Woodbury County v. Talley

129 N.W. 967, 153 Iowa 28
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedFebruary 15, 1911
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 129 N.W. 967 (Woodbury County v. Talley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Woodbury County v. Talley, 129 N.W. 967, 153 Iowa 28 (iowa 1911).

Opinion

Ladd, J.

The Farmers’ Loan & Trust Company was duly notified by the treasurer of Woodbury county of his purpose to assess it on moneys and credits described as consisting of notes and shares of corporation stock, etc., “withheld or omitted from taxation in 1903 and the five years following in the sum of $600,000 each year, and a time in February, 1908, fixed for hearing.” At the time designated, the company appeared by counsel, and a full hearing was had. The treasurer filed a written opinion finding that the company was assessed by the assessor for the years 1903, 1905, 1906, and 1907, and each of said years, . . . and that said assessments, whether right or wrong, are not reviewable, and that for 1904 “no assessment was made of the Farmers’ Loan & Trust Company except as a stockholder in the First National Bank of Sioux City, Iowa, and that said assessment was made by the assessor in assessing the stock of the First National Bank, and not intended as an assessment of the Farmers’ Loan & Trust Company. I therefore conclude that said Farmers’ Loan & Trust Company should be assessed for the year of 1904, and find the net value of its shares of capital stock, after all deductions as provided by law, to have been $564,626, one-fourth of which, or taxable value, was $141,156, and said Farmers’ Loan & Trust Company is [31]*31accordingly so assessed, to which said Farmers’ Loan & Trust Company excepts.” Subsequently the treasurer entered on the tax list an assessment of the capital stock of said company for 1904 of $41,923 and computed the taxes payable at $3,269.99, and for this amount the treasurer sued the company, filing his petition March 26, 1909. This action was begun in December of the same year, and, in return to a writ of certiorari, a transcript of the proceedings before the treasurer and the evidence upon which he acted were filed in the district court. The plaintiff.prayed “that an assessment be made against said shares of stock and against said Farmers’ Loan & Trust Company for said years 1903 to 1906, inclusive, in the values herein set out; and that the action of said treasurer in refusing to assess said stock for the years 1903, 1905, and 1906, be annulled, set aside, and held for naught, and that a true and correct assessment of said stock for the year 1904 be made, and that the plaintiff have judgment for costs in this action.” The plaintiff moved for judgment as prayed, and defendant moved to quash the writ and to dismiss, and also filed a plea in abatement. These papers are too prolix to permit of setting out their substance even, and we shall give attention only to such matters as seem essential to dispose of the case.

i. Taxation: omitted property: notice: sufficiency. I. The treasurer’s notice addressed to the Farmers’ Loan & Trust Company is said to have been insufficient in that it named “moneys and credits” as the omitted propért.y he proposed to assess, and not corporation stock. The latter was the only property claimed to have been omitted; but “moneys and credits” were described in the notice as consisting of “notes and corporation stock,” so that the company was apprised that such stock might be contemplated. This was all that was necessary in view of the fact that the company appeared by counsel and the only controversy related to the assessment of its corporate stock.

[32]*322 Same- capital m°nt: ron?s’ description. II. The county treasurer held that the company’s capital stock was assessed in 1903, 1905, and 1906. The plaintiffs contend: (1) That in none of these years was there such an assessment; and (2) if there was that it was so inadequate that it should ¿ayg been treated by the treasurer as none at all. On the assessor’s book of 1903 as returned to the county auditor, the assessment appears as follows: In the column under “Owners’ Names,” is the name of the company, and in the column under “Corporation Stock” and “Actual Value” is $90,068. For 1905 the entry- in the first column is the same, and in the second mentioned it is “$183,612,” and in the column under “Moneys and Credits,” “Actual Value,” is “$61,704.” For 1906 there are two entries: (1) The entry in the first column is as above, and, in that under “Corporation Stock,” “$40,472.” (2) In the first column is “First National Bank Shareholders Farmers’ Loan & Trust Company”’ and, in column under “Corporation Stock,” “$129,600.” The company had submitted what appears to have been a full statement of its assets to the assessor each of the above years, and these were before the treasurer. In them it was disclosed that the company owned stock in many banks, among which was the First National Bank of Sioux City. One thousand nine hundred and seven of the two thousand shares of said bank stock were assessable to it, and plaintiffs contend that an examination of the several statements of the company' demonstrates that in the years mentioned the assessments were of the National Bank stock instead of the capital stock of the Farmers’ Loan & Trust Company. It'may be conceded that there is strong ground for so suspecting; but, as against the entries plainly indicating the assessment of stock to the company without indicating it to be stock of a corporation other than that of the company, the court was not warranted in assuming from the similarity of the valuation of the bank 'shares that these were intended and [33]*33assessed rather than the company’s stock. For all that appears, it may be mere matter of coincidence, or the assessor may have thought the bank stock and the company’s capital stock of about the same value. The assessor’s books plainly indicated the assessment of the capital stock, and the mere fact that the shares in the bank were of the same or nearly the same value, or that they do not appear elsewhere on the assessor’s books, did not warrant the inference that these rather than the capital stock were assessed.

3' tion ¿f property: fraud. Nor were the assessments so inadequate that they should be regarded as none at all. The assessments were for substantial amounts, and the showing was such as to justify the conclusion that the assessor and reviewing board exercised their judgment honestly, J ° J ’ though possibly erroneously, m estimating the value of the stock. Intentional fraud cannot be imputed to them, for the disparity between the assessment and the actual value was not so gross that it may not be attributed to honest misjudgment. See County of Otter Tail v. Batchelder, 47 Minn. 512, (50 N. W. 536) ; Parker v. New Orleans Gaslight Company, 44 La. Ann. 753, (11 South. 32) ; State Board of Equalization v. People, 191 Ill. 528, (61 N. E. 339, 58 L. R. A. 513).

4' tioñ óf prop-We are of the opinion that the treasurer rightly j concluded that the company’s capital stock had been assessed,' and for this reason ought not to be regarded as omitted property. German Savings Bank v. Trowbridge, 124 Iowa, 514,; Security Savings Bank v. Carroll, 128 Iowa, 230; People’s Savings Bank v. Layman (C. C.) 134 Fed. 635.

„ 5. Same: assess-capital0 stock: evidence. III. For the year 1904 the entries on the assessor’s book are as follows: In the first column, under “Owners’ Names,” “First National Bank,” with Farm-7 7 er3’ Loan & Trust Company” immediately bei0w, a;ac[? 'n t]ie co¡umil heacie¿ “Corporation Stock,” “Actual Value,” directly opposite “First Na[34]

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129 N.W. 967, 153 Iowa 28, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/woodbury-county-v-talley-iowa-1911.