People ex rel. Rogers v. Caldwell

Citations

• 142 Ill. 434

Syllabus

<p>1. Taxation — where personal property should be taxed. A party having a farm situate partly in one county and partly in another, is taxable on his personal property in the county in which he has his actual residence, no matter what may be his motive for choosing one county in preference to the other.</p> <p>2. At common law, personal effects follow the owner, and have their situs with him or at his domicile for many purposes, including that of taxation. A personal property tax is to be assessed against the owner at the place of his residence, except so far as the rule may be changed by statute.</p> <p>3. Same — where live stock should be assessed. Where a man pastures his cattle on his own land in another county than his residence, and feeds out his grain there through his hired hands, after which he moves them to his home farm, such cattle should be assessed against him at the place of his residence, and not in the other county. Section 9 of the Eevenue law does not apply in such case, as the cattle are within his control all the time, and the hired man is not his agent.</p> <p>4. Same — live stock connected with a farm in different townships or counties. Section 8 of the Eevenue law, which requires live stock connected with a farm upon which the owner does not reside to be assessed in the district where such farm is situated, does not apply where the farm on which the stock is kept lies in several districts or two different counties, and the stock passes from one part of the farm to another. A farm may consist of any number of acres, of one or many fields, and may lie in one township or county, or in more than one.</p>