Lyman v. Howe

• Decision Date: 13 November 1897
• Citation: 42 S.W. 830
• Parties: LYMAN et al. v. HOWE, Clerk.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Page 830

42 S.W. 830

LYMAN et al. v. HOWE, Clerk.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

November 13, 1897.

Appeal from circuit court, Sebastian county; Edgar E. Bryant, Judge.

Action by George H. Lyman, trustee, and others, against C. H. Howe, county clerk, to enjoin collection of taxes. Judgment for defendant. Plaintiffs appeal. Reversed.

James B. McDonough, for appellants. Clendening, Mechem & Youmans, for appellee.

WOOD, J.

This appeal seeks to enjoin the county clerk of Sebastian county from extending the taxes against a certain lot of land in the city of Ft. Smith. The only question we need consider is whether a board of equalization can place a valuation upon property for assessment that has been returned by the assessor without having placed upon it any value. "The powers of the board of equalization are special and limited. They can perform no act except such as they are specially authorized to do." Board of Equalization Cases, 49 Ark. 518, 6 S. W. 1. The statute confers no power upon the board of equalization to assess property. Their duty is to equalize, not to assess de novo. Sand. & H. Dig. §§ 6529, 6530; Black, Tax Titles, §§ 133, 134; Manford v. Turnpike Co., 42 Ind. 293. The duty to assess devolves upon the assessor. Sand. & H. Dig. § 6485. No one else can perform that duty. Welty, Assessm. § 10. "An assessment is an official listing of persons and property, with an estimate of the value of the property of each, for the purpose of taxation." Cooley, Tax'n, p. 351; Welty, Assessm. § 2. "All property subject to taxation shall be taxed according to its value." Const. Ark. art. 16, § 5. So, the fixing of some value upon property is indispensable to its assessments for taxation. Welty, Assessm. § 130. When the assessor does this, in the first instance, then the board of equalization may equalize this valuation, with the average valuation of other land, by raising or reducing same, as the case may require, so as to fix its true value. Sand. & H. Dig. § 6530. People v. Hastings, 29 Cal. 451. Since the assessor's roll shows that there was no assessment of the lot mentioned, the action of the board of equalization was void. It follows that the court erred in holding such action legal. The judgment is reversed, and the injunction is made perpetual.