Chicago & North Western Railway Co. v. Board of Supervisors

Citations

• 44 Ill. 240

Syllabus

<p>1. Taxation—must be uniform. One portion of the tax payers of a county, owning taxable property, shall not be required to pay more taxes in proportion to its value, no matter how that may be ascertained, than another portion in the same county.</p> <p>2. So if the assessors, regardless of the strict injunctions of the law, shall place a value upon property far below its real cash value, and such a practice goes on unchallenged, and is recognized by the authorities having special charge of the revenue of the State, that misconduct must also contain within itself the great and cardinal principle of uniformity.</p> <p>3. Same—corporations stand on the same footing with individuals. If the law is not strictly observed in the case of individuals, and their property is not assessed at its actual value, the property of a corporation, situate in the same county, should not be assessed at a greater proportional value than that of individuals, even though the enhanced assessment is not on the actual cash value of the property of such corporation.</p> <p>4. Same—the rule does not apply as between counties. But one county does not furnish a rule for another, in regard to the proportion of the value of property which shall be taken as the basis for assessment.</p> <p>5. So that, on the trial of an appeal in the Circuit Court of one county, from the decision of the board of supervisors increasing the valuation upon property beyond that fixed in the schedule returned by the owner, it is not competent to give in evidence a-schedule returned by the same owner, of property of the same character, situate in another county, and which placed a higher value upon it.</p> <p>6. Same—of the rule by which to ascertain the value of property. The cost of an article is no evidence of its value on any certain day; and upon such a trial, the proof should be confined to its value at the time of the assessment, and the court should not permit evidence to be given of the first cost of the propert