Washington Water Power Co. v. Shoshone County

• Decision Date: 07 February 1921
• Docket Number: 3547.
• Citation: 270 F. 377
• Parties: WASHINGTON WATER POWER CO. v. SHOSHONE COUNTY et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

270 F. 377

WASHINGTON WATER POWER CO. v. SHOSHONE COUNTY et al.

No. 3547.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

February 7, 1921

John P Gray and W. F. McNaughton, both of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and F. T. Post, of Spokane, Wash., for appellant.

H. J Hull and James A. Wayne, both of Wallace, Idaho, for appellees.

Before GILBERT, MORROW, and HUNT, Circuit Judges.

HUNT Circuit Judge.

In many respects this case is a companion to Washington Water Power Co. v. Kootenai County et al., 270 F. 369. In Shoshone county, Idaho, the following conditions appeared:

The Power Company tax was assessed at $7,667.08; the total assessed valuation of property in Shoshone county was $31,828,640, $12,916,645 of which sum was assessed on account of net profits of mines. An assessment of $154,645 was made on account of mineral land acreage, valued as required by the statutes, $3,876,170 upon mine improvements, assessed at their actual cash value, and $374,103 assessed upon bank stock, as required by the laws of the state. The board of equalization assessed public utilities at a total value of $6,336,243, while $8,150,834 was the aggregate of assessments by the local assessor. The court held that of this last referred to amount, personal property, much appeared to have been assessed for approximately 50 per cent. of its actual value, and some of it upon a higher rate, approaching 70 to 75 per cent. of value, and that the assessment at 75 per cent. of actual value upon the property of the Power Company was not unjust. This conclusion was reached by reasoning that the larger part of the assessment was in accord with or in excess of the statutory standard, while the assessment of the property of the plaintiff was 25 per cent. below such standard and upon the same footing with the assessments of other public utilities. The complaint was dismissed.

The Power Company now contends that it was error to hold that the mines of Shoshone county were assessed on a 100 per cent. basis for 1918, and argues that the court should not have held that, because mines were assessed according to the statutes and such assessments amounted to about half of the total assessment in Shoshone county, appellant was entitled to no relief, and, further, that the court should not have ruled that, if mine improvements, bank stock, and property of public utilities were assessed at a higher rate than property was generally assessed, appellant should be compelled to pay taxes at a higher rate than the owners of general property in the county were required to pay.

There is no complaint of the method employed in the assessment of the mines, for the statute was followed. Section 3360, Comp St. Idaho 1919. Under its provisions the assessment is not based upon the value...