Prairie Cattle Co. v. Williamson
| Citation | 1897 OK 95,5 Okla. 488,49 P. 937 |
| Parties | THE PRAIRIE CATTLE COMPANY v. J. C. WILLIAMSON, Treasurer, AND F. D. HEALY, Sheriff of Beaver County. |
| Decision Date | 30 July 1897 |
| Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
Error from the District Court of Beaver County.
¶0 1. TAXATION--Personal Property-- Where Assessed. By § 1, art. 5, Session Laws, 1895, it is provided that "where any personal property shall be located in any county of this territory after the first day of March of any year, which shall acquire an actual situs therein before the first day of September, such property shall be assessed, &c." and § 2 of the same article further provides that "Whenever any live stock shall be located in this territory for the purpose of grazing, it shall be deemed to have acquired an actual situs therein." And where the proof shows that cattle owned in another state or territory actually ranged and grazed in a certain county of Oklahoma during the entire year; held, that such cattle were properly taxable in such county.
2. SAME--Situs of Personal Property. While it may be stated, as a general proposition of law, that personal property has no situs except that of the domicile of the owner, yet this doctrine yields wherever it is applied to the taxation of personal property.
3. SAME--Where Double Taxation May be Imposed. Because a cattle company has already listed its property for taxation in another state and the imposition of taxes in this territory may result in double taxation, such fact does not make the tax in this territory illegal. Each taxing jurisdiction has the right to determine for itself how the taxes within its own jurisdiction shall be levied.
J. C. Gunter and A. S. Dickson, for plaintiff in error.
R. H. Loofborough, County Attorney, for defendant in error; of counsel, Harper S. Cunningham, Attorney General.
¶1 This case comes up from the district court of Beaver county and is brought here to reverse a judgment of the lower court in holding that certain taxes levied against the personal property of the Prairie Cattle company, a corporation, were rightfully so levied. The trial court made no finding of facts, but we have the evidence upon which the judgment was based, and from such record it appears that the Prairie Cattle company has its home ranch and headquarters about eighteen miles south of La Junta, Colorado; that such corporation owns about 16,000 head of cattle, which are made up of all classes and ages, and subsist during the entire year upon such grass and water as they can procure by ranging over a very large area of country in southeastern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico, and portions of Beaver county, Oklahoma. That the corporation, by ownership and lease, have obtained control of portions of the water privileges and lands extending over an area, in places, of about one hundred miles north and south, and eighty miles east and west, lying in the southeastern portion of Colorado, and the northwestern part of New Mexico. That included within this range are large bodies of the public domain, and also numerous other cattle companies and individuals engaged in grazing cattle, and who are the owners or lessees of such other water privileges and lands as are not owned or controlled by the Prairie Cattle company. This range runs down on the southeast to the vicinity of the north and the west lines of Beaver county, Oklahoma, and numbers of cattle belonging to corporations and individuals drift into Beaver county during storms and at other times for the purpose of procuring water and grass. Owners of such cattle do not claim any grazing rights in Beaver county, and at the spring and fall round-ups throw their cattle back onto their own range, and during such season of the year as the cattle are likely to drift into Beaver county, keep men employed to ride the ranch line and throw back into their own range such cattle as they may find are drifting off and into said Beaver county; but notwithstanding their efforts to keep them out, some of their cattle are always, at each round-up, found in Beaver county, and each year the assessor of the township in Beaver county where the cattle are so found, lists the same for taxation. At the spring round-up in 1895 about 800 head of cattle belonging to the Prairie Cattle company were found in Cleveland township, of Beaver county, and the assessor of such township returned for taxation against the company 600 head. One of the witnesses for the defendant in error testified that he thought 600 to be a reasonable estimate of the number of cattle belonging to the Prairie Cattle company, which would be in Cleveland township, Beaver county, most of the year, and that such a number was the average of what might range there during the entire year.
¶2 It is to defeat the attempt to so tax the cattle that this suit was instituted in the court below, and in its petition filed therein, it is alleged, among other things, that the Prairie Cattle company has its home ranch near Higby, Otero county, Col., holds real estate in Bent, Otero, Las Animas and Baca counties, in such state, and in Union and Colfax counties, in the territory of New Mexico; does not own or control any real estate in the Territory of Oklahoma, and that all of the cattle owned by the company were assessed for taxation in the counties of Colorado and New Mexico above named, and it is the intention of the corporation to pay the taxes so levied when they shall become due. That it has been the intention and purpose of the corporation to keep all of its range cattle in the state of Colorado. That notwithstanding such efforts small numbers drifted down into Beaver county, Oklahoma, against the will of the agents of the corporation, but were always, as soon as discovered, driven back into Colorado. To the petition an answer was filed, which, in substance, alleged that the cattle assessed were located in Beaver county after the first day of March, 1895, and acquired an actual situs therein before the first day of September of such year.
¶3 Under the pleadings and facts in this case the only question to determine is: Were the cattle subject to taxation in Beaver county? By § 1, art. 5. Session Laws 1895, p. 229, it is provided that:
"When any personal property shall be located in any county of this territory after the first day of March of any year, which shall acquire an actual situs therein before the first day of September, such property is taxa- ble therein for that year and shall be assessed and placed on the tax roll, and the tax collected as provided by this act."
¶4 Section 2, of the same act, which follows the one just quoted, reads as follows:
"Whenever any live stock shall be located in this territory for the purpose of grazing, it shall be deemed to have acquired an actual situs therein as contemplated by this act."
¶5 If the cattle had acquired a situs within the meaning of the sections above quoted, then they are taxable. In view of these provisions of our statute it would appear that this case must largely turn upon the facts. Under the evidence it appears that 600 head of cattle belonging to the Prairie Cattle company were upon an average, for the year 1895, grazing in the township in Beaver county in which they were sought to be taxed. It is true the same cattle were not there all that time, but that was the number which, if they were there located for the purpose of grazing, must under our law be deemed to have acquired an actual situs for grazing purposes, and it makes no difference that they were there against...
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