Iowa Life Ins. Co. v. Bd. of Sup'rs of Black Hawk Cnty.
Decision Date | 15 January 1921 |
Docket Number | 32961.,Nos. 32960,s. 32960 |
Citation | 190 Iowa 777,180 N.W. 721 |
Parties | IOWA LIFE INS. CO. v. BOARD OF SUP'RS OF BLACK HAWK COUNTY. |
Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from District Court, Black Hawk County; H. B. Boies, Judge.
Suit by plaintiff as a life insurance corporation organized under the laws of the State of Iowa, to recover back taxes erroneously and illegally exacted from it by the defendant county as alleged. There was a demurrer to the petition which was overruled. The defendant standing thereon has appealed. Affirmed.H. M. Havner, Atty. Gen., and E. J. Wenner, County Atty., of Waterloo, for appellant.
Alfred W. Mullan and Courtright & Arbuckle, all of Waterloo, for appellee.
The ground of recovery set forth in plaintiff's petition is the same as that involved in Great Western Accident Insurance Co. v. Martin, 183 Iowa, 1009, 166 N. W. 705. The broad contention of the petition is that the rate of taxation of plaintiff's shares of stock was specified by section 1310 of Code Supp. 1913, whereas the defendant county exacted taxes from it in excess of the five-mill rate provided therein. The one defense interposed by the defendant's demurrer is that section 1310 is unconstitutional, and therefore void, in that it is discriminatory and out of harmony with other sections of the statute, especially Code, § 1305. The special section of the Constitution which it offends, as alleged, is section 6 of article 1, as follows:
“All laws of a general nature shall have a uniform operation; the General Assembly shall not grant to any citizen or class of citizens, privileges or immunities, which upon the same terms shall not equally belong to all citizens.”
Other kindred sections of the Constitution specified in the demurrer are sections 2 of article 8 and 30 of article 3. The general purpose of all these sections of the Constitution is to provide for uniformity in the application of the laws to all persons alike and to forbid discriminative laws for the assessment and collection of taxes for state, county, or road purposes.
While various sections of the statute are more or less involved in the discussion, the grounds of attack specified in the demurrer are confined to an alleged variance between sections 1310 and 1305. Section 1305 is as follows:
So far as material herein, section 1310 is as follows:
It will be noted that under section 1305 provision is made for an assessment of the taxation value of all property at 25 per cent. of its actual value.
Under section 1310, the property classified therein is to be assessed at its actual valuation, and is to be subjected to a straight levy of 5 mills on the dollar of such actual valuation. Section 1305 fixes no limit upon the rate of levy. The contention of defendant is that section 1310 discriminates in favor of the taxpayer classified thereunder, and that it is unconstitutional for that reason.
I. It is to be noted first that it does not appear upon the face of these sections which of them operates more favorably to the taxpayer. Clearly section 1310 assesses its class at a rate of valuation four times as high as does section 1305. Whether the limitation upon the rate of levy compensates, or more than compensates, for this difference in rate of assessment, can only be ascertained by inquiry into facts outside of the statute. If we conceive of a taxing district wherein the general rate of levy is 20 mills, the operation of the two statutes would be absolutely equal. If the general rate were less than 20 mills, section 1310 would operate more heavily upon its class than section 1305. On the other hand, if the general rate were more than 20 mills, then section 1305 would operate the more heavily. The practical fact doubtless is that the general rate is much in excess of 20 mills for most, if not all, of the taxing districts in the state. In any event, we should assume that the general rate in the defendant county was in excess of 20 mills; otherwise there would have been no excess of taxes collected from the plaintiff over the amount actually due under section 1310.
For the purpose of argument, therefore, let it be assumed that sections 1305 and 1310 operate unequally upon their respective classes, and that section 1305 operates the more heavily of the two. If we must say, therefore, that one of these...
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Godfrey v. State
... ... GODFREY, Appellant, ... STATE of Iowa, Appellee ... No. 05-1691 ... Supreme Court ... been arrested by police and subjected to a life-threatening choke hold that had been approved for ... v. Black Hawk County, 190 Iowa 777, 180 N.W. 721 (1921) ... Iowa Life Ins. Co., 190 Iowa at 782, 180 N.W. at 722-23 ... ...
- Iowa Life Ins. Co. v. Board of Sup'rs of Black Hawk County