Howell v. Board of Com'rs of Ada County

• Decision Date: 31 May 1898
• Parties: HOWELL v. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF ADA COUNTY
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

53 P. 542

6 Idaho 154

HOWELL v. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF ADA COUNTY

Supreme Court of Idaho

May 31, 1898

COUNTY COMMISSIONERS-NO AUTHORITY TO REFUND TAX-COURT WILL NOT PASS ON VALIDITY OF LAW UNLESS NECESSARY.-Boards of county commissioners have no authority to refund a tax that has been paid, whether the tax was illegal or not. Boards of commissioners are not clothed with judicial functions, and are not authorized to pass upon the validity of a statute. Courts will not pass upon the validity of a statute in any case unless necessary to a decision of the case under consideration.

(Syllabus by the court.)

APPEAL from District Court, Ada County.

Affirmed. Costs of appeal awarded to respondent.

Brown &amp Cahalan, for Appellant.

No authorities cited on question decided.

Hawley & Puckett, for Respondent.

A tax voluntarily paid cannot be recovered back; the authorities are generally agreed, and it is immaterial in such a case that the tax has been illegally paid, or even that the law under which it was paid is unconstitutional. The principle is an ancient one in the common law, and is of general application. Every man is supposed to know the law, and if he voluntarily makes a payment which the law cannot compel him to make, he cannot afterward assign his ignorance of the law as the reason why the state should furnish him with legal remedies to recover it back. (Cooley on Taxation, 809.)

SULLIVAN C. J. Huston and Quarles, JJ., concur.

OPINION

SULLIVAN, C. J.

The appellant, William Howell, presented his claim against the county of Ada, for a rebate of taxes paid on five thousand head of sheep for two and one-third months, for sixty-eight dollars and ninety-seven cents. The board of commissioners of said county disallowed said claim. Thereupon said Howell appealed to the district court, where the case was tried de novo upon an agreed statement of facts, and the order of the board of commissioners was affirmed. This appeal is from the judgment of the district court affirming the order of said board. It appears from the agreed stipulation of facts that said Howell, in the year 1897, made a written statement under oath, as required by statute, and delivered the same to the assessor and tax collector of said Ada county, showing, among other things, that he was the owner of five thousand head of sheep, and that said sheep would be kept in said county during the year for the period of nine and two-thirds months; and thereafter he drove said sheep into Boise county, and made a similar written statement to the assessor of said Boise county, showing that said sheep would be kept in said Boise county for a period of two and one-third months during said year 1897; and thereupon said sheep were assessed to him in said Boise county for said period of two and one-third months, and the taxes paid. The assessor of Ada county, instead of assessing said sheep to the appellant for the said period of nine and two-thirds months, assessed them to him for the entire year of 1897. He paid the taxes so assessed, and presented his claim against the county January 15, 1898, a aforesaid, and it was not allowed. It also appears from the stipulation of facts that the board of commissioners based the order disallowing said bill for rebate of said taxes upon the alleged unconstitutionality of "an act entitled 'An act to regulate the assessment and taxation of livestock when kept, driven or pastured, or that may range in more than one county of this state.'" (See Sess. Laws, 1897, p. 22.)

The question that meets us at the threshold of this case is whether the board has the authority to rebate or refund the taxes, as claimed by the appellant. In support of the contention of the appellant, counsel cites several California authorities, and among...