State v. Rorabaugh-Brown Dry Goods Co.
| Decision Date | 14 May 1935 |
| Docket Number | 24528. |
| Citation | 45 P.2d 488,172 Okla. 216,1935 OK 544 |
| Parties | STATE v. RORABAUGH-BROWN DRY GOODS CO. |
| Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court.
1. Upon failure of the owner of personal property to return the same for assessment for purposes of ad valorem taxation, as provided by law, the tax assessor is authorized to place the same upon the tax rolls of the county, and when so assessed it may be denominated as an arbitrary assessment as distinguished from a regular assessment made upon formal return by the owner.
2. It is the duty of a county assessor, in making an arbitrary assessment of personal property, to prepare and file the same on the forms provided by the state auditor for use of the taxpayer, and to include therein all information required by such forms as may come to his knowledge in connection with the making of such assessment.
3. An incomplete or imperfect arbitrary assessment of personal property may nevertheless be a valid assessment.
4. An arbitrary assessment of personal property which is imperfect or incomplete in that it fails to describe with particularity the exact property included therein, and upon which assessment the taxes have been paid, may in a proper case be explained by parol or other competent evidence to establish the fact of the exact property assessed thereby, when, in an action to assess omitted property, it is sought to again assess and tax the same property.
5. In an action to assess omitted personal property, where the defense is that the property has already been assessed by an arbitrary assessment imperfectly describing the property assessed and the taxes paid thereon, the burden is on the property owner to establish the fact that such property was included in such assessment when the same does not clearly show such property to have been included therein. Such burden must be sustained by clear and convincing evidence.
6. Tax ferret law (St. 1931, § 12346 et seq.) held not to authorize revaluation or reassessment of property already assessed, but applies only to property not assessed for taxation.
Appeal from County Court, Oklahoma County; C. C. Christison, Judge.
Proceeding instituted by the Tax Ferret of Oklahoma County by report to the county treasurer to assess personal property of the Rorabaugh-Brown Dry Goods Company, a corporation, for ad valorem taxation as omitted property. From a judgment for defendant, the State appeals.
Affirmed.
I. L Harris, of Oklahoma City, for the State.
Everest McKenzie, Halley & Gibbens, of Oklahoma City, for defendant in error.
This proceeding was commenced on the 22d day of March, 1932, by the tax ferret of Oklahoma county by report to the county treasurer of said county that he had discovered Rorabaugh-Brown Dry Goods Company was the owner of certain property consisting of invested capital, accounts receivable furniture, and fixtures which was not listed for taxation but was subject to taxation in Oklahoma county for the years as follows: 1928, $75,000; 1930, $75,000. Notice was given to the taxpayer, who filed its objections to said proposed assessment, alleging that all of its property was assessed for taxation for said years, as required by law; that taxes were paid thereon, and that none of its property was omitted.
The cause was heard on November 2, 1932, before the county treasurer, who ordered the property extended upon the tax rolls as omitted property, and assessed the defendant with taxes thereon for each of said years. The taxpayer perfected an appeal to the county court of Oklahoma county. On appeal the county court, after a full and complete hearing, held that said property was not omitted property, but had been assessed and extended upon the tax rolls and the taxes thereon had been paid, and that court dismissed the action, from which judgment the state of Oklahoma perfected its appeal to this court.
The taxpayer is a domestic corporation engaged in the retail dry goods business in Oklahoma City. Its defense to the assessment of the alleged omitted property is that all of its property was assessed for the years 1928 and 1930, and that it has fully paid its taxes thereon.
The record shows assessment of personal property belonging to the corporation for each of the years involved. The status of such assessments and the manner of making them will be reflected by the following facts, which are undisputed: After the assessing period for each of the years involved had passed, the secretary of the taxpayer corporation repaired to the county assessor's office with complete data reflecting the character and value of all of the property owned by the corporation. This data contained a complete list and statement of the accounts receivable, and furniture and fixtures and stock of merchandise belonging to the corporation for the years involved. All of this information was given to the tax assessor for the purpose of forming the basis of an assessment of the property of the corporation for the years involved. The assessor, having before him the details of the property owned by the corporation so presented, caused to be prepared in his office an assessment of the property on a personal assessment list form as provided by the state auditor.
The assessments, as prepared, did not itemize the property being assessed, as provided by any statute or forms prescribed by the state auditor. The county assessor fixed the value of the corporation's property for each year at the lump sum of $250,000, and the same was entered on the assessment sheets so filed in the following manner:
Year 1928:
Year 1930:
The name of the corporation was signed to the 1928 assessment sheet in the office of the assessor on October 17, 1928, and the assessment sheet for 1930 bears the signature of the county assessor by one of his deputies as of June 7, 1930, but no further effort was made to comply with the statutory requirements. It will be observed from the above facts that the taxpayer wholly failed to comply with the provisions of section 12372, O. S. 1931, which required the filing of a detailed statement and report by the corporation, under oath, on form provided by the state...
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