Harris Lumber Company v. Grandstaff

• Decision Date: 17 March 1906
• Citation: 95 S.W. 772,78 Ark. 187
• Parties: HARRIS LUMBER COMPANY v. GRANDSTAFF
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

95 S.W. 772

78 Ark. 187

HARRIS LUMBER COMPANY v. GRANDSTAFF

Supreme Court of Arkansas

March 17, 1906

Appeal from Scott Chancery Court; J. Virgil Bourland, Chancellor reversed.

Decree reversed and cause remanded.

Brizzolara & Fitzhugh, for appellant.

Appellant being a domestic corporation, is required to assess its personal property for taxation only in the county of its domicil. Kirby's Digest, §§ 6903-4-10-16-18-36 and 6937; Cooley on Taxation (3 Ed.), 398 and cases cited; 10 Mass. 504; 37 Mo. 266; 156 Pa.St. 488; 2 Ark. 291; 5 Ark 204; 46 Ark. 312; 84 S.W. 715; 1 Cooley, Tax. 394; Ib. 673; 1 Desty on Tax. 341; 21 Ohio St. 555.

H. N Smith, for appellee.

OPINION

BATTLE, J.

This is a suit brought by the Harris Lumber Company, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Arkansas, domiciled in Polk County, in the State of Arkansas, against the collector of Scott County, to restrain him from collecting taxes upon the personal property of the appellant situated in Scott County.

The complaint is as follows:

"Comes Harris Lumber Company, and complains of the defendant, George M. Grandstaff, as collector of Scott County, and for its cause of action says: That it is a corporation duly created and existing under and by authority of the laws of the State of Arkansas, and domiciled in the County of Polk, in the State of Arkansas, having its principal place of business in the said County of Polk; that the County of Polk is designated in its articles of incorporation as its place of business; that its articles of incorporation are duly filed in the office of the county clerk of Polk County, and that it is carrying on its business of buying, selling and manufacturing lumber in said County of Polk. That it owns real and personal property in Scott County, Arkansas, and has paid its taxes upon all real property owned by it in Scott County, Arkansas. That it has personal property, consisting of merchandise, sawmill and various and divers other articles of personal property, situated in Scott County, which constitute a part of its corporate assets, and the same are managed and controlled by the corporation from its office in Polk County, Arkansas. That, being duly advised in the premises, the said corporation made its return for the purpose of taxation in Polk County, Arkansas, and made out and delivered to the assessor of Polk County, Arkansas, a statement as required by section 6462 of Sandel & Hill's Digest, and included in that statement all of its property in Polk County, Arkansas, and also all of its property in Scott County, Arkansas, as well as all other personal property belonging to the corporation wheresoever situate. That the assessor of Scott County called upon the plaintiff for a statement of its property subject to taxation in Scott County, and the plaintiff gave the assessor a list of its real property, and notified the assessor that it was a Polk County corporation, and was advised to pay its taxes on its personal property situated in Scott County. That the plaintiff had no further information in regard to the taxation of its personal property in Scott County until it went to pay its taxes in the year 1903 for the year 1902, when it found that the assessor of Scott County had assessed the following articles of personal property against the plaintiff, towit:

"Value of goods and merchandise

$ 3,000

"Value of material and manufactured articles

12,000

"Total value of all other property required tobe listed

8,000

"Total value of personal property

$ 23,000

"That the same was described as situated in School District No. 26, and there was charged against the plaintiff an assessor's penalty of 50 cents and school fund penalty of 50 cents, and a total tax, including said penalties, against the plaintiff of $ 316. That the county clerk of Scott County has extended said tax against the plaintiff, and delivered the same to the defendant, as collector of Scott County, with a warrant authorizing a levy by the collector on any property of the plaintiff, in default of the payment of said $ 316. That the board of equalization took no action upon said action of the assessor, and the plaintiff did not know of said assessment until after the board had adjourned, and the plaintiff then, and before the collector closed his books, filed a petition in the Scott County Court setting forth that it was not subject to said taxation, and praying that the same be adjusted and the taxation corrected by causing the same to be stricken from the taxes extended against the plaintiff. That the county court of Scott County refused the prayer of the petition, and the plaintiff has taken an appeal therefrom to the Scott Circuit Court. That the next term of the Scott County Court is the first Monday in August, 1903. That it will be the duty of the collector before the convening of said Scott Circuit Court, and before said appeal can be heard, to levy upon the property of the plaintiff in Scott County to satisfy said tax extended against it. That the plaintiff's remedy by law is wholly inadequate and insufficient to afford the plaintiff relief from said illegal assessment and attempted taxation of its property in Scott County; that, unless restrained, the collector will proceed to collect by distraint said amount of taxes together with a penalty of twenty-five per cent, thereupon. That there is no other adequate remedy for plaintiff than by the interposition of a court of chancery restraining and preventing the defendant from levying or attempting to levy upon the property of the plaintiff and adding a penalty against it for nonpayment of said illegal taxes; that the illegality of said assessment does not appear upon its face, and can not be corrected by certiorari.

"Wherefore, petitioner prays that the defendant be restrained from collecting or attempting to collect said taxes assessed against the aforesaid personal property of the plaintiff, and until the hearing herein, or until the hearing of the appeal in the Scott Circuit Court, that a temporary injunction issue restraining the defendant from proceeding in the collection of said taxes, and for all other equitable and proper relief which the plaintiff may be entitled to receive."

The answer admits that appellant is a corporation organized...