Opinion
No. 30891.
January 8, 1934.
1. TAXATION.
Circuit court properly dismissed county's appeal from state tax commission's order allocating certain railroad trackage to another county, where at time case was heard all taxes on trackage had been collected and expended, since question was moot.
2. TAXATION.
Neither state tax commission, nor circuit court on appeal, had authority to fix lines between counties, except as incident in determining which county was entitled to taxes for current year on railroad trackage involved (Code 1930, section 3200 et seq.).
3. TAXATION.
Order of state tax commission assessing and allocating railroad trackage to certain county was binding only for current year (Code 1930, section 3200 et seq.).
4. TAXATION.
State tax commission has no authority to render judgment in favor of one county against another for taxes collected by one which the other claims belongs to it.
APPEAL from Circuit Court of Hinds County.
Stone Stone, of Coffeeville, and Creekmore Creekmore, of Jackson, for appellant.
Yalobusha county has right of appeal by certiorari from decision of state tax commission.
Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Kennedy, 110 Miss. 73; Ferguson v. Board of Supervisors, 71 Miss. 524; Sec. 73, Code of 1930.
Under section 490, Code of 1930, it has been held that the circuit court, by the common law and without statute, has jurisdiction upon certiorari to examine and reverse judicial proceedings before the mayor of a municipality.
It has been held that the circuit court has jurisdiction where there is no other legal remedy.
Planters Ins. Co. v. Cramer, 47 Miss. 200; Loomis v. Commercial Bank, 4 How. 660; Deberry v. Town of Holly Springs, 35 Miss. 385; Allen v. Board of Levee Commissioners, 57 Miss. 163; Jennings v. Coahoma County, 79 Miss. 523; Power, Secretary of State, v. Robertson, 130 Miss. 188; Railroad Co. v. Adams, 85 Miss. 772.
The decided weight of authority supports the proposition that the common law writ of certiorari may be awarded to all inferior tribunals where it appears that they have exceeded the limits of their jurisdiction, or in cases where they have proceeded illegally, and no appeal is allowed or other mode provided for reviewing their proceedings.
5 R.C.L., pp. 251, 252 and 253.
Both Yalobusha county and Tallahatchie county were admitted as parties to the controversy before the tax commission, and a record was made up consisting of much testimony, oral and documentary, and so it is we have a case where Yalobusha county and Tallahatchie county were both parties to a controversy before an inferior tribunal, and where Yalobusha county was aggrieved at the decision of the tax commission and sought to exercise its statutory remedy of certiorari, which right Tallahatchie county seeks to deny.
People v. Hoffman (N.Y.), 60 N.E. 187.
J.A. Blount, of Charleston, and J. Morgan Stevens and J.M. Stevens, Jr., both of Jackson, for appellee.
State tax commission exclusively has jurisdiction to assess railroads and other public service corporations and this assessment is by counties.
Secs. 3200, 3201, 3202, 3204, 3205 and 3206, Code of 1930.
From the foregoing statutes, it will be observed that the state tax commission had full jurisdiction to assess the property of the Illinois Central Railroad Company in Tallahatchie county, and having done so, its judgment is final, except only in two instances: First, where there is an appeal by the taxpayer, to-wit: in this case, the Illinois Central Railroad Company; and, secondly, where there is an appeal by that officer authorized to represent the public interest. Neither Tallahatchie county nor Yalobusha county were direct parties to the proceeding.
Appeals are regulated by statute and only lie in cases provided by statute.
State v. Poplarville Saw Mill Company, 119 Miss. 432, 81 So. 124.
An appeal is not a matter of right and lies only when authorized by law.
Jones v. Cashins, 133 Miss. 585, 98 So. 58; Union Motor Car Co. v. Carthage, 133 Miss. 318, 97 So. 901; L.R.A. 1916E, p. 21.
Yalobusha county here has no right to prosecute this appeal either directly or by certiorari.
Magnolia Bank v. Board of Supervisors of Pike County, 111 Miss. 857; Robinson Land Lbr. Co. v. Roberson, Attorney General, 126 Miss. 535; Sec. 62, Mississippi Code of 1930; Sec. 3205-1 of the supplement to the Mississippi Code of 1930.
None of the authorities cited by learned counsel are in point. They all represent appeals taken by a direct party to the proceeding.
Under sections 6991 and 6992 of the present Code, it is made the duty of the state tax collector to institute back tax proceedings. If the property which has escaped taxation belongs to any railroad or other corporation, which under the law is required to be assessed by the state tax commission, the notice is given to the state tax commission and the proceeding had before it.
It is a rule of almost universal application that the writ of certiorari will not issue in those cases in which there is a plain, speedy and adequate remedy by appeal, writ of error, or exceptions.
11 C.J., p. 113; Jennings v. Coahoma County, 79 Miss. 523, 31 So. 107; Kuhn Bros. v. Warren County, 98 Miss. 879, 54 So. 442.
Unquestionably, the state tax commission had full jurisdiction to make the assessment.
This court has expressly ruled that certiorari may be had to correct mistaken findings of fact by the railroad commission, induced by an error of law apparent on the record or the finding of a fact contrary to law or the making of an order beyond its power, but in all such cases, the court is confined on certiorari to questions of law appearing on the face of the record and proceedings.
G. S.I. Railroad Co. v. Adams, 85 Miss. 772, 38 So. 348; Y. M.V. Railroad Co. v. Adams, 85 Miss. 772; Simpson v. Phillips, 141 So. 897.
There is no error of law on the face of this record.
This is an appeal, by certiorari, by Yalobusha county from an order of the state tax commission assessing for taxes and allocating to Tallahatchie county ninety-three hundredths of a mile of the track and right of way of the Illinois Central Railroad Company. The appeal was dismissed by the circuit court, and from that judgment, Yalobusha county appeals to this court.
In 1930, the Illinois Central Railroad Company, as required by statute, returned its property for assessment for taxes to the state tax commission. In its return, for Yalobusha county, ninety-three hundredths of a mile of its main line across section 4, township 11, range 7, was represented to be in that county. The railroad company, for many years, had returned this property as being in Yalobusha county, and the state tax commission had so treated it. Yalobusha county had received taxes on it for about sixteen years. Tallahatchie county filed a protest with the state tax commission objecting to the allocation of this trackage to Yalobusha county, alleging that it was not in that county, but was in Tallahatchie county. The state tax commission permitted Yalobusha county to intervene and make defense to the objections filed by Tallahatchie county. Yalobusha county claimed that the state tax commission had no right to fix the boundaries between counties. There was a hearing before the commission on oral and documentary evidence, and on December 31st, the commission decided in favor of Tallahatchie county, and entered an order allocating the ninety-three hundredths of a mile of trackage to that county, and changed the return of the railroad company accordingly. From that decision, Yalobusha county appealed to the circuit court of Hinds county by certiorari. There, on motion of Tallahatchie county, the appeal was dismissed, and the appeal to this court by Yalobusha county followed.
Sections 3200 et seq., Code 1930, provide for the assessment for taxation of railroads and other public service corporations, and the governing procedure. In addition to fixing the value of such property for taxation, it is made the duty of the tax commission to allocate to the counties and other taxing districts the property of such corporations therein located.
The primary question involved in this case was as to whether the appellant or the appellee was entitled to the taxes, for the year 1930, on ninety-three hundredths of a mile of the Illinois Central Railroad. There is no controversy as to the correctness of the assessment of this piece of railroad. The appellant, Yalobusha county, claimed it was located within its boundaries, while the appellee, Tallahatchie county, claimed it was located within its boundaries.
The tax commission decided in favor of Tallahatchie county. When the case was heard in the circuit court of Hinds county on appeal, all taxes, both state and county, on this piece of railroad had been collected by Tallahatchie county and had gone the ways of all other taxes. One ground urged as sufficient to sustain the action of the circuit court is that the question is moot, and that a decision of it now would be fruitless. We agree with that contention, and therefore decide no other question in the case. Neither the tax commission, nor the circuit court on appeal, had any authority to fix the lines between these two counties, except as a mere, although necessary, incident in order to determine which county was entitled to the taxes for 1930 on the property involved. Under the statute, the assessment and allocation both take place annually, and the order of the tax commission assessing and allocating is only binding for the current year, not for the future. In other words, the order assessing and allocating is only res adjudicate for the current, and not for future years.
The tax commission has no jurisdiction to fix and determine county lines as an independent question. It is provided, by law, with no machinery for enforcing such a judgment. There is a tribunal with such jurisdiction, with the power of enforcing its judgments. Neither has the tax commission authority, under the law, to render a judgment in favor of one county against another for taxes collected by one which the other claims belongs to it. There is no machinery for the enforcement of such a judgment.
Affirmed.