Greyhound Lines, Inc. v. State Tax Commission

441 S.W.2d 699, 1969 Mo. LEXIS 855
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedMay 12, 1969
DocketNo. 53815
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 441 S.W.2d 699 (Greyhound Lines, Inc. v. State Tax Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Greyhound Lines, Inc. v. State Tax Commission, 441 S.W.2d 699, 1969 Mo. LEXIS 855 (Mo. 1969).

Opinion

WELBORN, Commissioner.

Appeal by State Tax Commission from judgment of Jackson County Circuit Court, setting aside order of Commission assessing taxable personal property of Greyhound Lines, Inc., in Jackson County at $350,000 for the year 1967.

Greyhound Lines, Inc., returned to Jackson County assessor for the year 1967 personal property of value of $22,430. The principal business of Greyhound is the operation of a motor bus system on the highways of Missouri and other states. No motor buses were returned as taxable in Jackson County.

The Jackson County Board of Equalization subsequently adjusted the assessed valuation of Greyhound’s property from $22,430 to $500,000. The record before us is devoid of any information as to the basis of the action of the board of equalization. Greyhound appealed the order of the board • of equalization to the State Tax Commission. A hearing was held before the commission at which the Jackson County assessor and his deputy testified. The deputy in charge of the Greyhound assessment testified that he had made no investigation as to the number of Greyhound buses in Jackson County and had no idea of the number of Greyhound buses scheduled through Jackson County daily. The assessor testified that he was a member of the board of equalization which adjusted the Greyhound assessment. He was not examined as to the basis for the board’s action. The assessing officials’ records showed no taxes paid on buses in Jackson County by Greyhound for the years 1963 to 1966, inclusive.

Except for an employee of the assessor’s office whose testimony was without significance, the only other witness before the commission was Greyhound’s superintendent in Kansas City, Missouri, Mr. Howard Young. The commission’s findings of fact, with the exceptions noted below, fairly summarize Mr. Young’s testimony, as follows :

“9. Mr. Howard Young, Superintendent of Greyhound Bus Lines, Inc., testified that Greyhound busses load and unload passengers in the State of Missouri, that [701]*701said busses were engaged in both intrastate and inter-state business.

“10. He further testified that 316 bus-ses are in a pool located in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, known as Pool No. 2. [This statement is inaccurate. The witness testified that Greyhound separates the buses used in its nationwide operation into five pools and that the buses operating through Kansas City are assigned to Pool No. 2, which covers 19 states. There was no evidence of location of the ‘pool’ in Kansas City.] That on January 1, 1967, there were 40 busses in Kansas City, Missouri, and that in addition to the 40 busses which are evidenced by Petitioner’s Exhibit No. 2, there were 14 busses going in and out of Kansas City making a total of 54 busses.

“11. He further testified in the affirmative in response to a question that there were 89 drivers stationed here in Kansas City, and testified to his estimate an ordinary bus cost around $50,000.00. He testified that there has been no taxes paid on busses operated by Greyhound Bus Lines in 1966, 1965, 1964 and 1963.

“12. Mr. Sullivan, attorney for petitioner, stated to the Chairman ‘Let’s make a record on that. You are talking about a figure that paper shows. It shows 143 busses which I gave you as being the bus-ses in Missouri on January 1, 1967

“13. Testimony and petitioner’s Exhibit 5 indicate that the cost of busses in the State of Missouri on January 1, 1967, was $5,317,936.00 and had a net book value of $2,592,797.00.”

The commission also made conclusions of law, in which they recited the presumption of validity of assessment by local assessment officers, the power of the commission to judge the credibility of witnesses before it; the impossibility of arriving at an exact value of tangible personal property, the right and duty of the commission to inquire into the location and assessment of all property in Missouri and the right of the commission to act upon its own knowledge of the facts.

The fifth paragraph of the commission’s conclusions of law analogizes the case before it with that decided by the Supreme Court of Texas, Greyhound Lines, Inc. v. Board of Equalization for the City of Fort Worth, et al., 419 S.W.2d 345, in which the court held that buses operated in interstate commerce in Texas had acquired a situs in the City of Fort Worth sufficient to permit the city to assess the buses for personal property taxation, according to a mileage formula devised by the city assessing officer.

Then follows the order of the commission:

“It appearing from all the competent and substantial evidence of record, that the petitioner’s personal property was in allwise lawfully assessed, the Commission orders that the correct assessment of petitioners property should be $350,000.00.”

On this appeal, the attorney general, on behalf of the commission, acknowledges the inadequacy of the commission’s findings, because of the absence of any finding as to the number of buses based in Kansas City and the assessed value of such buses. However, the attorney general contends that the trial court had no authority to set aside the commission’s order and order the reinstatement of the original assessment for Greyhound. According to the appellant, the record would support a finding that buses were based in Jackson County under § 137.095, RSMo 1967 Supp., and therefore the court was required to remand the cause to the commission to make proper findings, based upon such evidence.

As the appellant points out, there are potentially two problems in this case. The first is whether or not the Greyhound buses had acquired a taxable situs in the State of Missouri so as to permit their ad valorem taxation by Missouri taxing authorities. That problem arises from the [702]*702admitted interstate operation of Greyhound. There is no doubt that a state may subject the movable personal property of interstate carriers to ad valorem taxation, but a state may not, in so doing, unduly burden interstate commerce. Marye v. Baltimore & Ohio R. Co., 127 U.S. 117, 123-124, 8 S.Ct. 1037, 32 L.Ed. 94; Braniff Airways, Inc. v. Nebraska State Board of Equalization and Assessment, 347 U.S. 590, 597-598, 74 S.Ct. 757, 98 L.Ed. 967. Accordingly, various formulas and methods for allocation of the fair proportion of this value of a carrier’s movable personal property to a particular state have been devised. Missouri has a so-called mileage formula for the valuation of railroad rolling stock. Section 151.060(3), RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S. See C. B. & Q. R. Co. v. State Tax Comm., Mo.Sup., 436 S.W.2d 650; Norfolk & Western Ry. Co. v. Missouri State Tax Comm., 390 U.S. 317, 88 S.Ct. 995, 19 L.Ed.2d 1201. A similar formula for the valuation of airline equipment has been enacted by the legislature. Chapter 155, RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S. See United Air Lines, Inc. v. State Tax Comm., Mo. Sup., 377 S.W.2d 444; Delta Air Lines, Inc. v.

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441 S.W.2d 699, 1969 Mo. LEXIS 855, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/greyhound-lines-inc-v-state-tax-commission-mo-1969.