State v. Southern Land & Timber Co.

Decision Date24 February 1903
Citation33 So. 999,45 Fla. 374
PartiesSTATE et al. v. SOUTHERN LAND & TIMBER CO.
CourtFlorida Supreme Court

Error to Circuit Court, Jackson County; Evelyn C. Maxwell, Judge.

Petition by the Southern Land & Timber Company against the state of Florida and the county of Jackson to declare a tax assessment void. From a judgment for petitioner, defendants bring error. Reversed.

Syllabus by the Court

SYLLABUS

1. The principles of law announced in the case of Jackson County v. Thornton (decided at the June term, 1902, of this court) 33 So. 291, are approved and applied to this case.

2. Section 1, c. 4516, p. 12, of the Laws of 1897, providing for the levy upon the real and personal property in the counties of the state of 3 1/2 mills upon the dollar, for the current expenses of the state for each of the years 1897 and 1898 being a part of a general law providing for levying taxes in those years, does not take away the power conferred by section 784, Rev. St., of levying a special tax of not more than one-half mill for public health purposes in addition to the 3 1/2 mills provided for in section 1, c. 4516, section 784 being a special law. Nor is it necessary, to make a levy legal under the latter section, that there should be a further act of appropriation of the money raised thereunder. The language of the section not only authorizes the levy of the tax, but ex proprio vigore is an appropriation of the funds to be raised therefrom to public health purposes.

3. Chapter 4520, p. 21, Laws 1897, providing for the levy of a tax of half a mill, the proceeds to be devoted to the payment of pensions, is a special act; and the rate of 3 1/2 mills for the current expenses of the state provided for by section 1, c. 4516, p. 12, Laws 1897, is a general law, and does not embrace the half-mill pension tax above mentioned; nor is there any conflict between the two acts.

4. Chapter 4526, p. 54, Laws 1897, is a special act authorizing the county commissioners of every county to levy a special tax, not to exceed two mills, upon the real and personal property of their respective connties, for the expenses of criminal prosecutions; and this rate is not embraced in the five-mill rate permitted by section 2, c. 4516, p. 13, Laws 1897, for county purposes, the latter being a general law.

5. In the construction of general and special acts the maxim 'Generalia specialibus non derogant,' applies; and a general act will not be held to repeal or modify a special one, embraced within the general terms of the general act unless the general act is a general revision of the whole subject, or unless the two acts are so repugnant and irreconcilable as to indicate a legislative intent that the one should repeal or modify the other.

6. Where the board of county commissioners at the October meeting, 1897, after correcting and reviewing the county assessment, did ascertain and determine the rate of taxation for each purpose for which taxes were to be levied, and the aggregate amount to be collected for each purpose, and ordered the tax collector to be debited with these several amounts, all of which appears from minutes of said meeting the requirements of section 2, c. 4516, p. 13, Laws 1897, are substantially complied with.

COUNSEL

Wm. B. Farley, for plaintiffs in error.

Carter, Wilson & Boone, for defendant in error.

On March 18, A. D. 1898, the defendant in error filed in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of Jackson county Fla., its petition, alleging: That the Southern Land & Timber Company, a corporation having its general office in the state of Wisconsin, is, and was during the entire year A. D. 1897, a taxpayer of said county of Jackson, in the state of Florida, and is the onwer of certain real estate, to wit, about 12,840 acres of land lying therein, and describing the land. That at a regular meeting of the board of county commissioners of said county on the first Monday in July, 1897, the said board did proceed to levy for said year 1897, upon all the real and personal property within said county, a tax for county purposes at the rate of 5 mills on the dollar valuation for county schools, 3 1/2 mills on the dollar for a so-called 'county proper' tax, and 2 mills upon the dollar for the fine and forfeiture fund for payment of costs of criminal prosecutions--making a total rate of taxation for county purposes, including county schools, of 10 1/2 mills upon the dollar--which levies so made were recorded upon the minutes of the board. But petitioner alleges that said board did not, at said meeting or at any other meeting, ascertain and determine the amount of money to be raised by tax for county purposes for said year 1897, and cause such determination to be entered upon their records as the law required. That in and for said year 1897 the tax assessor of said county of Jackson assessed against the real and personal property therein, including said lands of petitioner, a tax of 5 1/4 mills upon the dollar valuation, in addition to the county tax aforesaid, for the state of Florida, which said tax, to distinguish it from the aforesaid tax for county purposes, is denominated the 'state tax.' Neither the records of said county commissioners, nor the assessment books themselves, disclose the special items which make up this 5 1/4 mills, but petitioner is informed and believes that it is made up as follows:

(So-called) general revenue 3 1/2 mills
State School tax 1 mill
Tax for pension appropriation 1/2 mill
Tax for State Board of Health 1/4 mill

--That said lands of petitioner are all unimproved, and have been assessed for taxation for the year 1897 by the tax assessor of Jackson county at a valuation of $3 per acre; that this valuation is grossly excessive of the real value of said lands, as well as greatly excessive of the value at which other lands of like character, similarly situated and in the same locality, are assessed. That the said assessment of lands is not a fair assessment at their true cash value, but is made arbitrarily, in pursuance of a prearranged plan of the tax assessor of said county, whereby he assessed all lands, in character similar to these (unimproved pine lands), which are returned for assessment by the owner thereof, at $1 to $1.25 per acre, and those not so returned to him for assessment at $3 per acre to owner unknown, without regard to the true difference in value of the lands assessed, but absolutely and exclusively upon the action of the owner in giving in, or his nonaction in failing to give in, his lands for assessment. That the assessment of petitioner's property above described was made in pursuance of said plan, and the same is unjust and unequal, without uniformity, fraudulent, illegal, and void. That its lands were given in and assessed for taxation in Jackson county, Fla., for the year 1896, at the valuation of $1 per acre, which it alleges was a fair valuation for same, and that said lands were of no greater value in 1897 than they were in the year 1896. That the action of the tax assessor in assessing said lands of petitioner for the year 1897 at the valuation of $3 per acre was arbitrary, fraudulent, and illegal. That said assessor did not make such assessment upon a personal inspection of the lands assessed, nor upon the basis of a true cash value of the same, but assessed them arbitrarily, without regard to their value, under the prearranged plan above set forth.

Petitioner further alleges that the entire tax rate for county purposes, including schools, is blended in making up the assessments, and the entire tax, calculated at 10 1/2 mills, is calculated and extended in a sum total in one column for county purposes, and the entire tax rate for state purposes, including schools, is blended in making up the assessment, and the entire tax, calculated at 5 1/4 mills, is calculated and extended in a sum total in a separate column for state purposes; thereby making the assessment of each parcel of property for county purposes an entire, inseparable assessment, and the assessment on each parcel of property for state purposes an entire, inseparable assessment.

Petitioner is advised and believes that the tax on its said lands for county purposes is excessive in rate, the assessment based upon an unequal and arbitrary valuation, and the tax is not levied in pursuance of law; also that the tax on its said land for state purposes is excessive in rate, the assessment being based upon an unequal and arbitrary valuation, and the tax is not levied in pursuance of law; but nevertheless the said assessor has issued his warrant to the collector of revenue in and for said Jackson county, commanding him to collect the taxes so assessed against each and every of the parcels of land aforesaid, and the said collector demands the payment of the full amount of the taxes levied, and proposed, if same is not paid by the 1st day of April, 1898, to advertise and sell said lands at public sale to the highest bidder to satisfy his demand for said taxes. In view of the premises, the petitioner prays the judge of the court to consider the same, together with the evidence which is herewith presented to sustain the allegations of this petition, and order and adjudge said assessment to be not lawfully made. The petition was sworn to. Notice of a hearing of this petition was served on W. B. Wynn, tax collector of Jackson county, Fla., to be had on March 25, 1898.

On March 25, 1898, W. B. Wynn, tax collector, appeared and filed a demurrer to the petition, containing several grounds, which demurrer was overruled, and the ruling of the court was excepted to. An answer was then filed by the tax collector alleging, in substance, that the assessments complained of were in...

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