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Show ANOTHER REVERSAL 01 a Decision IKctotlf Rendered by His Honor Jadge Anderson. school tax i:ii.nmu: ami ut' JL'ST. "Courls MioiiM .lists Out Jaillre ami Not ttrmif aril Oppression." A t an a JJourniit sessl in of llio Te til. Uirl.il Hiiprcma Court held on Haturday afternoon, Judgu llltcklsirn dellvirrel tho following opinion lu the cati of James I,ow a rt al.,plaliillfr an I ap.t. lanta, vs. Ii. (J. I lardy, tax collect Jr, it al., dtfenJanta anl rosviedeiiui. a Up to March It, I ill, Salt UkuClly waa divided Intu tw rnty-ono Khool ells UlcU, each district having Its own oltl-ccrsand oltl-ccrsand tho jsiwer to lesy taxra rur Khool uirtsxe. rim hliiliirsuro taxpayers tax-payers ot District No. II as It existed up to and rlor to March 11, I9u, au I tho Iruslre-aof wild dlstilct weruauthor-lied weruauthor-lied tu provide funds fur thosiiprt i f I ublloselioolslna.il I district under a statuto then In force, as follow si "All school Uxys, win Iher levied by trustecsor liy a jaiiitlo meeting (.ailed for that lairiNiat, shall hu computed fromllmvaluetlouof tbo county assets-inent assets-inent roll, nud shall bo leileil during tlmtnoiithof Apill, istn, uud during Iho inoulli of December (ach yesr Ihereaflt r, and within ten days nfter sill nuellng shall hare been hild Hie school Iriiitee shall uiskon cvrtlflel statement of tlm )ir rent of the taxes so levied to Ibu County Clerk, and the (bounty Aasosajr ahall a-sess Iherefroru at tlmsaiuullmoaud same manlier that hoatseseea fur territorial terri-torial ami county taxes, and ho shall giro lolhodleliltt sihool taxpayers thu same notices a are rcpilred by law la be given tu taxpayers of territorial and euuiily ux,aiera." Hro 1013 Coui. Idwsof I9. It also provide In section 1915: "Whoueeer It almll lo nreissary lo ratio funds lo purchase, repair, or furnish fur-nish school houses, or for other school lirpoa, nil estimate of the approximate approxi-mate cost the reor shall be made by tho trustee-, mil the rate per cent may bu fixed at any sunt not exceeding two I r cent ir annum, a ahall bo decided decid-ed by u majority oiu or tlio iropurty taxputera ill said district iretenlnta meeting c-t!le-d fur that sirae, lo lie nvevaeesl and colhttest aaeclal tax iipuii all tho truublu iropetty of the dlslrltt." lly Hip authority of these statutes, In Deesnnlicr, ISbH, the trusters of sal I dl.trlct, at a tuecllng ealled fur thu isirpose, estimates! tho needs of thodls-trlct thodls-trlct fur school sirloin's, fur tho coiiilug year, to liu thu sum of $. God, which was received by tho taxpayer al Hie meeting, meet-ing, and they e-sthuateel that one irr eiulUionthuawvMnieut value of thu props rty or tho district ror lab) would raise Htu amount necessary ami votcnl theleeyorata't ot one jar cent, nnd the trustt-e duly entitled tho same to thu county clerk and the county a-r-sor. The asreresor and collector extended ex-tended the tax tisni the as-cssmrnt roll ot laiK), lustised of Uun that of I. and iiKn that roll the lax votes! would amount to oMrfldJSHiMoslly lu excess ex-cess of the amount iierdtd, an 1 the collector col-lector Is now proceeding lo collect thn The legislature of Utah Territory at Its session In 18 1) passed an act atiol-Irhltig atiol-Irhltig tho (weut) -one school districts In Halt l.ako City and consolidated IheiiioJIIiioni' dhlilct and rnvlded that the prorty of tho several districts dis-tricts should belong to tho eonsoll dated district. It also appear that tho iroperly of the ellstrkts la vastly unesual nn 1 that some ot them havu taxes uncollected lu large nmouuta au I many of luoui lave i no taxra lee led an J almost no property ofan kind. . The so (acts nre alleged In plslutiir'a ; conn lalnt, and they mk tint thoiol. lee lion ot this tax In DlstrlctXo. II L, t iijolned nud for gene ral relief. lotliecumi lalnt thu defeiidintlu. trrmsida demurrer which was sua. tuluod and the apillauis apjieal anl allege: 1 Tliat this lax Is vol I because It ope rate so uuteiually Iri dlHere ut iiarta of the city, as the law Is that all taxes must lie uniform. It hr conceded that the Legislature has authority to abolish these district nud Lousoli fate Hie m Into ouii aud apportion ap-portion the properly. How Hut nn-jiortlonmcnt nn-jiortlonmcnt should liemade Is nlcgls-lathe nlcgls-lathe iiuestlon and not for the courts. And thu legislature having acttil iiioii that question, It Is pri-suiucd that lldldul! that wan lie cc-ssary and the couit caunot Interfere. Hence this contcntloii la untenable. Cooley ou Taxatlou, p. 179 ami following, fol-lowing, and notes. S-I tls claimed by nppellwU that this tax was not fully levied so as lo cover property uf Iho district, before It was ub illshrd. The district went nut of existence the Usttlayot June, lsllil. and Hie niwvssnient roll of that y ear was coini litiil at that lime; so that brtl If thu tax w us cuiniiuted Uiutl the assessment roll ofthatyear,lt waa cam pie to and became a debt due District ft Ap.ltaiiUa!o contend that this tax was voted nn I levlrel upon the na. sisirnent roll ot tho j rir ISbll an! not iiin that of the year 190. Wo think this contention Is tenillo nnd should Iki austalnml Under the Hlatute, Iho trustreu of the district made au esllmaiuor the funds needesl for school isirivose nud ri isirted Ion meeting callnl for that purpose that $ViiM in was lucilitj ami ciion thn asti'ssnient roll of IbSU; the laipaecrs comrrfited that a one per cent levy woull raise Hut muount and voted that levy, Thvvw anted K'ieW.OO nnd they Intended In-tended to lovy that nmount, aud they voted a levy rr uuupor nut leraiise computed on the nhsersinent roll ot loss, tint would raUu the amount needed, riur had not In mind the ns-essment roll ot ISO If that Intention canto carried out ly a rcesouahlu couitrHcllon uf tho Hutu to authorizing Iho Itw, without elulng violence to It wording, w e think llmight tubudouo. Thu statuto provides the levy Is to be made In December; that thu trustees nre to report tho amount needed lend thotaxiiaycmirolo voto Iho )r cent tiiiciuuiry tu raise the ninoiiut. 1 li order to elu that, the )ier rent to lie lavledmuit be nircrlalheil from the asieksmentroll ol that ear, not from that of the succeeding year; fur It has not lieun mule. It seems logically luuelillhotliat tlio extvnslnliiiudlul. lection of thla tax en levied should bo m. tun assessment roll of the year In which the tax Is Juried. J. 'I ' -1 Hut the statute say, "The collector hall collect this tax at the aim time and In tho sune luauncr, etc., as the Territorial and County taxe nre col-lcctsd,"anl col-lcctsd,"anl lllssill tint this trovl-slon trovl-slon make It conclusive that llils tsx should l comisiied upon tliea-se"-mrnt roll of the tiincedlng year. Collecting till tax nt the same tluie can a well lu elono comsitnl upon llicama-mentrollor liiO nsiilililliit or ISOe), and collecting It lit the same niaune r only ha reference, to HieiniMle of collection aa by dlslrltt, suit or Hie salofprovrty-aeiddocuotlnanway determine how the amount ol the lax 1lobecomieilcil. Therrfuro no vlo-lone vlo-lone v Is clone to the te rms uf tho statute If Hie amount of this laxs compute I tiain the assrssnifnt roller IMJ. We think that was Iho Intention uf the Legislature and certainly It was that bftho taxpayers. If Hie nmount or the tax Is computed upon the assess. ment roll of IM ) tho levy exceeds n er SlIUM-tliu umoiint Inteudisl lo be voted be thetatiyrrs,aiid makes tho aiiiouul to bo oolkcted over $le!,0J A pretty large amount fur one ehool district dis-trict to iy. . . If this district had not bceu nliol-l.liril nliol-l.liril llils excess or collection woull lneo Ih-oii fur Its benertt lu the future, liutnowltuolletteil It ifor for (luca-tloual (luca-tloual purposes outside the district which i s It. This dhtrlct ought to lai ploleclcd, and tliucourtJ.oilght lo find a remedy. 'Hie statute Is raiaible of twei interpretations one that the tax lovlcel should be coinisiteel, and the amount asceiUlnrd tu be collected en Hie nrament roll of IMS. nnd the other ou the ussmsmont roll of 1990. One Interpret itlon colleet the tax that teas votcel and Intended to be lev-lei!, the other raise $ll,imil more than was Intended nud cnms!e this district to iy ovrr $1II0UU more than waslntemled, and under tho law as It now standstills amount will go for the supiurt of all the schools In Iho city, an the taxpayer of that district will pay that men li more than their share of the school expense or the city. Can auy ono claim that such waa the Intention In-tention of Hie It glslaturc. Courts, unless compelled by tho express ex-press wording or statutes, should Interpret In-terpret them sua to du good nnd nut evil, so aa to w ork out riult and Justice Jus-tice and not wrong nn I oj prr-slnn. We iiincludu therefrom that II Is tho duty of the rolleetor lu collecting this tax O compute the nmount to tie col-locted col-locted ujion the a-scrainent roll ot lHo'J. This case Is revrrse-d and frmindesl fur further ) rocvedlugs, In accvidauce with opinion. The same ipir itlou Is Involved In the case of IZdward Ashtoii et. al. is. L. II. Hardyrt.nl. It Is therrfotu reversed an I remanded. The same irlnrlple are also lu epicstlon In thueasuofll. U. llaeboulJ et.al.is. L.(l. Hardy et.al. Hut the complslul doe not raise thu mrtlculsr iuetlou Uiou whlcli the forgoing decision turns. It I there fore reversed anl remanded, with Iruvo to Hie plalulltls tu ami ud Ihelr coin- lalnt. I concur lu the risult Mm it, J. .AM', 0. J dissent. |