German-American Lumber Co. v. Barbee

Citations

• 59 Fla. 493

Syllabus

<p>1. The law contemplates that a wide discretion be accorded to the tax assessor in the valuation of property for the purposes of taxation. In the absence of a clear and positive showing of fraud or of an illegal act or of an abuse of discretion rendering an assessment authorized by law £0 arbitrary ánd discriminating as to amount to a fraud upon a taxpayer or to a denial of the equal protection of the laws, the courts will not in general control the discretion of the tax assessor in making valuations for taxing purposes. The burdens of taxation cannot be made exactly equal.</p> <p>2. The mere fact that where timber lands in a county are generally assessed at $2.00 per acre when there are no timber leases thereon, and where there are such timber leases, the lands are generally assessed at $1.50 per acre and the timber leases thereon are separately assessed at $1.00 per acre, does not render a particular assessment of the land invalid where no actual fraud is shown, and it appears that the assessment was made by the tax assessor upon what he considered the value of the lands, and not upon an arbitrary valuation, and there is corroborating testimony as to the value of the land, and that the lands .may be enhanced in value by the timber leases.</p>