Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1886-11-18
TAX EQUALIZATION.
Important Decision by the Supreme
Court Of Iowa.
Duties OF the Board OF Supervisors
and Assessors .-lmportant 70
All Tax Payers.
DECISION IN FULL.


ne Ia ntifT anpeaied TO tbe CIrcuit Court and
asked that the assessment for the purpose Of
taxat n of certain descr bed real estate be-
longing TO MN De reduced 10 sZ,oo per acre,
vi ,,.o Sie M t o,aiipa nc hnrions ~
Taxation. The court denied the relief asked
and the plaintiff appealed to this court.
SoPER Y ALLEN, For Appellant
T. W. 1ohi' TOT APpehee''
The material facts ara aoreed unon and are
contained in the record before us. The real
o.tote o,vned nv the nlai,tifr il the soutb half
of section o. in townsbi, ion RANCE "a The
oesessmert comrlained ~ was made in 1881
Tn Januarv of that wear the hoard Of superyis.
ors olossiso5 tho ,ronor,v in Emmet conntv az
folIows. y
prairie lands a. TX per acre
"a conv Of sncb classification was CIV
y, 10 o.ob Assessor nr,or IN bjs making the
oooossmert
Tbo Me lr+if,s land &c ootua,lv worth AZ On
nor ocro The valua of pnimnroved nrairie
lands in tbe township is from SO 20 si0 per
ooro Tho aetna, ,o,ne ~ ;mprovel farms ia
from s1o n so5 nor acre All of this land. in
o,ra,rr both The imnroved and unim ROW ed
mas ossossod az IN. uniform vaIue of "a 75 ner
oor, Tiu,hor and 70 ~ IN. yaIua NJ from son
a. eso ror ooro aud II was assessed at from
az 20 se - ooro
other rocts waro aoreed uro, showing the
valuation and character Of the nlaintiff,s
,ands and ether land near for the nurnose Of
onohIirc tho court m arrive "a nearly as nossi
~. - 10 ro,ro ~ tbo lands 4, s.id towpshin.
rho Rid of sunervisors have the now.
49, I'D ortbor,tv 20 clossif, for the nnrnose f
saroroI l,inds % ,rorertv spbiact N taxotion
ard a cow NJ sncb classification must he fur.
nishaa oat.b oos,soor fCode Sec sol, Rpt
w. poord hoe M outboritv IN ix the vaIue of
s,,oh rrn,,ortr Tbis 10 tho dutv of the ass.ss-
or All the hoard can do is 70 classify the pro-
rer,v For instance. mich cows NAV consti-
tute one class. ,earling cattle another, and
those two wears old another: horses (geldings)
NAV constitute one class and mares another,
etc Unimnroved farm land NAV be classii, d
as spcb Rnt however classified each descrip-
ton of rrorer.v must he assessed and valued
nv the assessor Its his Judgment which the
ototrto 1omords II NAV not he nossflIe for
him 70 personally examine each for,v acre
tract ofrard in Lis township bpt nv inouirv AZ
hast ba cap ba must arrive at and fix its value.
Ifbe ohopId ossess AMOR all of the real estate
| too biob ,ron co,,,Iaint Of the ,axnaver II
nav no redncad or his assessment NAV he
either rednced or increased bv the Township
Road of EopaIization and the County
Roord If FonaIization NAV cosrect the assess
nort 90 ga to eouaIize T. between the sew raj
townsbins and towns in the county. Code:
c. 900 saO s91 "a am, ndid nv chan, 100 of
the laws of 1880. IT ia evident the assessor
did not vaIpe the real estate in accordance
with bis own indgment He s,mnlv adopted
the valuation fixed nv the BOARD of superyis
ore For It. cannot be supposed that the i'm
nroved and unimnroved lands are of uniform
and eoual value. The former undoubtedly is
of GREATER value than the latter. We cannot
beIieve that all Of the unimproved land
e of eoual valne Int ~ Il was all
az assessed itrav he such nm assessment
sbould ha sustained because the great difficuI.
tv in reaching a better or more correct result.
nnlass a mort On of the land is known to be
wet swamnv or otherwise of AN undesirable
cbarac,er Absolute eoualitv I'm the ASSESS
nents and burdens Of taxation IA imnractica-
BILE. While this is 40, the law REQUIRES that
the best possible results in this direction
should be attained, AMI conceding that all
property placed in one class by the Superyis-
ors should be assessed at the same value by
the assessor, and the result is ineouitable, then
unon the coruplaipt of tax MAYER II would be
the duty: of the Board of Eoualization to cor
rect sucb inequality as hereafter stated.
IT, Real property should be assessed at its
true cash vaiue. Code. Section $40. As the
nlaintiff,s land has been assessed at less than
such value, and as all the other unimproyed
nrairie land has been assessed Mt the same
value, IL is said that he has no lust ground for
comploint II there was no other statute than
the foregoing the pr,position inst stated
would be conceded. 1t is provided by statute
that "Anv persop feeling aggrieyed at any
thing in the assessment of his .,roperty may
an, ear before the Board of EQUALIZATION and
have the same corrected as to said board NAV
seem inst and eouitable,n Code s31 as amend
cd a. above stated Now how il the plaintiff
ororieyada CIaarlv ve think in assess;np bis
nronertv at a greater valuation than Il should
he ,yben the volua,iop fly "A unop imnroved
IordO - fxad II tho s.ma ne his Rocause ~
srob ossossmept the burden of the tayation
ao. 80, Tho rlointir 10 creator ,bon - would
=. - ~ i,,nro,,o.; Ionds nod ho,n ava Al
tho,- go ,,.Iro ~ ,ot snefoient ororor
20 ,hot hooarso tbe assessor failed 10 do
HE d,tv Tho, tho nIointjff T. not aggrieved be-
oauso a. ,r.s Tho dntv Of tho hoard m correc,
the assessment 80 az N make II inst and eou,t-
ohl. Tho Circuit court sbonid have dona
what the hoard failed 10 do and because of
sncb failure the case has b,en brouoht nv an.
peal to this court, and we are somewhat at
loss 10 KNOW "na' We snouiu 10 al tn's iale
day.
ine D"a'u anolu na'. 'a' .,a S, W. 'aiua.
tou Vi 'npu' ia a I.su,a n Sn.s I a
'snS lS'. .,,a .',o".,,, b., e., -, -, ~ 80
49,, hoor, 1oruaIr naid and 70 ,,ore a radioaI
49, =, the Ill assasonont NIL, oraat.
:, ~ , s,r,'s a. -. 80
great eohius'on' auu poss'oiy uo s,ea' MUS
tice to the tax payers In the township, as COM
pared with those of other townships and other
portions Of the State. Without affirming or
DENYING our power in this respect, we think it
best under the circumstances, to simply re-
dnco tho vo,uatiop ixod mon tho ,Iaintifr,s
~ go - co rar .oro ulh,oh 3 al ~ -
iea, es'a'o " - PEI ".,e' "niIu - an nc sehs
II lne assessment on other ianus Is NOT ia'seu'
To such relief at least, the pialntiif IS In Our
I .-l1 .sAl-