Smith v. Columbia County
| Decision Date | 17 June 1959 |
| Citation | 216 Or. 662,341 P.2d 540 |
| Parties | Wilbur J. SMITH, Longview Tugboat Company, a Washington corporation, Elmer Danielsen, doing business as Puget Island Ferry, Esson H. Smith, doing business as C. T. Smith & Son, Appellants, v. COLUMBIA COUNTY, Oregon, and M. R. Calhoun as Sheriff of Columbia County, Marion County, Oregon, and Denver Young as Sheriff of Marion County, Yamhill County, Oregon, and W. J. 'Bill' Jones as Sheriff of Yamhill County, Multnomah County, Oregon, and Terry D. Schrunk as Sheriff of Multnomah County, Clackamas County, Oregon, and Fred Reaksecker as Sheriff of Clackamas County, Clatsop County, Oregon, and Paul Kearney as Sheriff of Clatsop County, Wasco County, Oregon, and Harold Sexton as Sheriff of Wasco County, Hood River County, Oregon, and Rupert L. Gillmouthe as Sheriff of Hood River County, Carl W. Chambers, Robert D. MacLean and Ray Smith, constituting the State Tax Commission of the State of Oregon, Respondents. |
| Court | Oregon Supreme Court |
William F. White, Portland, and John F. McCarthy, Longview, Wash., for appellants.
Theodore W. deLooze, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondents. With him on the brief was Robert Y. Thornton, Atty. Gen.
Before McALLISTER, C. J., and LUSK, WARNER PERRY, SLOAN, O'CONNELL and MILLARD, JJ.
This is an appeal by all the above named plaintiffs, including plaintiffs in intervention, from a decree of the Circuit Court of Marion County upholding the constitutionality of chapters 405, 413 and 414 of Oregon Laws 1949 insofar as such statutes provide for the assessment for taxation purposes for the year 1950 upon the tugs, barges and vessels of plaintiffs and plaintiffs in intervention operating within the inland waters of the Columbia River and its tributaries.
In discussing the merits of this case it is necessary that we set forth portions of the applicable statutes as they existed on June 1, 1950. In so doing we have excluded such sections or portions thereof as do not refer to the instant case, but only to taxation generally. The pertinent portions are as follows:
* * *
* * *
(Italics supplied.) Sec. 110-505, OCLA, as amended by Chap. 442, Oregon Laws 1947, and as further amended by Sec. 1, Chap. 414, Oregon Laws 1949, now ORS 308.515.
'Section 1. That section 110-312, O.C.L.A., as amended by section 1, chapter 359, Oregon Laws 1941, be and the same hereby is amended so as to read as follows:
'Sec. 110-312. Except as otherwise specifically provided, all personal property shall be assessed for taxation each year at its situs as of the day and hour of assessment prescribed by law; provided, that boats, vessels or other watercraft registered or enrolled within this state, except such as are assessed by the state tax commission, shall be assessed in the county of such registry or enrolment. * * *
'Section 2. That section 110-313, O.C.L.A., as amended by section 1, chapter 263, Oregon Laws 1945, be and the same hereby is amended so as to read as follows:
'Sec. 110-313. 1. Except as otherwise provided by law, all ships and vessels whose home ports of registry or enrolment are in the state of Oregon, other than such as are assessed by the state tax commission, shall be assessed at 10 per cent of the true cash value thereof; provided, however, that ships and vessels in intercoastal or foreign trade, whether actually engaged therein or laid up, shall be assessed at 1 per cent of the true cash value thereof; and provided further, that to and including the year 1951 the same rule of 1 per cent shall apply to ships and vessels which may be under original construction at the assessment date of any year, but such rule shall not apply to materials not actually in place as the constructed part of any such ship or vessel.
* * *
* * *
'Section 3. That section 110-543, O.C.L.A., be and the same hereby is amended so as to read as follows:
'Sec. 110-543. The term 'property', as used in this act, shall be deemed to include all property, real and personal, tangible and intangible, subject to assessment for taxation under this act, belonging to the company, or held by it as occupant, lessee, or otherwise, and shall include the lands and buildings, rights of way, roadbed, water powers, cars, rolling stock, tracks, wagons, horses, office furniture, telegraph, telephone, and transmission lines, poles, wires, conduits, switchboards, machinery, appliances, appurtenances, docks, watercraft and all other property of a like or different kind, used in carrying on the business of said company, and owned, leased, or operated by it, and all other real and personal property and all franchises and special franchises; * * *
(Italics supplied.) (now ORS 308.505)
'Section 12. That section 110-510, O.C.L.A., be and the same hereby is amended so as to read as follows:
'Sec. 110-510. The several companies enumerated in this act, doing business in this state, hereby are required to make and file with the state tax commission, on or before the first day of February of each year, in such form and on such blanks as said commission may provide, a statement, under oath, to be made by the president, secretary, treasurer, superintendent, or chief officer of such company, covering a period of at least one year and not exceeding five years, as may be required by such commission; provided, however, that class I railroads, class A electric companies, class A telephone companies, telegraph companies and sleeping car companies shall be required to file such statement on or before the fifteenth day of March of each year. Each such statement shall contain the following facts: 1. The name of the company, the nature of the business conducted by the company, and under the laws of what state or country it is organized; the location of its principal office; the name and postoffice address of its president, secretary, auditor, treasurer, superintendent, and general manager; the name and postoffice address of the chief officer or managing agent or attorney in fact in Oregon.
'2. The number of shares of capital stock.
'3. The par value and market value, or actual value if there be no market value, of the shares of stock on the first day of January at the hour of 1 o'clock a. m. of the year in which the report is made.
'4. The bonds and other corporate obligations owing by the company.
Sec. 110-510, OCLA, as amended by Chap. 440, Oregon Laws 1941 (now ORS 308.520 and 308.525).
...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Jarvill v. City of Eugene
...281 Or. 9, 16, 573 P.2d 298 (1978); Dutton Lbr. Corp. v. Tax Com., 228 Or. 525, 539, 365 P.2d 867 (1961); Smith et al. v. Columbia County et al., 216 Or. 662, 341 P.2d 540 (1959); Wittenberg et al. v. Mutton et al., 203 Or. 438, 280 P.2d 359 (1955); Garbade and Boynton v. City of Portland, ......
-
Kane v. Tri-County Metropolitan Transp. Dist. of Oregon
...281 Or. 9, 16, 573 P.2d 298 (1978); Dutton Lbr. Corp. v. Tax Comm., 228 Or. 525, 539, 365 P.2d 867 (1961); Smith et al. v. Columbia County et al., 216 Or. 662, 341 P.2d 540 (1959); Wittenberg et al. v. Mutton et al., 203 Or. 438, 280 P.2d 359 (1955); Garbade and Boynton v. City of Portland,......
-
Jarvill v. City of Eugene
...(1959); Huckaba v. Johnson, 281 Or. 23, 573 P.2d 305 (1978); Horner's Market v. Tri-County Trans., supra; Smith et al. v. Columbia County et al., 216 Or. 662, 341 P.2d 540 (1959) Appeal dismissed 362 U.S. 215, 80 S.Ct. 668, 4 L.Ed.2d 736 (1960); Wittenberg et al. v. Mutton et al., 203 Or. 4......
-
Southern Pacific Transp. Co. v. Department of Revenue, s. SC
...Railway Co. v. Missouri Tax Comm., 390 U.S. 317, 323-25, 88 S.Ct. 995, 999-1000, 19 L.Ed.2d 1201 (1968); Smith v. Columbia County, 216 Or. 662, 686-88, 341 P.2d 540 (1959). However, as we noted in Budget Rent-A-Car v. Multnomah Co., 287 Or. 93, 104-05, 597 P.2d 1232 (1979):" * * * Insofar a......