Inhabitants of Foxcroft v. Piscataquis Valley Camp-Meeting Ass'n
| Decision Date | 09 December 1893 |
| Citation | 29 A. 951,86 Me. 78 |
| Parties | INHABITANTS OF FOXCROFT v. PISCATAQUIS VALLEY CAMP-MEETING ASS'N. |
| Court | Maine Supreme Court |
Report from supreme judicial court, Piscataquis county.
Action by the inhabitants of Foxcroft against the Piscataquis Valley Camp-Meeting Association. The case was reported to the supreme judicial court Defendant defaulted.
This was a statutory action of debt to recover a tax, for the year 1891, assessed on the defendant's stable and camp ground, being its land and real estate in Foxcroft, outside of and except its houses of religious worship, vestries, tabernacles, pews, seats, and furniture within the same, or any parsonage, and the land on which it stands, and that occupied by tents and cottages.
The only question reserved in defense was that of exemption from taxation, the defendant claiming that the property sought to be taxed is included in the exempting clauses of the statutes.
W. E. Parsons and C. W. Hayes, for plaintiffs. Henry Hudson and J. S. Williams, for defendant.
HASKELL, J. Debt for a tax laid upon the real estate of a camp-meeting association, situated in Foxcroft, organized "to furnish and maintain a camp meeting with its religious privileges to the people of the Piscataquis valley and its vicinity, to the glory of God and the saving of souls."
The real estate of the association consisted of 10 acres of land, a part of which was used for an auditorium where religious meetings were held, a part for lots let to members for the erection of cottages, a part for a stable and stable yard where horses were stalled for hire, and a part let for an eating house or victualing purposes. The assessors say that the tax was laid upon that part only used for stabling and victualing purposes, that part used for cottagers' lots having been taxed to the individual occupiers of them. The tax is of land in gross, and, therefore, if any part of the property assessed be taxable, the plaintiff must have judgment for the tax, inasmuch as overtaxation can only be remedied by abatement proceedings that are ample to give the necessary relief. It is not a defense to a suit for a tax. Rockland v. Water Co., 82 Me. 188, 19 Atl. 163.
Whether the association be a religious society or a benevolent and charitable institution, it is of no moment to inquire, inasmuch as the tax was laid, in either case, upon property not exempt from taxation. If the association be a religious society, the property taxed is expressly subjected to...
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...185, 26 N.E. 636, 10 L.R.A. 573; [Inhabitants of] Foxcroft v. Straw, 86 Me. 76, 29 A. 950; [Inhabitants of] Foxcroft v. [Piscataquis Val.] Campmeeting Ass'n, 86 Me. 78, 29 A. 951.' The general rule of construction of tax statutes is that taxation is the rule and that exemptions are exceptio......
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...and the properties included therein were clearly not occupied by the Association for its own purposes. Foxcroft v. Piscataquis Val. Campmeeting Association, 86 Me. 78, 29 A. 951; Foxcroft v. Straw, 86 Me. 76, 29 A. 950. Throughout all the tax periods the vacant land in the Fair ground tract......
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