Court Opinion

ID: 9619431
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:27:48.736846+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:40.696495
License: Public Domain

HOWE, Justice
(concurring):
I concur except in the application in part 11(A) of the principle that “where it is impossible to achieve both the standard of the true value, and the uniformity and equality required by law, the latter requirement is to be preferred as the just and ultimate purpose of the law.” That principle apparently originated in Sioux City Bridge Co. v. Dakota County, 260 U.S. 441, 43 S.Ct. 190, 67 L.Ed. 340 (1923), where that Court relied upon it to justify its departure from a statute requiring property to be valued at its fair market value in order to comply with a constitutional mandate that there be uniformity and equality of taxation. By applying the principle, the Court was able to afford relief to a taxpayer whose property had been assessed at full fair market value, while other properties in the county had been assessed at only 55%. The principle was applied under similar circumstances in Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad v. Neeld, 23 N.J. *198561, 130 A.2d 6 (1957) cited in the main opinion.
In the instant case, however, valuation at fair market value is mandated by article XIII, sections 2 and 3 of the Utah Constitution, and its requirements cannot be relaxed in an effort to obtain uniformity and equality also mandated by section 3. In the context of this case, the principle can have no application.