Janss Corp. v. Board of Equalization of Blaine County
Decision Date | 21 December 1970 |
Docket Number | No. 10495,10495 |
Citation | 93 Idaho 928,478 P.2d 878 |
Parties | JANSS CORPORATION, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. BOARD OF EQUALIZATION OF BLAINE COUNTY, Idaho, Defendant-Respondent. |
Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Lloyd J. Walker, Twin Falls, for plaintiff-appellant.
V. K. Jeppesen, Hailey, for defendant-respondent.
After having suffered annual losses of approximately $650,000.00 for several years prior to December 1964, the Union Pacific Railroad at that time sold the Sun Valley Resort to Janss Corporation, appellant herein, for the sum of $1,863,843.00. The property included 4000 acres of land in Blaine County, Idaho, and the hotel and other buildings which were located on the land. In 1965 the property was examined for the purpose of tax assessment, and was valued at $4,000,000.00. After appellant objected to that figure, the tax assessor for Blaine County, a representative of the appellant, and a member of the State Tax Commission examined the property in detail and allowed for such functional obsolescence as was pointed out by the appellant's representative. The previous figure was then adjusted, and the property was assessed for the 1966 tax year at the cash value of $3,089,000.00.
Appellant protested the assessed valuation of the property before the Blaine County Board of Equalization, contending that the purchase was made in an arm's length transaction, and that the value of the property for tax purposes should be the price at which it was purchased. From denial of their claim, appellant appealed to the State Tax Commission. During the latter proceeding, testimony was given indicating that since the purchase of the property in question, the property in the area has greatly increased in value. The State Tax Commission affirmed the Board of Equalization's denial of appellant's claim for reduction in assessed valuation of the property, and from that decision appellant appealed to the district court. By stipulation of the parties, the case was heard in the district court on the record established in the Tax Commission hearing and upon briefs filed by the parties. From the order of the district court affirming the ruling of the State Tax Commission, appellant has effected this appeal.
One major issue is presented by this appeal: How is the full cash value of the property ascertained for the purpose of tax assessment? Appellant argues that one arm's length transaction in which the property is exchanged for cash establishes the 'market value' of that property, and that 'market value' is the equivalent of 'full cash value' of property for the purposes of tax assessment. Based upon that contention, appellant asserts that the trial court erred in not ruling that the price appellant paid for the property in question was the full cash value of the land at which the property should have been assessed.
The ascertainment of property value for the purpose of assessment of taxes is controlled primarily by statute. The statutory law in 1966 provided:
(Amended 1965)
(Amended 1965)
Prior to 1965, I.C. § 63-202 did not include the six factors set out therein for consideration in determining the full cash value of the property. By amending the statute and including the factors, the legislature must have intended that such factors be considered by the tax assessor, and the statute clearly orders him to do so 'to the extent that the same are applicable to the property being evaluated.' A primary rule of statutory construction is that all sections of the applicable statutes should be considered and construed together to determine the intention of the legislature. Keenan v. Price, 68 Idaho 423, 195 P.2d 662 (1948); Jackson v. Jackson, 87 Idaho 330, 393 P.2d 28 (1964); Lebrecht v. Union Indemnity Co., 53 Idaho 228, 22 P.2d 1066 (1933). Construing the two quoted statutes together, when the assessment of the property in question was made in 1966, the tax assessor was bound by statute to determine the full cash value of the property by considering each of the applicable factors set out in the statutes, and could not arrive at the full cash value by merely taking the sale price decided upon by Janss and Union Pacific Railroad in the single transaction that occurred between them.
Appellant argues, however, that the factors listed in the statutes for consideration in ascertaining 'full cash value' are all substitutes for finding the 'market value,' and may not be used when the property to be assessed has been sold recently in an arm's length transaction. The statutes, however, do not support such an interpretation, and neither do the cases cited as authority by the appellant for such proposition.
As the Court held in Abbot v. State Tax Commission, 88 Idaho 200, 398 P.2d 221 (1965):
(88 Idaho at page 208, 398 P.2d at page 225)
and this was decided prior to the 1965 amendment to the statutes.
The court in Abbot did also state that
Also in C. C. Anderson Stores Co. v. State Tax Comm., 91 Idaho 413, 422 P.2d 337 (1967) this court pointed out that property which is bought and sold for cash on the current market has a market value, which, as to such property, becomes the dominant factor in its valuation. However, as set out in that opinion, because the property involved was unique-the only one of its kind in Idaho at that time-it had no market value and the valuation had to be based upon other considerations. Likewise, 'market value' can not be established by a single arm's length transaction in which a unique property-such as Sun Valley-is sold for cash.
The principles governing the ascertainment of value for the purposes of taxation are the same as those that control in condemnation cases, confiscation cases, and generally in controversies involving the ascertainment of 'just compensation.' Great Northern Ry. Co. v. Weeks, 297 U.S. 135, 56 S.Ct. 426, 80 L.Ed. 532 (1936); 51 Am.Jur. 653, § 701 Taxation. In such cases the 'market value' becomes an important standard of measurement in the valuation of property only after there have been numerous sales or exchanges of similar property. Only then may the inference arise that the equivalent arrived at by the haggling of the market is probably the price at which the property would be offered and accepted. But when the property is of a kind seldom exchanged, it has no 'market value,' and then recourse must be had to other means of ascertaining value. Kimball Laundry Co. v. United States, 338 U.S. 1, 69 S.Ct. 1434, 93 L.Ed. 1765 (1949); United States v. Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Nav. Co., 338 U.S. 396, 70 S.Ct. 217, 94 L.Ed. 195 (1949); Sibley v. Town of Middlefield, 143 Conn. 100, 120 A.2d 77 (1956). As we stated recently in the case of Gillingham v. Stadler, 93 Idaho 874, 477 P.2d 497 (1970):
Although a single arm's length transaction does not establish market value, and the price indicated thereby is not controlling as to the value of the property, such price may be...
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