[Download] "County of Musselshell v. Morris Dev. Co." by Supreme Court of Montana # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: County of Musselshell v. Morris Dev. Co.
- Author : Supreme Court of Montana
- Release Date : January 25, 1932
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 66 KB
Description
Taxation ? Mines and Mining Claims ? Coal Mines ? Taxable Value Fixed by Constitution Immutable ? Conveyance of Surface ? Creation of Separate Taxable Interest ? Mistake as to Ownership of Property ? Legality of Tax Unaffected. Taxation ? Mines and Mining Claims ? Constitution. 1. When the surface of a mining claim is used for other than mining purposes and has a separate and independent value for such purposes, it is taxable on that value in addition to the tax on the mining claim as fixed by the Constitution (Art. XII, sec. 3), i.e., at the price paid the United States therefor. Same ? Tax on Mining Claim Fixed by Constitution is on Claim as a Whole, i.e., on Everything from Surface to Center of Earth. 2. The tax provided by the section of the Constitution, supra, is on the mine or mining claim as a whole, embracing everything from the surface to the center of the earth. Same ? Mines and Mining Claims ? What Constitutes Property Taxable as Provided by Constitution. 3. Where the price paid to the United States for a mine or mining claim was based upon a stated sum per acre it was properly taxed in the same manner in direct compliance with the constitutional provision (par. 1), such method not signifying that the tax was on the surface only, the surface rights and the subsurface contents constituting the property taxable at the price paid the government for the mine or mining claim. Same ? Value of Mine or Mining Claim Fixed by Constitution Immutable ? State Board of Equalization Without Power to Change It. 4. The taxable value of a mine or mining claim as fixed by the constitutional provision, above, is immutable, and so long as either remains in private ownership it is taxable at that value; hence the state board of equalization is without authority to change the classification of the land from that of mineral land to any other classification on the theory that, all the minerals having been removed therefrom, the property ceased to be a mine or mining claim. Same ? Transfer of Surface of Coal Mine ? Creation of Separate Taxable Interests ? Grantor Liable for Tax Fixed by Constitution, Grantee for Tax on Surface. 5. Where a coal mining company, owner of coal mine, by quitclaim deed transferred the surface thereof to another for purposes other than mining, separate taxable interests in the property - Page 202 were created; the mine, as such, then was taxable to the grantor at the price paid the United States therefor, and the grantee, owner only of the added taxable interest, the surface, for other than mining purposes, was liable for the tax assessed separately thereon. Same ? Mistake as to Ownership of Property Does not Affect Legality of Tax. 6. Where taxes upon real property have been correctly imposed, a mistake as to the ownership thereof does not affect the legality of the tax. Same ? Order of State Board of Equalization That Coal Having All Been Removed from Mine, the Property was No Longer Taxable as a Mine Held Erroneous ? Proper Taxation of Mine and Surface Directed. 7. On appeal from a judgment in a proceeding on certiorari annulling an order of the state board of equalization which, in effect, declared that, the coal having all been removed from a mine and the owner thereof having quitclaimed the surface thereof to another, to be used for purposes other than mining, neither the grantor nor the grantee was liable for the tax due on the mine legally assessable at the price paid the government therefor, ordered that the judgment, erroneously upholding the action of the assessor in assessing the mine to the grantee of the surface, be modified by requiring the state board to cause the assessment of the mine, at the price paid the government for the land, to run against the grantor, the true owner thereof.