Lundy Electronics and Systems, Inc. v. Connecticut State Tax Com'r

• Decision Date: 12 April 1983
• Citation: 458 A.2d 387,189 Conn. 690
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: LUNDY ELECTRONICS AND SYSTEMS, INC. v. CONNECTICUT STATE TAX COMMISSIONER.

Page 387

458 A.2d 387

189 Conn. 690

LUNDY ELECTRONICS AND SYSTEMS, INC. v. CONNECTICUT STATE TAX COMMISSIONER.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued Jan. 10, 1983.

Decided April 12, 1983.

Ralph G. Murphy, Asst. Atty. Gen., with whom, on the brief, were Carl R. Ajello, Atty. Gen. and Richard K. Greenberg, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellant (defendant).

Matthew B. Woods, Bridgeport, with whom, on the brief, was Louis I. Gladstone, Bridgeport, for appellee (plaintiff).

Before SPEZIALE, C.J., and PETERS, HEALEY, PARSKEY and SHEA, JJ.

ARTHUR H. HEALEY, Justice.

The plaintiff in this case, Lundy Electronics and Systems, Inc. (Lundy), is a foreign corporation. At the time that this action was instituted, it was also the owner of certain personal property ¹ which was placed in the Hartford National Bank in the city of Hartford. This property was exempt from local personal property taxes pursuant to General Statutes § 12-121a. ² On January 9, 1975, the tax assessor for the city of Hartford advised Lundy by letter that a penalty assessment was being levied against it for failing to file a listing of exempt personal property as required by General Statutes § 12-121b. Subsequent to this letter, on January 24, 1975, Lundy did file the proper forms. The tax assessor, however, refused to cancel the penalty and so notified Lundy on February 11, 1975. Lundy appealed this decision on the penalty to the state tax commissioner (tax commissioner), which appeal was denied. Thereafter, Lundy appealed to the Superior Court. On November 18, 1980, the court, Corrigan, J., rendered a decision sustaining Lundy's appeal. This appeal followed.

Lundy claims that General Statutes § 12-121b ³ requires the assessors in each municipality to provide property owners with effective notice of the information that they are required to file prior to assessing any penalties. Failure to provide adequate notice in such circumstances would, according to Lundy, violate the constitutional principles of due process and equal protection. Furthermore, it claims that the tax assessor for the city of Hartford failed to comply with the provisions of General Statutes § 12-43. That statute, entitled "Property of nonresidents," provides, in pertinent part, that "[a]ll owners of real estate, or of tangible personal property located in any town more than seven months during the year, who are nonresidents of such town, shall file lists of such real estate and personal property with the assessors of the town in which the same is located under the same provisions as apply to residents, and such personal property shall not be liable to taxation in any other town in this state. The list of each nonresident taxpayer shall contain his post-office and street address. The assessors shall mail to each nonresident, or to his attorney or agent having custody of his taxable property, at least fifteen days before the expiration of the time for filing lists, blank forms for filing lists of such property." (Emphasis added.) Although not cited in Lundy's brief, General Statutes § 12-121b also has a provision requiring lists to be "on a form approved by the state tax commissioner and furnished by said assessors." By admission, the local tax assessor provided no list to Lundy within the time provided. This failure, according to Lundy, "is a fatal defect as to the attempt of the municipality to impose a penalty assessment." Therefore, it submits that the Superior Court's judgment should be affirmed.

The tax commissioner has raised three claims. First, he asserts that he had no jurisdiction to review Lundy's claim regarding the propriety of the penalty pursuant to General Statutes § 12-121d. That statute provides as follows: "If, in the process of verification for purposes of assessment under section 12-121c, the local assessor finds an owner's report to be unacceptable for any reason, he shall notify said owner, in writing, within sixty days following the assessment date, including in such notification, details as to why said report is not acceptable. The taxpayer may request a hearing before such assessor not later than thirty days following the receipt of such notice, and said taxpayer shall have the right to appeal to the state tax commissioner for a hearing not later than six months following the assessment date. The decision of said commissioner based on such hearing shall be binding, subject to the right of said taxpayer to appeal to the court of common pleas within sixty days of receipt of notice of said decision." In regard to the merits of Lundy's claim, the tax commissioner contends that Lundy had sufficient notice to satisfy constitutional standards citing, inter alia, Texaco, Inc. v. Short, 454 U.S. 516, 102 S.Ct. 781, 70 L.Ed.2d 738 (1982). The tax commissioner also claims that the local assessor was relieved of the burden of providing the necessary filing forms because Lundy had not previously submitted its name and address to the assessor's office.

We agree with the tax commissioner's claim that he was without jurisdiction under the statute to grant the relief sought by Lundy and, therefore, we hold that the Superior Court erred in not dismissing Lundy's appeal. Because of this holding, we do not reach the merits of this appeal.

The tax commissioner " 'must act strictly within [his] statutory authority, within constitutional limitations, and in a lawful manner.' " Fusco-Amatruda Co. v. Tax Commissioner, 168 Conn. 597, 604, 362 A.2d 847 (1975), quoting Southern New England Telephone Co. v. Public Utilities Commission, 144 Conn. 516, 523, 134 A.2d 351 (1957); see also Page v. Welfare Commissioner, 170 Conn. 258, 262, 365 A.2d 1118 (1976); Waterbury v. Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities, 160 Conn. 226, 230, 278 A.2d 771 (1971); cf. Hartford Electric Light Co. v. Water Resources Commission, 162 Conn. 89, 93-94, 291 A.2d 721 (1971). In like manner, " '[n]o administrative or regulatory body can modify, abridge or otherwise change the statutory provisions under which it acquires authority unless the statute specifically grants it that power.' " Fusco-Amatruda Co. v. Tax Commissioner, supra, quoting State ex rel. Huntington v. McNulty, 151 Conn. 447, 449, 199 A.2d 5 (1964); see also Waterbury v. Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities, supra, and cases cited therein. In the present case, the tax commissioner's grant of authority is to be found in General Statutes § 12-121d as set out above. Our task is to determine whether, pursuant to that grant of authority, the tax commissioner is authorized to review the levying of a penalty assessment on a taxpayer who is late in filing the forms required by General Statutes § 12-121b. "As is true in every case involving the construction of a statute, our starting point must be the language employed by the legislature." Verdon v. Transamerica Ins. Co., 187 Conn. 363, 366, 446 A.2d 3 (1982). General Statutes § 12-121d does not explicitly delineate the scope of any hearing before the commissioner. Rather, it merely states the "taxpayer may request a hearing before such assessor ... and said taxpayer shall have the right to appeal to the state tax commissioner for a hearing." We must therefore look to the statute as a whole in order to determine the tax commissioner's statutory grant of authority. Verrastro v. Sivertsen, 188 Conn. 213, 222, 448 A.2d 1344 (1982); see also Connecticut Theater Foundation, Inc. v. Brown, 179 Conn. 672, 676-77, 427 A.2d 863 (1980); LaProvidenza v. State Employees' Retirement Commission, 178 Conn. 23, 29, 420 A.2d 905 (1979).

General Statutes § 12-121d provides, in part, that "[i]f, in the process of verification for purposes of assessment under § 12-121c, the local assessor finds an owner's report to be unacceptable for any reason, he shall notify said owner ... as to why said report is not acceptable." Lundy fixes upon the words "unacceptable for any reason" as providing the assessor with the authority to consider claims based upon the lack of statutory notice. ⁴ The problem with this position is that it would require us to interpret these words in isolation from the rest of the statute. We have noted that words which are seemingly clear and unambiguous may be modified by the context in which they are found. Doe v. Institute of Living, 175 Conn. 49, 57, 392 A.2d 491 (1978); Mitchell v. King, 169 Conn. 140, 144, 363 A.2d 68 (1975).

In the present case, a local assessor's authority to consider a problem raised by a taxpayer is limited by General Statutes § 12-121d to those claims that arise "in the process of verification for purposes of assessment under [General Statutes] section 12-121c." The legislative history of the statute provides no assistance in determining the parameters of what is included in the "process of verification." We must interpret these terms, therefore, according to their "commonly approved usage." General Statutes § 1-1a; Doe v. Institute of Living, supra. The word "verification" has been defined as "the authentication of truth or accuracy by such means as facts, statements, citations, measurements, or attendant circumstances." Webster's Third New International Dictionary. The assessment procedure under General Statutes § 12-121c requires an assessor to "submit to the state tax commissioner ... a list of the owners, together with an itemized statement of each such owner's acquisitions of personal property, showing the fair market value thereof." The verification process, therefore, requires an assessor to "authenticate" the list of owners, the extent of their property holdings, and the value of those holdings. It follows from this that under § 12-121d, a report can be "unacceptable for any reason" only if arising from these categories. Therefore, we cannot accept Lundy's claimed interpretation of the words "unacceptable for any reason."

In so concluding, we note that the date on which forms are provided to a taxpayer, or the date on which the taxpayer files...