Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Co. v. Schmidt
Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Co. v. Schmidt
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
This is a bill in equity filed by the plaintiffs, as taxpayers, to restrain the defendants, the taxing authorities of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, and of Coal Township in that county, from collecting from plaintiffs an unpaid balance of taxes for the year 1913, which plaintiffs contended were illegally levied. It is alleged in the bill, and the court below found as matters of fact, that the county commissioners, upon August 23, 1912, fixed a rate of levy for county taxes for the year 1913; that the rate of the levy for township taxes was fixed by the township commissioners on January 21, 1913; that the poor tax for the poor district of Coal Township for 1913, was levied by the overseers of the poor on March 12, 1913; that the commissioners of Northumberland County, acting as a board of revision on April 25,1913* fixed and adjusted the valuation of taxable property .in Coal Township for the year 1913. The plaintiffs contend that as the levies were made prior to the date when the valuations were finally (adjusted by the county com.»
The suggestion that the tax levy was wholly void, is not tenable. The officers had jurisdiction to make the levy, and the objection was not to the levy itself, but was only to the amount of the valuation of the property to which it was applied. Complainants admit that the same levy, if it had been applied to the former valuation, would have been unobjectionable. And they recognized the validity in part, of the tax claimed, by making a partial payment of the sum demanded. Possessing the right to levy and collect taxes for the purposes contemplated, on the property of complainants, a mistake in the valuation of the property subject to the tax, would not amount to usurpation of authority, such as would render the tax wholly void.
The assignments of error are overruled, the decree of the court below is affirmed, and this appeal is dismissed at the cost of appellants.
Reference
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- Taxation — Fixing of tax rate — Subsequent -adjustment of valuation of property — Levy—Equity—Bill for injunction — Laches— Estoppel — Dismissal. 1. ' The tax rate should be fixed in connection with and in view of the amount of the valuation of the property to be taxed, and a levy is prematurely made where the tax rate is fixed before the assessment has been finally settled, and the collection of such taxes will be restrained when objection is promptly and properly made and prosecuted with due diligence. 2. A court of equity will not grant relief by injunction where the party seeking it is cognizant of his rights and does not take those steps to assert them which are open to him, but lies by and suffers his adversary to incur expenses and enter into engagements which would render the granting of an injunction against the completion of-his undertaking, or the use thereof when completed, a great injury to him. 3. An estoppel may be raised by acquiescence where the party aware of his own rights sees the other party acting upon a mistaken notion of his rights. 4. Where the right to levy and collect taxes for purposes contemplated is possessed, a mistake in the valuation of the property subject to tax does not amount to usurpation of authority such as would render the tax wholly void. 5. In a suit in equity to restrain the taxing authorities of a county and township from collecting from plaintiffs an unpaid balance of taxes for the year 1913, on the ground that the tax had been improperly levied, it appeared that the rates were made by the defendants prior to the time when the valuation of the taxable property in the township was fixed and adjusted for 1913 by the county commissioners sitting as a board of revision of taxes, but that the amounts were nevertheless computed upon the 1913 valuation; that the plaintiffs had notice that the taxes had been so levied before they had paid any part thereof; that prior to the filing of the bill the plaintiffs had not objected to the taxes being so computed; that plaintiffs made partial payments on account of their taxes, and for fifteen months permitted defendant to collect taxes based on such valuation from a large majority of the taxpayers of the township. The lower court dismissed the bill. Held, that plaintiffs were estopped by laches from asserting their rights, and the decree was affirmed.