Belzoni Land Co. v. Robertson

87 So. 669, 125 Miss. 338
Mississippi Supreme Court·Decided March 15, 1921·No. No. 21548·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

Ethridge, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The state revenue agent filed a bill in the chancery court, alleging that his predecessor in office had caused a back assessment to be made against the appellant for the years 1909 to 1914, both inclusive, and that the tax assessor made the said assessment for thirty thousand dollars, for each of said years, and certified the same to the board of supervisors, and that the board of supervisors disallowed said assessment, and an appeal was taken to the circuit court, and that the said court approved the said back assessment at the valuation of thirty thousand dollars, for each of said years. A copy of the judgment of the circuit court was -made an exhibit to the bill. He further alleged that for the year 1909 the state tax levy was six mills on the dollar, and that the state taxes amounted to one hundred eighty dollars for said year; that for the year 1910 the state tax levy was six mills on the dollar, and amounted to one hundred eighty dollars and for each of the subsequent years the state tax levy was the same, and the [340]*340amount of state taxes on tbe said assessment was tbe same, making a total amount of taxes due tbe state on said assessments one thousand eighty dollars. The bill set forth the amount of the county levy for the county taxes for each of the said years, and the respective amount of county taxes for each of said years, aggregating one thousand three hundred eighty dollars. It also set forth the levies or rates of taxation for the Mississippi levee district for each of the said years, and that they aggregated two thousand twenty-five dollars, making a grand total of all of the taxes due the state, county, and levee district, four thousand four hundred eighty-five dollars.

It was'further alleged that the defendant, the appellant here, did. not own personal property, and never had any assets other than land, and that said defendant had sold a great part of its land, and that the remaining land was then in demand, and that the complainant is advised that the defendant is offering all of its land, constituting the whole of its remaining assets, for sale for the purpose of applying the proceeds of the sale to the payment of dividends among its stockholders so as to place its property and effects beyond the reach of its creditors and especially the state of Mississippi, the county of Washington, and the Mississippi levee district, which bodies the revenue agent claims to have represented in his official capacity, and alleged that if said sales were permitted said corporation would become insolvent, and prayed for an injunction, restraining the defendant from selling its lands, and that a notice lis pendens be filed so as tó become a lien upon the property, and also prayed for a personal decree against the defendant for the above-stated amount and for general relief.

Upon this bill an injunction was issued, restraining the defendant from selling its property. The defendant answered, denying that complainant’s predecessor, the state revenue agent, had assessed it for taxes due the state of Mississippi, the county of Washington, and the Mississippi levee district for the said years, and denied that any as[341]*341sessment for either of said years was made in the manner provided by law, and denied that the board of supervisors had disallowed or disapproved of any assessment against its capital stock made at the instance of the revenue agent, and denied that the revenue agent had prayed for and was granted an appeal from the circuit court from any order of the hoard of supervisors disapproving any said assessment, and denied that in the circuit court this matter came on for hearing, and that said assessment was duly approved at and for the valuation of thirty thousand dollars on its capital stock for each of the years mentioned, and denies that there is any record of Washington county, Miss., showing said alleged facts. It denied also that it owed or was indebted to the state, county, and levee district for taxes for said years, and denies that its capital stock was ever assessed for taxation in the manner provided by law, and denies that its capital stock is subject to taxation in the manner alleged by the complainant, and denied that any sum of money is due or owing by it to the complainant, or that the same had ever been demanded. It admitted that it took no appeal from the order or judgment of the circuit court mentioned in the complainant’s bill, and admits that it failed to pay the sum mentioned by the complainant in said bill, and denies that it owes the complainant that or any other sum. The answer then avers that the order and judgment of the circuit court approving the pretended assessment mentioned in the bill added nothing to the efficacy of an utterly void assessment, and for this reason it took no appeal from the said order. It also denied that it has never owned personal property of any consequence, and alleges that it has sold lands on credits secured by notes and deeds of trust, all of which is alleged tó be known to the complainant. It' also denied that if permitted to sell its remaining lands it will withdraw and divert from its purpose its capital and make dividends that would render it insolvent, and denies that if its lands were sold it would be rendered insolvent. It then averred that on March 27, 1915, J. C. [342]*342Johnston, then state revenue agent, gave notice to the tax assessor of Washington county, Miss., in accordance with section 4740, Code of 1906 (section 7058, Hemingway’s Code), to back-assess this defendant and other corporations in Washington county, Miss., for taxes on its capital stock for the years 1909 to 1914, inclusive, and directed the assessor to give notice to the defendant that it had been back-assessed by the tax assessor on thirty thousand dollars for each of the years 1909 to 1914, inclusive; that the said notice was dated March 27, 1915, and that the next meeting of the board of supervisors before which the corporations were notified to appear and object to said assessment was held on the first Monday of April, 1915, which was the 5th day of that month, so that ten days’ notice in Avriting was not given to this defendant, pretended to be thus assessed by the said assessor, under the direction of the revenue agent, as required by section 4740, Code of 1906. It further alleged that the assessment roll for the year 1915 was on said date in the hands of the assessor in process of making, to be returned by him to the board of supervisors on the first Monday of July, 1915, that the assessment roll for the fiscal year 1914 was then in the hands of the tax collector of Washington county, and also that the defendant had not received any notice as required by law. This defendant’s attorney examined the assessment roll for 1915, and found the assessor had not made any assessment against this defendant at the instance of the revenue agent, and so there was no assessment before said board of supervisors to approve or disapprove. It then avers that the said defendant and the board of supervisors accidently discovered that said tax assessor had pasted the sheets given him by the revenue agent in the back of the 1914 roll. It then averred that this did not constitute an assessment, and that the defendant was not required to recognize this as an assessment, or to object to it: First, because it is alleged it was a mere nullity; and, second, because it is alleged that it had not received any notice or been given ten days’ notice by [343]*343said section, as required by section 474Ó of the Code.' It further alleged that on the 5th day of April, 1915, the hoard of supervisors made an order rejecting said assessment.

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Belzoni Land Co. v. Robertson, 87 So. 669, 125 Miss. 338 (Mich. 1921).

87 So. 669 (Belzoni Land Co. v. Robertson) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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