State v. SAN LUIS POWER & WATER CO.
| Decision Date | 28 July 1947 |
| Docket Number | No. 4943,4943 |
| Citation | 183 P.2d 605,51 N.M. 294 |
| Court | New Mexico Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE ex rel. STATE TAX COMMISSION v. SAN LUIS POWER & WATER CO. et al. |
F. S. Merriau, of Raton, and Malcolm Lindsey and L. H. Larwill, both of Denver, for appellants.
Harry L. Bigbee, Sp. Tax Atty., of Santa Fe, for appellee.
The appellant, defendant below, is the owner and operator of an irrigation system consisting of a dam and canals in Taos County used for the storage and distribution of water to various farmers for irrigation purposes. In August, 1939, thetreasurer of Taos County attempted to assess the irrigation works of appellant for the years 1934 to 1938, inclusive. On such assessment a tax deed was issued to the State on December 4, 1941. The state sued to quiet its title under the deed and it was held void by the district court for lack of a description sufficient to identify the property.
The defendant water company filed a counterclaim asking a declaratory judgment that its works are not taxable apart from the increased value of the lands served thereby. The court held such works were subject to taxation and it is this decision the water company asks us to reverse.
The defendant does not own the lands which are irrigated but stores and distributes the water for hire to the landowners. The lands served by the defendant's system are in New Mexico and Colorado. The court found that it had never been the custom in the State of New Mexico to assess irrigation works separate and apart from the increased value of the lands served thereby, and concluded as a matter of law that such had become the public policy of the state.
Art. 8, Sec. 3, of the New Mexico Constitution provides: 'The property of the United States, the state and all counties, towns, cities and school districts, and other municipal corporations, public libraries, community ditches and all laterals thereof, all church property, all property used for educational or charitable purposes, all cemeteries not used or held for private or corporate profit, and all bonds of the State of New Mexico, and of the counties, municipalitiesand districts thereof shall be exempt from taxation.'
Section 76-101, 1941 Comp., provides:
In Sims v. Vosburg, 43 N.M. 255, 257, 91 P.2d 434, 435, we said:
Article 10, section 3, of the Constitution of the State of Colorado is as follows:
It will be noticed that the New Mexico constitution exempts community ditches...
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STORRIE PROJECT WATER USERS ASS'N v. GONZALES
...it. While there are points of distinction in the facts between the present case and that of State ex rel. State Tax Commission v. San Luis Power & Water Company, 51 N.M. 294, 183 P.2d 605, 606, we do not think they suffice to remove the one at bar from the latter's controlling influence as ......
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Appelman v. Beach
...the assessing authority raise the valuation of other properties to the level of his own. Skinner, supra; State v. San Luis Power & Water Co., 51 N.M. 294, 183 P.2d 605 (1947); Oden Buick, Inc. v. Roehl, 36 N.M. 293, 13 P.2d 1093 (1932). And if the revaluation program ceases or fails to cont......
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Zellers v. Huff, 5332
...and statutory provisions are not amended or repealed by the failure of officials to enforce them. State ex rel. State Tax Commission v. San Luis Power & Water Co., 51 N.M. 294, 183 P.2d 605. The Religious by their action having made the thirty minute period a part of the regular school day ......
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Skinner v. New Mexico State Tax. Commission
...too low to a level with his own, Oden Buick, Inc. v. Rochl, 1932, 36 N.M. 293, 13 P.2d 1093; State ex rel. State Tax Commission v. San Luis Power & Water Co., 1947, 51 N.M. 294, 183 P.2d 605. These two rules must be construed together, and if there is illegal discrimination as to the assess......