State v. Hawkins

• Citation: 70 S.W. 119,169 Mo. 615
• Parties: STATE ex rel. SHANNON COUNTY v. HAWKINS et al.
• Decision Date: 27 October 1902
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Missouri

70 S.W. 119

169 Mo. 615

STATE ex rel. SHANNON COUNTY v. HAWKINS et al.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

October 27, 1902.

TAX COLLECTOR'S ACCOUNT — SETTLEMENT — CONCLUSIVENESS — COMPENSATION — BACK TAXES.

1. Where the annual account of a tax collector was settled in the county court for a certain year with full knowledge of his claim for certain commissions for back taxes collected in that year, which the court allowed, the settlement is conclusive in a subsequent action by the county to recover such allowance, in the absence of fraud, collusion, or mistake.

2. Rev. St. 1899, § 9260, declares that the collector of taxes shall receive as full compensation for collecting the revenue, except back taxes, the following commissions and no more, and provides a commission of 5 per cent. in certain counties. Section 9309 declares that fees shall be allowed to the collector for collecting back taxes of 4 per cent. on all sums collected, to be taxed as costs to the party redeeming the land. Held, that the fees provided for the collection of back taxes by section 9309 were additional compensation to the collector for collecting such taxes, and that he was not precluded from claiming them by section 9260.

Appeal from circuit court, Shannon county; W. N. Evans, Judge.

Action by the state, on the relation of Shannon county, against Andrew J. Hawkins and others to recover taxes alleged to have been unaccounted for by Hawkins as collector. From a judgment of the circuit court reversing a decision of the county court in favor of plaintiff, it appeals. Affirmed.

W. R. Shuck and Jas. Orchard, for appellant. L. B. Shuck and W. J. Orr, for respondents.

GANTT, J.

This appeal is properly lodged in this court because it involves the construction of the revenue laws of this state, and because the county of Shannon is also a party to the action. The action is on the bond of the county collector to recover the penalty of his bond, $30,000, to be satisfied by an execution for $420.27, which sum the petition charges the collector failed and refused to account for at his final and surrendering settlement of revenues by him collected in 1897 and 1898. The answer denied all the allegations of the petition, and affirmatively pleaded a final settlement in 1898 of his accounts as collector for 1897, and its approval by the court, and that in 1899 he submitted and filed with the county court his settlement for the year 1898, and paid into the county treasury all moneys due from him as collector.

1. This action requires at our hands a construction of sections 7640, 7688, Rev. St. 1889, now 9260, 9309, Rev. St. 1899. Defendant Hawkins was elected in 1896, and was collector of revenue for Shannon county for 1897 and 1898. Subdivision 5, § 7640, Rev. St. 1889, governs the amount of commissions allowed the collector of Shannon county for those years. Owing to the amount of revenue collected, he was entitled to a commission of 5 per cent. on all current taxes for these years, which amount he was authorized to deduct from the amount of revenue collected for those years, and required to pay the balance to the state and county. The record discloses that he fully accounted for all current revenue for each of said years, and retained only his 5 per cent. commissions thereon. It also appears that the defendant Hawkins and the county court at the March term, 1898, had a full settlement of his accounts of the revenue collected by him in 1897, and, with full knowledge of his claim for $216 commissions on back taxes collected by him that year, the court allowed him that credit. There is no charge of fraud or collusion in the case. Whether the court erred in allowing that commission on back taxes for that year, the settlement is binding and conclusive in the absence of fraud, collusion, or mistake. State v. Ewing, 116 Mo. 129, 22 S. W. 476; State v. Shipman, 125 Mo. 436, 28 S. W. 842. The item of $216 is no longer in the case.

2. The only question remaining is whether the collector was and is entitled to retain the commission of 4 per cent., amounting to $203, on back taxes collected in 1898. Section 7640, Rev. St. 1889 (section 9260, Rev. St. 1899), provides: "The collector shall receive as full compensation for his services in collecting the revenues,...