the act was void.

Y. & M. V. R. R. v. Vicksburg, 95 Miss. 701.

Gardner & Backstrom, of Gulfport, R. C. Beckett and E. C. Craig, of Chicago, Ill., and Burch, Minor & McKay, of Memphis, Tenn., for appellee.

It is apparent from the record as a whole and the admitted facts that all of the lands sought to be back assessed have been listed on the regular land rolls of Harrison County, and have been assessed by the State Tax Commission for all the years in question, and, therefore, are not subject to back assessment at the instance of the State Tax Collector. Therefore, there was no issue before the court on which any papers, books or documents mentioned in the plaintiff's petition to produce could have any relevancy.

Pan American Petroleum Corp. v. Gully, 175 So. 185; Adams v. Luce, 87 Miss. 220, 39 So. 418; Long Bell Co. v. McLendon, 127 Miss. 636, 90 So. 356; Miller v. Copeland's Estate, 139 Miss. 788, 104 So. 176; Union Timber Co. v. Pearl River County, 141 Miss. 131, 106 So. 277; Miller v. A. F. & A. M., 114 So. 37; Gully v. Newman Lbr. Co., 178 Miss. 312, 172 So. 740.

Section 3201, Code of 1930, provides that each railroad company owning and operating a railroad shall file with the State Tax Commission a complete schedule under oath on forms prescribed and furnished by the State Tax Commission, of all of its property, real or personal, taxable and nontaxable.

Section 3204, Code of 1930, provides that the State Tax Commission shall assess all the property of such companies "but real estate belonging to a railroad which forms no part of the road and is wholly disconnected from its railroad business shall not be assessed on the roll, but shall be assessed as other real estate is assessed by the Tax Assessor of the county where situated."

Chapter 291, Laws of 1932.

Obviously, questions may arise as to whether a particular piece of real estate listed in its schedule by a railroad company "forms no part of the road and is wholly disconnected from its railroad business." In cases of doubt it is for the Commission to decide whether any particular parcel of ground is wholly disconnected from the railroad business. The statute provides that the assessment as made by the Tax Commission remains open for thirty days for protest and an appeal, after which time the decision of the Commission on the question of the character of the use of the land, as well as the valuation becomes final and binding on all parties.

We assert that the Commission has the final jurisdiction to determine whether any land listed by a railroad company whether its title be legal or equitable, is a part of the railroad, or is "wholly disconnected from its railroad business." It would be unseemly to have conflicting jurisdictions as between the Tax Commission and the county boards of supervisors on this question. However, there is no conflict in the present case because the record shows that all of this land was listed in the name of the Mississippi Valley Company on the land assessment roll of Harrison County and was there classified as being railroad land assessable by the State Tax Commission. The judgment of the Tax Assessor of Harrison' County and the Board of...