Indian Hills Community Church v. County Bd. of Equalization of Lancaster County
| Decision Date | 18 September 1987 |
| Docket Number | 85-897,Nos. 85-896,s. 85-896 |
| Citation | 412 N.W.2d 459,226 Neb. 510 |
| Parties | INDIAN HILLS COMMUNITY CHURCH, Appellant, v. COUNTY BOARD OF EQUALIZATION OF LANCASTER COUNTY, Nebraska, et al., Appellees. NEBRASKA CONFERENCE OF THE CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN, Also Known as the Antelope Park Church of the Brethren and the Church of the Brethren of Nebraska, Appellant, v. COUNTY BOARD OF EQUALIZATION OF LANCASTER COUNTY, Nebraska, et al., Appellees. |
| Court | Nebraska Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
1. Constitutional Law: Taxation: Statutes. The first amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not prohibit a state's requirement that a religious organization must comply with state statutes which reasonably prescribe a basis or procedure to obtain an exemption from state taxation. States may constitutionally require that religious organizations comply with and satisfy statutes allowing a tax exemption, before such organizations obtain an exemption from taxation of their property.
2. Constitutional Law: Legislature. A constitutional provision is not self-executing if such provision merely indicates a line of policy or principles without supplying the means by which such policy or principles are to be carried into effect; if the language of the constitutional provision is directed to the Legislature; or if the language of a constitutional provision indicates that subsequent legislation is contemplated or necessary for effectuation of such provision.
3. Constitutional Law: Taxation: Legislature. Neb. Const. art. VIII, § 2, providing for tax exemption of certain property, is not self-executing, but requires action by the Legislature to carry such constitutional provision into effect.
4. Taxation: Presumptions. Because the power and right of a state to tax property are presumed, tax exemption provisions are strictly construed, and their operation will not be extended by construction.
5. Taxation: Presumptions. An exemption from taxation is never presumed. Property which is claimed to be exempt must clearly come within the provision granting exemption from taxation.
6. Taxation: Proof. The burden of proving exemption from taxation is on the party claiming such exemption.
7. Taxation. Under Neb.Rev.Stat. § 77-202.03 (Cum.Supp.1984), an integral part of the process to obtain a tax exemption is reapplication for such exemption, that is, a new application, before a previously granted exemption has expired. Failure to make reapplication for exemption or file a new application as required by § 77-202.03 results in cessation of the tax exemption when the current exemption expires.
8. Taxation: Statutes. Neb.Rev.Stat. §§ 77-202.01 through 77-202.07 (Reissue 1981 & Cum.Supp.1984) are clear and comprehensive and constitute a complete and comprehensive act dealing with the matter of tax exemptions.
9. Statutes: Legislature: Intent. As a series or collection of statutes pertaining to a certain subject matter, statutory components of an act which are in pari materia may be conjunctively considered and construed to determine the intent of the Legislature so that different provisions of the act are consistent, harmonious, and sensible.
Beverly Evans Grenier of Steven D. Burns, P.C., and Douglas W. Marolf, Lincoln, for appellants.
Patrick M. Heng, Deputy Lancaster Co. Atty., for appellees.
In separate cases consolidated for appeal, Indian Hills Community Church and Nebraska Conference of the Church of the Brethren (appellants) appeal judgments of the district court for Lancaster County, affirming the Lancaster County Board of Equalization's actions by which real estate of the appellants was placed on the county tax rolls for 1984 on account of appellants' failure to file an application for tax exemption in accordance with Neb.Rev.Stat. § 77-202.03 (Cum.Supp.1984). We affirm.
Neb. Const. art. VIII, § 2, provides: "The Legislature by general law may exempt ... property owned and used exclusively for educational, religious, charitable, or cemetery purposes, when such property is not owned or used for financial gain or profit to either the owner or user."
Neb.Rev.Stat. § 77-202(1) (Cum.Supp.1984) provides:
The following property shall be exempt from taxes:
....
(c) Property owned by educational, religious, charitable, or cemetery organizations and used exclusively for educational, religious, charitable, or cemetery purposes, when such property is not (i) owned or used for financial gain or profit to either the owner or user, (ii) used for the sale of alcoholic liquors for more than twenty hours per week, or (iii) owned or used by an organization which discriminates in membership or employment based on race, color, or national origin.
Neb.Rev.Stat. § 77-202.01 (Reissue 1981) states:
Any person, corporation, or organization seeking tax exempt status for any real property shall apply for exemption to the county assessor by January 1 of the year following adoption of sections 77-202.01 to 77-202.07, on forms prescribed by the Tax Commissioner. Any person, corporation, or organization seeking tax exempt status for any tangible personal property except motor vehicles shall apply for exemption to the county assessor by January 1, 1970. The county assessor shall examine the application and recommend either taxable or exempt status for the real property or tangible personal property except motor vehicles to the county board of equalization by February 1 following.
Neb.Rev.Stat. § 77-202.03 (Cum.Supp.1984) states in part:
(1) When real or tangible personal property except motor vehicles has been exempted from taxation as provided by sections 77-202.01 to 77-202.07, it shall continue to be exempt for a period of four years from January 1 of the year following adoption of sections 77-202.01 to 77-202.07; Provided, that each owner of real or tangible personal property except motor vehicles so exempt shall file an affidavit with the county assessor by January 1 of each intervening year certifying that the use of each exempted real or tangible personal property except motor vehicles has not changed during the year. On or before the expiration of such exemption, a new application shall be filed on which the procedure shall be the same as provided for other applications under the provisions of sections 77-202.01 to 77-202.07. If any person, corporation, or organization shall seek a new tax exemption for any real or tangible personal property except motor vehicles in any year, he, she, or it shall apply on or before September 15 of the year of application as provided in section 77-202.01 and procedure thereon shall be the same as provided for other applications under the provisions of sections 77-202.01 to 77-202.07....
(Emphasis supplied.) (We note that § 77-202.01 was amended in 1984 and 1986 and § 77-202.03 was amended in 1986, but such amendments do not affect disposition of the present appeals.)
The parties stipulated facts relative to appellants' claims for tax-exempt property. Each of the appellants owns real estate in Lancaster County, and each filed an "Exemption Application" for the tax year 1980 pursuant to § 77-202.01, claiming exempt status under § 77-202(1)(c) (religious purposes). Appellants' property was exempted from taxation in 1980, and such exemption continued in 1981, 1982, and 1983, when appellants, as required by § 77-202.03, filed an "Affidavit of Use for Continued Tax Exemption" for each of those years after 1980. Without statutory authority or obligation to do so, in November of 1983 the county assessor's office mailed to each appellant a form application for exemption of property from taxation in 1984. That form had been completed by the county assessor, except that part of the application pertaining to a description of the property's use and the signature of the person authorized to sign on behalf of the applicant. Accompanying the exemption application was an explanatory letter from the assessor, reciting the mandatory filing requirement to retain tax-exempt status. Before September 15 in each year prior to 1984, the county sent a second notice to organization-taxpayers which had failed to file an application for exemption, but such practice was discontinued in 1984. Appellants failed to file an exemption application by September 15, 1984, as required by § 77-202.03. On November 19, 1984, the county clerk, on behalf of the board of equalization, mailed a letter to each appellant, informing appellants regarding a prospective hearing before the board concerning requested tax exemptions as well as appellants' failure to file an application for exemption and the county assessor's recommendation that appellants' property be returned to the tax rolls for 1984. At the hearing before the county board of equalization on December 11, 1984, appellants adduced testimony that the 1984 use of appellants' property was the same as existed in 1980 through 1983, namely, religious purposes. On January 15, 1985, the board of equalization denied tax exemption for each appellant's property, which was then returned to the tax rolls for 1984. Included in each stipulation is the statement:
[Appellant's] use of the property in question was the same for the tax year 1984 as it was in the previous years. The [appellant's] property is property which otherwise would 'be exempt from taxes' pursuant to Neb.Rev.Stat. § 77-202(c) [sic] had the proper filings been made to acquire such exemption.
For 1984, the board of equalization returned previously exempt property of three other organizations (Lincoln Hospital Association, Way of Holiness Church, and Kramer Community Cemetery) to the tax rolls because those organizations failed to file an application for tax exemption authorized under § 77-202(1)(c).
In the district court, appellants asserted that the county board of equalization's action is "contrary to the laws of the United States [and...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
MAPCO Ammonia Pipeline, Inc. v. State Bd. of Equalization and Assessment, MID-AMERICA
...is the exemption for tangible property of educational, religious, and charitable organizations. In Indian Hills Comm. Ch. v. County Bd. of Equal., 226 Neb. 510, 412 N.W.2d 459 (1987), we recognized that a constitutional provision for tax exemption of property owned by a religious organizati......
-
Nebraska State Bar Foundation v. Lancaster County Bd. of Equalization, 87-967
...taxation." Bethphage Com. Servs. v. County Board, supra, 221 Neb. at 889, 381 N.W.2d at 169. Accord Indian Hills Comm. Ch. v. County Bd. of Equal., 226 Neb. 510, 412 N.W.2d 459 (1987). "Since a statute conferring an exemption from taxation is strictly construed, one claiming an exemption fr......
-
Jaksha v. State, S-91-1111
...exemptions are not automatic and require enabling legislation to achieve the actual exemption. See Indian Hills Comm. Ch. v. County Bd. of Equal., 226 Neb. 510, 412 N.W.2d 459 (1987) (Nebraska's Constitution does not extend automatic tax exemptions to property of a charitable, religious, or......
-
Bethany Baptist Church v. Deptford Tp.
...N.J.S.A. 54:4-4.4. See Atlantic Cty. New School Inc. v. Pleasantville, supra, 2 N.J.Tax at 195. See also Indian Hills Church v. County Bd. of Equal., 226 Neb. 510, 412 N.W.2d 459 (1987), holding that the denial of a tax exemption to a church based upon its failure to file an initial stateme......
-
Neb. Const. art. VIII § VIII-2 Exemption of Property From Taxation; Classification
...but requires action by the Legislature to carry such constitutional provision into effect. Indian Hills Comm. Ch. v. County Bd. of Equal., 226 Neb. 510, 412 N.W.2d 459 Where a nursing home's association with two other companies did not result in financial gain or profit to either the owner ......