State v. Dixie Portland Cement Co.

• Decision Date: 13 January 1925
• Parties: STATE EX REL. VANCE ET AL. v. DIXIE PORTLAND CEMENT CO.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

267 S.W. 595

151 Tenn. 53

STATE EX REL. VANCE ET AL. v. DIXIE PORTLAND CEMENT CO.

Supreme Court of Tennessee.

January 13, 1925

Appeal from Chancery Court, Marion County; T. L. Stewart Chancellor.

Bill by the State of Tennessee, on the relation, D. B. Vance, State Revenue Agent, and another, against the Dixie Portland Cement Company to recover delinquent taxes. From a decree awarding the State Revenue Agent and Tax Attorney fee as compensation the defendant and the State Revenue Agent and Tax Attorney both appeal. Reversed.

A. R Hall, of Jasper, for complainants.

Chas C. Moore, of Chattanooga, for defendant.

COOK J.

The defendant appealed from a decree awarding D. B. Vance, state revenue agent, and A. R. Hall, tax attorney, a fee of $1,214.70, as compensation in a delinquent tax case. The revenue agent and tax attorney appealed, insisting that their fee should have been 15 per cent. upon $20,119.99 taxes alleged to be delinquent.

The bill was filed January 16, 1922, to recover, on behalf of the state and county, a balance of $20,199.99, appearing on the tax books of Marion county as taxes payable in 1920, and delinquent from March 1, 1921. The defendant contends that the assessment for 1920 was illegal, and a proceeding was pending in the circuit court of Davidson county to review the action of the state board of equalization when the bill was filed. It insists that the assessment was incomplete, and no charge could be entered upon the tax books until the questions presented upon the petition for certiorari were determined by the court. The controversy arose from the fact that the proceeding to review the assessment was filed, and the writs of certiorari and supersedeas issued, after the state board of equalization certified the assessment to the county court clerk.

The county assessor and county board of equalization assessed the property of Dixie Portland Cement Company in Marion county for 1920 at $2,500,000. Under chapter 602, § 37, Acts of 1907 (chapter 1, §§ 8 and 11, Acts of 1919), the cement company appealed to the state board of equalization, which reviewed the action of the county board and reduced the assessment to $1,755,671. Section 10, c. 1, Acts of 1919, provides that the action of the state board of equalization shall be final and conclusive as to all matters passed upon by them, and taxes shall be collected upon the valuation fixed by the board.

Section 12 and 15 of chapter 1, Acts of 1919, provides that after the state board has completed the equalization of property, and not later than October 1, they shall certify the assessment to the county court clerk, and the rate of taxation shall not be fixed by the county until after the state board shall have certified their action.

Section 38, c. 602, Acts of 1907, provides that the county court clerk shall make out and deliver the tax book to the county trustee on or before the first Monday of October. Chapter 1 of the Acts of 1919 extended this time to December 1.

October 16, 1920, the state board of equalization certified their action upon the assessment to the county court clerk as required by section 12 of chapter 1, Acts of 1919, and instructed the clerk to correct the tax rolls, so as to reduce the assessment against the Dixie Portland Cement Company upon its real estate to $1,550,000. The county board's assessment upon the personalty was left intact, and the aggregate assessment fixed by the state board of equalization was $1,755,671. The county court clerk received the order of the state board of equalization October 18, 1920, and entered the assessment upon the tax books.

When A. G. Hollaway assumed the office of trustee September 1, 1922, tax records of the office showed taxes paid by the cement company in January, 1921, upon a valuation of $713,655, and a balance due upon the remainder of the $1,755,671 assessment of $16,772.16. The interest and penalties increased the tax to $20,119.99, which the bill seeks to recover.

November 24, 1920, the cement company filed the petition for certiorari and supersedeas in the circuit court at Nashville to review the action of the state board of equalization in fixing the assessment at $1,755,671. It alleged that the assessment against its property in excess of $845,533.55 was excessive and unjust; that the state board of equalization refused to give the company a fair opportunity to present the facts disclosing the assessable value of its property, and illegally required the company to show the par value of its capital stock and net earnings for 1919, upon which the assessment was made, and refused to allow deduction for the value of articles manufactured from the produce of the state and exempt from taxation; that it illegally added to the cash value of tangible property in Marion county the value of intangible assets assessable in West Virginia, the domicile of the company; and that the intangible value was arrived at by the board's estimate of the supposed net earnings of the company. It charged that the state board of equalization...