Scandinavian-American Bank v. King County

• Decision Date: 29 August 1916
• Docket Number: 13448.
• Citation: 92 Wash. 650,159 P. 786
• Parties: SCANDINAVIAN-AMERICAN BANK v. KING COUNTY.
• Court: Washington Supreme Court

159 P. 786

92 Wash. 650

SCANDINAVIAN-AMERICAN BANK v. KING COUNTY.

No. 13448.

Supreme Court of Washington

August 29, 1916

Department 2. Appeal from Superior Court, King County; John S. Jurey Judge.

Action by the Scandinavian-American Bank against King County. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Affirmed.

Alfred H. Lundin and Edwin C. Ewing, both of Seattle, for appellant.

Ballinger Battle, Hulbert & Shorts, and R. W. Capps, all of Seattle for respondent.

CHADWICK, J.

The issue presented is whether a delinquent personal tax is a lien upon real property owned by the tax debtor as the time the tax was levied, but which was subject to a voluntary lien or had been conveyed to another prior to the time the county treasurer selected real property to be charged with the delinquent tax, and noted the charge upon the tax rolls.

Many cases from other states are cited and discussed, but inasmuch as our decision must rest upon our own statutes, it will serve no purpose to review them.

The sections of the revenue laws pertinent to our inquiry are the following:

'All taxes and levies which may hereafter be lawfully imposed or assessed shall be and they are hereby declared to be a lien respectively upon the real estate upon which they may hereafter be imposed or assessed, which liens shall include all charges and expenses of and concerning the said taxes which, by the provisions of this [chapter] are directed to be made. The said lien shall have priority to and shall be fully paid and satisfied before any recognizance, mortgage judgment, debt, obligation or responsibility to or with which said real estate may become charged or liable.' Rem. & Bal. Code, § 9230.

'* * * The taxes assessed upon personal property shall be a lien upon all the real and personal property of the person assessed, from and after the date upon which such assessment is made, and no sale or transfer of either real or personal property shall in any way affect the lien for such taxes upon such property.' Rem. & Bal. Code, § 9235.

The state has an undoubted power to create a priority of lien in aid of its taxing power ( Carstens & Earles v. Seattle, 84 Wash. 88, 146 P. 381), but the general rule is that such priority will not be indulged unless sustained by some positive statute; it will not be sustained by resort to construction. Cooley on Taxation (2d Ed.) p. 444; Central Trust Co. of New York v. Third Ave. R. Co., 186 F. 291, 110 C. C. A. 1. Other cases are collected in Ann. Cas. 1913B, at page 521, under the title 'Constitution.'

Taxes upon real property are made a lien upon the specific property charged, and taxes upon personal property are made a lien upon the specific personal property charged from and after the date of the assessment. Rem. & Bal. Code §§ 9230-9235, supra. It will be noted that the lien upon real property is made a lien, prior in time, over any existing or subsequent lien or incumbrance. Personal taxes are given no such priority of lien, either upon the specific property or upon real property then owned by the debtor (section 9235), and under the rule cited, a purchaser of real property or an incumbrancer, if prior in time, takes the property or a lien upon it without liability to pay the...