Louisiana Oil Refining Co. v. Louisiana Tax Commission

• Decision Date: 02 January 1929
• Docket Number: 29293
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
• Parties: LOUISIANA OIL REFINING CO. v. LOUISIANA TAX COMMISSION et al

120 So. 23

167 La. 605

LOUISIANA OIL REFINING CO. v. LOUISIANA TAX COMMISSION et al

No. 29293

Supreme Court of Louisiana

January 2, 1929

Rehearing Denied January 28, 1929

Appeal from First Judicial District Court, Parish of Caddo; Robert Roberts, Judge.

Suit by the Louisiana Oil Refining Company against the Louisiana Tax Commission and others. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendants appeal.

Reversed and rendered.

George T. McSween and B. F. Roberts, both of Shreveport, for appellants.

Blanchard Goldstein & Walker, of Shreveport, for appellee.

ST. PAUL, J. O'NIELL, C. J., takes no part.

OPINION

ST. PAUL, J.

On January 1, 1927, plaintiff owned certain tank cars; on January 21st it sold all of said cars to the Union Tank Car Company, and delivery followed in due course thereafter; on February 9th plaintiff notified defendant that said cars had been sold and that plaintiff was no longer the owner thereof later during the year defendant assessed said cars to plaintiff, over plaintiff's protest, and refused to assess said tank cars to the Union Tank Car Company, plaintiff's vendee.

This is a suit to cancel said assessment against plaintiff and to enjoin the collection of any taxes based thereon. There was judgment below for plaintiff, and defendants appeal.

I.

The question presented is whether movable property within the state and liable to taxation therein must be assessed to the owner thereof on January 1st of the year for which the taxes are levied, or to the owner thereof at the time the property is actually listed for taxation on the assessment rolls for said year.

II.

At the outset it is well to observe a fundamental distinction between taxes levied on real estate (immovable property) and taxes levied on personal (movable) property; for we will thereby avoid some confusion which might otherwise arise.

That fundamental distinction is this: That taxes levied on real property are a charge laid exclusively upon the property assessed, and collectible only out of said property, and neither the owner of said property, nor any other property of his, is liable for said taxes; whereas, taxes levied on personal property become a personal liability of the person assessed and collectible out of any property belonging to the person assessed. Cleveland Steel Co. v. Joe Kaufman Co., 155 La. 529, 99 So. 428.

Hence it is immaterial, so far as concerns any personal liability for taxes on real property, to whom such real property may be assessed, since the person assessed is never personally liable for said tax. But, on the other hand, it is of supreme importance to whom personal property is assessed, since if such personal property be assessed to the proper person, the person assessed is thereby made personally liable for the tax.

Hence we see no relevancy here in any jurisprudence relating to the manner in which real property shall be assessed, for no personal liability on the part of the owner or person assessed can result in any case. And the question before us resolves itself simply into this: Who (if properly assessed) is liable for the taxes upon personal property for the current year; is it the person who was owner thereof on January 1st of that year, or he...