Hester v. Louisiana Tax Com'n

• Decision Date: 25 April 1955
• Docket Number: No. 42154,42154
• Citation: 81 So.2d 381,227 La. 1022
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
• Parties: C. E. HESTER et al. v. LOUISIANA TAX COMMISSION et al.

Page 381

81 So.2d 381

227 La. 1022

C. E. HESTER et al. v.LOUISIANA TAX COMMISSION et al.

No. 42154.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

April 25, 1955.

Rehearing Denied May 23, 1955.

Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, Baton Rouge, Rivet & Blum, New Orleans, Hudson, Potts, Bernstein & Davenport, Monroe, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Fred S. LeBlanc, Atty. Gen., Carroll Buck, Asst. Atty. Gen., Thompson L. Clarke, Dist. Atty., Tallulah, for intervenor.

Taylor, Porter, Brooks, Fuller & Phillips, Baton Rouge, Teller & Biedenharn, Vicksburg, Miss., Sevier, Yerger & Sevier, Tallulah, for defendants-appellees.

MOISE, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment upholding the validity of the tax assessment of the Vicksburg Bridge made by the Louisiana Tax Commission.

The suit is a declaratory judgment action brought by the assessor, in conjunction with the local taxing authorities and tax beneficiaries of Madison Parish, Louisiana, in which the State of Louisiana has intervened as a plaintiff, through its Attorney General on direction of the Governor of the State, against the Louisiana Tax Commission and Warren County, Mississippi, owner of the Vicksburg Bridge which spans the Mississippi River between Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi and Delta Point, Madison Parish, Louisiana.

The 1952 assessment of $3,150,000 was identical with the assessments made for 1950 and 1951 by the Madison Parish Assessor.These assessments were listed and assessed for said tax years 1950, 1951 and 1952 with the unanimous approval of the Police Jury of the Parish (sitting as a Board of Reviewers) and fully approved and certified by the Louisiana Tax Commission as a correct legal assessment of that portion of the bridge in Madison Parish, Louisiana.This was done after hearing and a denial of written protest filed by the taxpayer, who contended:

First--that said bridge was tax exempt, ownership being in a public body; and

Second--if not, that said assessment valuation was excessive.

In fact, Warren County, Mississippi contends that the Louisiana Tax Commission has the right, power and duty to assess this property, and that the Court should hold that it is within the province of the Louisiana Tax Commission to fix the amount of assessment.It prays for a judgment decreeing that the true and correct valuation of its property is not in excess of $1,000,000; and that alternatively the said assessed valuation should not exceed $1,200,000.

The Louisiana Tax Commission answered the petition, declaring that it has a supervisory jurisdiction; that it may change or correct any and all assessments of property in order to make the assessment conform to its true valuation, said change or correction to be made at any time before the taxes levied have actually been paid; that the Vicksburg Bridge falls in the category of property which shall be assessed by the Louisiana Tax Commission and must be included on the Louisiana public service roll for 1952; and that this assessment, which was cancelled and changed to $1,800,000 is binding on all parties concerned.

The historical background is pertinent.

In 1926Congress enacted Public Law No. 170, ActMay 3, 1926, 44, Stat. 388, which granted consent to the Vicksburg Bridge and Terminal Company(a Delaware corporation), its successors and assigns, to construct, maintain and operate a combined highway and railroad toll bridge across the Mississippi River between Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi and Delta Point, Madison Parish, Louisiana.This bridge was completed in April, 1930, and it has been in constant use up to the present time.The bridge issued and sold revenue bonds in a sufficient amount to pay the original cost of construction and financing.

Upon its completion, the portion of the bridge in Louisiana was exempt from the payment of ad valorem tax up to and inclusive of 1935.Louisiana Constitution of 1921, Article X, Sec. 4 Para. 7, LSA.

Beginning in 1936, the Assessor of Madison Parish assessed that portion of the bridge in Louisiana on the assessment property roll for valuation fixed by the Assessor and approved by the Madison Parish Board of Reviewers and the Louisiana Tax Commission.

Warren County, a political subdivision of the State of Mississippi, acquired fee title to the bridge by purchase on April 30, 1947.The Madison Parish Assessor continued to assess the Louisiana portion of the bridge in the name of Warren County, Mississippi, which paid the taxes under protest and then sought by litigation in the federal and state courts to recover the amount paid.

On October 17, 1952, the Louisiana Tax Commission issued and sent to C. E. Hester, Tax Collector, and to other proper officials of Madison Parish, its order directing that the bridge assessment, in its entirety, be cancelled from the general or miscellaneous property rolls; and, in lieu thereof, the Louisiana Tax Commission made a direct assessment of the bridge property in Madison Parish, Louisiana on the public service roll on an assessed valuation of $1,800,000.The order of the Tax Commission reads as follows:

'State of Louisiana Louisiana Tax Commission Baton Rouge

Honorable C. E. Hester

Sheriff & Tax Collector

Parish of Madison

Tallulah, Louisiana

October 17, 1952

Dear Sir:

Under the provisions of Act 18 of the Second Extra Session of 1934, you are hereby directed and instructed to make the following changes on your assessment roll, for the year as indicated:

1952

Vicksburg Bridge Commission of Warren County Mississippi--Ward 2, AssessmentNo. 110

P. O. Box 908

Vicksburg, Mississippi

Cancel--Vicksburg-Delta Bridge, Miscellaneous Property totaling $3,150,000.00.

(The Louisiana Tax Commission is hereby cancelling the above assessment for 1952, under authority of Revised Statutes 47:1980 and Seq., because same was erroneously placed on the tax roll by the Assessor of Madison Parish.

Ward--Public Service Roll--2

Add--Vicksburg-Delta Bridge, Miscellaneous Property, $1,800.000,00.Not assessed.

(The Tax Commission is placing the property of Warren County Bridge Commission, commonly known as the Vicksburg Bridge, on the Public Service Roll in the amount of $1,800,000.00, under the authority of Revised Statutes 47:1980 and Seq.)

This is your authority to make these changes; to collect the taxes in accord therewith; and to make settlement with the State of Louisiana as instructed.

We are this day forwarding a copy of this letter to the State Auditor, the Assessor of your Parish, and to the Taxpayer, for their information and guidance.

Yours very truly,

Louisiana Tax Commission

(Sgd.)Chas. Zatarain, Member

(Sgd.)Edgar G. Mouton, Member

(Sgd.)R. E. Jacobs, Chairman'

The taxpayer paid the tax under protest.

Thereupon, this suit was filed under ActNo. 431 of 1948 and ActNo. 22 of the Extra Session of 1948, LSA-Revised Statutes 13:4231 et seq.Plaintiffs prayed for a declaratory judgment decreeing that the 1952 assessment of $1,800,000 of the bridge property in Madison Parish, Louisiana--directed by the Louisiana Tax Commission--was arbitrary, erroneous, unreasonable, illegal, null and void; and that the only correct and lawful assessment of the bridge property in Madison Parish, Louisiana for the year 1952 was $3,150,000, as shown by the 1952 tax roll, lawfully made, approved and originally filed.

The Declaratory Judgment Act, Sec. 1, ActNo. 431 of 1948, and Sec. 1, ActNo. 22 of the Extra Session of 1948; LSA-Revised Statutes 13:4231, declares that the declaration by the Court may be affirmative or negative in form and effect, and that such declaration shall have the force and effect of a final judgment or decree.

We have cited the historical beckground and the facts, as shown by the record.It is now for us to state the law to which the facts apply.

In 1951, in the case of Warren County, Mississippi v. Hester, 219 La. 763, 54 So.2d 12, 16, this Court held that this same bridge was not public property within the provisions of the Louisiana Constitution exempting from taxation all public property.Constitution 1921, Article X, Sec. 4, Subds. 1-15, as amended.This Court held that the bridge was not dedicated to public use and stated:

'* * * If the revenues derived from the tolls of the bridge were being used exclusively for its maintenance and economic operation, it might be reasonable to rule that there has been a dedication.But those are not the facts of the case.Actually, plaintiff is employing a substantial part of the revenue derived from tolls charged the general public to liquidate its obligation for the purchase price of the structure.Indeed, to hold that this bridge was dedicated to public use in 1948 merely because plaintiff evinces the intention of making it toll free at some future date, when the truth is that each and every person using it is required to pay, would be unrealistic, to say the least.'

Therefore, under the above ruling, the bridge is not a public utility.

This bridge is sui generis, because it is the only property of its kind in the state.

An analysis of the applicable assessment laws of Louisiana will show that the Vicksburg Bridge property is not the kind of property the Louisiana Tax Commission has the right and power to assess.This is particularly true when the assessment is initially and directly made by it.In our discussion, all reference to the LSA-Revised Statutes will be made to Title 47 and only section numbers will be given.These are quoted in the state's brief, and we are adopting them as the applicable law.

Section 1956 authorizes the Tax Commission to require the assessors to make up assessment lists in a formal manner and according to a method to be prescribed by it.

Section 1957 prescribes that the assessors shall be responsible, under the supervision of the tax commission, for listing and assessing all property within their respective parishes----

'* * * except such property as is subject to direct assessment by the tax commission.'

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