Court Opinion

ID: 9632608
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 11:20:15.373652+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:08:19.690495
License: Public Domain

COMPTON, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent. I disagree with the court’s holding that a borough may prepare a supplemental assessment roll after the final assessment roll for the fiscal year has been certified. AS 29.53.200 specifically states: “Certified assessment and tax rolls are valid and binding on all persons, notwithstanding any defect, error, omission or invalidity in the assessment rolls or proceedings pertaining to the assessment roll.” (Emphasis added.) I believe the clear meaning of this statute is that errors or omissions in the assessment roll cannot be corrected, at the request of either the taxpayer or the borough, after the final assessment roll is certified. AS 29.53.140 specifies that the final *1181assessment roll shall be certified by June 1 of the fiscal year.
The court rejects this interpretation because it believes that it would render “superfluous” AS 29.53.150, which permits the preparation of a supplementary assessment roll “to include property omitted from the assessment roll.” I believe, to the contrary, that AS 29.53.150 would not be rendered superfluous by my interpretation, and furthermore that the court’s interpretation improperly renders AS 29.53.200 “insignificant.” 2A C. Sands, Statutes & Statutory Construction § 46.06 (4th ed. 1973), quoted in majority opinion at 1178 n. 5. In my opinion, the supplementary assessment rolls authorized by AS 29.53.150 may be and should be prepared by the assessor to include property omitted from the initial assessment roll, but this must be done before the “final assessment roll” is certified by the assessor. This interpretation is more consonant with the statutory scheme because both AS 29.53.150 and AS 29.53.200 are thereby rendered meaningful. Under the court’s interpretation, the only meaning to be given to AS 29.53.200 is that a fiscal year’s taxes cannot be entirely invalidated merely because of errors or omissions affecting only one taxpayer. At 1178 n. 5. This, I believe, overlooks the precise wording of the statute. It states, “Certified assessment and tax rolls are valid and binding on all persons .... ” It does not state, as the majority suggests, that certified assessment and tax rolls are valid and binding on all persons “except the taxpayer as to whom an error or omission has been made.” If the legislature had intended this interpretation, it could have written the statute in this fashion.
Similarly, if the legislature intended to permit taxation of property that was omitted from the assessment roll after the time at which the assessment roll is certified, the legislature could have specifically stated this in AS 29.53.150. A clear model for this type of statute is provided by section 531 of the California Revenue & Taxation Code, which states: “If any property belonging on the local roll has escaped assessment, the assessor shall assess the property on discovery .... It shall be subject to the tax rate in effect in the year of its escape .... ” Cal.Rev. & Tax.Code § 531 (West Supp.1982). In view of the policy considerations favoring the finality of tax liability within a reasonable time period, see, e.g., Anchorage Independent School District v. Stephens, 370 P.2d 531 (Alaska 1962), I do not believe it is appropriate to strain for implications permitting the taxation of omitted property years after the assessment roll has been certified when the legislature could so easily have drafted the statute to clearly state this if it is what was intended.
I further note that AS 29.53.090 imposes criminal liability on a taxpayer who knowingly fails to disclose accurate information to the assessor as to his property. The statute provides:
A person who fails to file a statement required by ordinance or who knowingly makes a false affidavit to a statement required by a tax ordinance relative to the amount, location, kind or value of property subject to taxation with intent to evade the taxation, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Upon conviction, he is punishable by a fine of not more than $500, or by imprisonment for not more than 30 days, or by both, together with costs of prosecution.
AS 12.55.045 permits the court to order restitution upon conviction of an offense, which obviously includes the offense set forth in AS 29.53.090. Thus, the borough may recover the taxes for property omitted from the certified tax rolls (plus penalties and interest) as restitution in a criminal action against the taxpayer if the taxpayer is shown to have falsified his return in order to evade the taxation. If, however, the omission of the property from the assessment rolls is not due to the wilful misconduct of the taxpayer, I believe the statutory scheme set forth in AS 29.53.010- 460 precludes the borough from seeking additional taxes from the taxpayer after the final assessment roll for the fiscal year has been certified. I would therefore reverse the judgment of the superior court.