Opinion
No. 33067
Decided December 10, 1952.
Taxation — Applications for exemption and remission of taxes — Jurisdiction of Board of Tax Appeals to consider — Treasurer's certificate that all taxes etc. paid, necessary — Section 5570-1, General Code.
APPEAL from the Board of Tax Appeals.
The state of Ohio filed with the Board of Tax Appeals applications for exemption from taxation of and remission of certain taxes and penalties on improved real property located in the city of Berea and owned by the state and used as a state armory. Accompanying the applications were an auditor's finding recommending that exemption be granted and a treasurer's certificate that all taxes, assessments, penalties and interest have been paid in full to and including the tax year 1929, but that taxes, assessments, penalties and interest for the tax years 1930 through 1950 have not been paid. These include special assessments by Cuyahoga county and the city of Berea for a road improvement and sewer and water charges.
The Board of Tax Appeals determined that the levies of municipal and county special assessments against the property for the years 1930 through 1950 were without authority and were nullities; remitted the taxes and penalties which had accrued against the property for the tax years 1930 to 1950, inclusive; and ordered the property exempted from taxation for the year 1951.
The cause is in this court on appeal from the decision of the Board of Tax Appeals.
Mr. Frank T. Cullitan, prosecuting attorney, Mr. Saul S. Danaceau and Mr. Sheldon D. Clark, for appellants.
Mr. C. William O'Neill, attorney general, Mr. Thomas R. Lloyd and Mr. J. Ralston Werum, for appellees.
The question presented is whether the Board of Tax Appeals has jurisdiction to exempt from taxation a state-owned parcel of real property and to remit taxes and penalties which accrued on such parcel during state ownership, even though special assessments levied on the property by a municipality and a county remain unpaid, which special assessments the board admits it has no authority to remit.
This question must be answered in the negative. Jurisdiction to declare assessments illegal is reposed in the courts, not in the Board of Tax Appeals. Section 5570-1, General Code, provides that the "Board of Tax Appeals shall not consider an application for exemption" unless the application has attached thereto a treasurer's certificate that assessments against the property sought to be exempted have been paid in full.
The decision of the Board of Tax Appeals is reversed.
Decision reversed.
WEYGANDT, C.J., ZIMMERMAN, STEWART, MIDDLETON, TAFT, MATTHIAS and HART, JJ., concur.