United States v. Madison County, Ark.
| Decision Date | 07 September 1923 |
| Docket Number | 6253. |
| Citation | 293 F. 739 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES ex rel. PIONEER CONST. CO. v. MADISON COUNTY, ARK., et al. [1] |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
John R Duty, of Rogers, Ark. (Claude Duty, of Rogers, Ark., on the brief), for plaintiff in error.
J. S Combs, of Huntsville, Ark., for defendants in error.
Before STONE, Circuit Judge, and MORRIS and FARIS, District Judges.
This is a mandamus proceeding brought by a holder of warrants issued for bridge construction by Madison county, Ark., against the county, the county assessor and the county collector. The purpose of the action is to compel assessment of all property within the county at its cash value in order to obtain funds wherefrom to pay these warrants. From an adverse judgment plaintiff sues out this writ of error.
Section 5, art. 16, of the state Constitution, provides:
Section 9, of the same article, provides:
'No county shall levy a tax to exceed one-half of one per cent. for all purposes. * * * '
Various statutes of the state provide that railroad, telephone, Pullman car and other public utility property shall be assessed by a state board at its full value; that ordinary real estate and personal property shall be assessed by county assessors at full value; that the State Board ' * * * have and exercise general and complete supervision over the assessment and collection of taxes and the enforcement of the tax laws of the state, and over the several county tax assessors, tax collectors, county boards of review and equalization and other officers charged with the assessment and collection of taxes in the several counties of the state, to the end that all assessments on property, privileges and franchises in the state shall be made in relative proportion to the just and true value thereof, in substantial compliance with the law' and 'to confer with, advise, and direct all assessors, collectors of state and county taxes, and the county boards of equalization and review, as to their duty as to the laws of this state * * * ' (section 9788, Crawford & Moses' Digest of the Statutes of Arkansas); and that the state board shall equalize the aggregate taxes among the counties ' * * * so as to make the assessment uniform throughout the state' (section 9790).
The undisputed evidence shows that the state board assesses railroad and other public utility property on the basis of 50 per centum of its value; that, under direction of the board, the county assessors, including the assessor of Madison county, assess real and personal property on the same basis; that Madison county levies the full constitutional rate of five mills; that four mills is necessary and levied for general county purposes; that one mill is levied for bridge purposes (the fund from which warrants like those here involved are payable); that this bridge fund is being regularly and fully applied to retirement of such warrants in the order of their issue; that if there is no increase in this fund under future assessments it will require about four years to retire these warrants; that there is no disposition to contest these warrants or to delay payment thereof, except as such delay may be occasioned by the above state of the county revenue.
The contention of the plaintiff is that it is entitled to have the property within the county assessed at its full value which would result in the speedy payment of these warrants. It bases its contention upon the requirements of the Constitution and statutes of the state as construed by this court in United States ex rel. Falls City Construction Co. v. Jimmerson, 222 F. 489, 138 C.C.A. 85, L.R.A. 1918B, 1102, and United States ex rel. Pierce v. Cargill (C.C.A.), 263 F. 856. The contention of the defendant is that to compel such raise in assessment valuation would destroy the equality and uniformity of taxation required by the Constitution and statutes of the state as construed by the Supreme Court of Arkansas in State ex rel. Nelson v. Meek, 127 Ark. 349, 192 S.W. 202, L.R.A. 1918F, 642, and Eureka Fire Hose Mfg. Co. v. Deffenbaugh, 129 Ark. 41, 195 S.W. 1076.
Under the above undisputed facts that all property throughout the state is assessed at 50 per centum of its true value, it is clear that to raise the assessment in Madison county to 100 per centum of such value would result in inequality and lack of uniformity unless, for the same period, the entire assessment of all property throughout the state were equally raised. We cannot secure this horizontal raise over the entire state. As said by the Supreme Court, in the recent case of Sioux City Bridge Co. v. Dakota County Nebraska, 260 U.S. 441, 43 Sup.Ct. 190, 67 L.Ed. 340 (decided January 2, 1923), 'it is utterly impossible for him (a complaining taxpayer) by any judicial proceeding to secure an increase in the assessment of the great mass of underassessed property in...
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