Taxpayer is required to exhaust administrative remedies to the Board of Equalization and the State Tax Commission even though constitutional claims are raised
How later courts described this case
- Taxpayer is required to exhaust administrative remedies to the Board of Equalization and the State Tax Commission even though constitutional claims are raised
- “This statutory system for administrative review of assessments may not be pre-empted by the courts[.]”
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
DONNELLY, Judge,
dissenting.
In Sioux City Bridge Company v. Dakota County, Nebraska, 260 U.S. 441 , 43 S.Ct. 190 , 67 L.Ed. 340 (1923), the United States Supreme Court held that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects a taxpayer against the imposition of a discriminatory tax.
The principal opinion holds that relief from the imposition of a discriminatory tax is conditioned in Missouri upon utilization of an appeals procedure through local boards of equalization to the State Tax Commission. See § 138.430, RSMo 1978.
I doubt that the teaching of Henry v. Mississippi, 379 U.S. 443 , 85 S.Ct. 564 , 13 L.Ed.2d 408 (1965) can be ignored in a situation, as here, where:
(1) The imposition of a discriminatory tax is federal constitutional error; and
(2) The principal opinion holds, in effect, that because § 138.430 appeal procedure has not been pursued, appellant has foregone its opportunity to raise its claim of constitutional error.
*901 In my view, the following Henry issues should be resolved:
(1) Did appellant deliberately bypass the § 138.430 appeal procedure?
(2) If appellant did not deliberately bypass such procedure, does today’s holding serve a legitimate state interest?
1 respectfully dissent.