(Download) "Weaver v. State Board of Equalization" by Supreme Court of Wyoming " eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Weaver v. State Board of Equalization
- Author : Supreme Court of Wyoming
- Release Date : January 25, 1973
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 58 KB
Description
The Weavers own various lands in Sections 17 and 18, Township 14 North, Range 66 West of the 6th P.M., Laramie County, located a short distance north of the Cheyenne city limits. When the county assessor valued such property for 1971 tax purposes at an amount much higher than that at which it had been previously assessed, 1 the Weavers filed a written protest with the Laramie County Board of Equalization. This was acted upon adversely to petitioners who appealed successively to the State Board of Equalization and the Laramie County District Court each time with the same result. The court's decision has now been appealed, the petitioners arguing generally that the assessment was void since the board acted arbitrarily, capriciously, and fraudulently, and specifically contending that (1) mandatory statutory procedures were ignored in making the assessment and (2) petitioners' lands were not assessed uniformly and equalized as required by law. The first question raised in the appeal does not merit detailed or lengthy consideration. Although it is alleged that the assessor made changes in the schedule to bring the matter within the purview of § 18-98(j), W.S. 1957, 1971 Cum.Supp., we find nothing to bear this out. There is no showing that any change in the schedule was made by the assessor, the record merely reflecting that the valuation placed on the land in 1971 by the assessor was greater than that of the previous year. Likewise, it is unnecessary that attention be devoted to the complaint that there were various errors in procedure regarding the assessment since it is unchallenged that the Weavers knew that the raise in valuation had been made and had an opportunity to appear and present their views. Judge Blume in the landmark case of Bunten v. Rock Springs Grazing Ass'n, 29 Wyo. 461, 215 P. 244, 256, noted that mere technical objections or even legal omissions in assessing property or collection of a tax usually do not affect in the slightest degree the strong equitable obligation of a taxpayer to pay his fair and just proportion of support for government; and in the instant case it is clear that the procedural errors deprived them of no fundamental rights and, in fact, were in no way detrimental to them.