Pittsburgh &C. Railway v. Board of Public Works

Citations

• 172 U.S. 32
• 19 S. Ct. 90
• 43 L. Ed. 354
• 1898 U.S. LEXIS 1639

Syllabus

<p>The collection of taxes assessed under the authority of a State is not to be restrained by writ of injunction from a court of tlie United States, unless it clearly appears, not only that the tax is illegal, but that the owner of the property taxed has no adequate remedy by the ordinary processes of the law, and that there are special circumstances bringing the ease within some recognized head of equity jurisdiction.</p> <p>A railroad bridge across a navigable river forming the boundary line between two States is not, by reason of being an instrument of interstate commerce, exempt from taxation by either State upon the part within it.</p> <p>A railroad bridge is taxable under the Code of West Virginia of 1891, c. 29, § 67; and, although the board of public works assesses separately the whole length of the railroad track within the State, and that part of the bridge within the State, yet, if the railroad company does not, as allowed by that section, apply to the auditor to correct any supposed mistake in the assessment, nor appeal, within thirty days after receiving notice of the decision of the hoard, to the circuit court of the county, and the officers of the State make no attempt to interfere With the company’s possession and control of its real estate, nor, until after the expiration of the thirty days, either to impose a penalty for delay in paying the taxes, or to levy on personal property for non-payment of them, the company cannot maintain a bill in equity in a court of the United-States to restrain the assessment and collection of any part of the taxes.</p>