§ 46-141 — Assessment; payment under protest; refund

When any person against whose property such assessments have been made shall pay such assessment under protest as provided by the general revenue law of this state, the board of directors of any irrigation district organized under the provisions of sections 46-101 to 46-128 may pass upon and make orders disposing of money paid under protest to the county treasurer in the county or counties in which such lands are situated in the same form and manner as provided by law, and such proceedings shall be had as in such revenue law provided insofar as the same applies; Provided, however, no taxes or assessments shall be ordered refunded unless the person complaining shall file in the office of the secretary of such district a copy of his tax receipt, showing the same paid under protest, together with a sworn affidavit in writing showing one of the following reasons why such tax or assessments should be refunded: (1) That the land upon which such tax or assessment was levied is not within the boundaries of the district for which the lands were taxed, or assessed; (2) that the title to the lands is in the State of Nebraska; (3) that the lands could not be benefited by irrigation either by reason of subirrigation or by reason of being city and town lots and occupied and used exclusively for other than agricultural or grazing purposes, or that the lands are nonsusceptible of irrigation from the canal of the district; Provided, that where unentered and unpatented lands, the title to which is in the United States, are included in any irrigation district pursuant to the provisions of the Act of Congress, entitled An Act to promote the reclamation of arid lands, approved August 11, 1916, and acts amendatory thereto, shall not be subject to the provisions of this section, but shall be subject to taxation as provided by such Acts of Congress.

Legislative History

Source: Laws 1903, c. 121, § 1, p. 621; R.S.1913, § 3478; Laws 1917, c. 80, § 1, p. 189; C.S.1922, § 2878; C.S.1929, § 46-123; R.S.1943, § 46-141. Annotations: Compliance with this section is required in order to recover back taxes paid on nonirrigable land. Birdwood Irr. Dist. v. Brodbeck, 148 Neb. 824, 29 N.W.2d 621 (1947). Subirrigated lands in district, not benefited by irrigation, are not taxable. Morrow v. Farmers Irr. Dist., 117 Neb. 424, 220 N.W. 680 (1928). Amendment in 1917 of this section, exempting city lots, etc., from taxation, was constitutional. Erickson v. Nine Mile Irr. Dist., 109 Neb. 189, 190 N.W. 573 (1922).