Illinois Central R. Co. v. Kentucky, 218 U.S. 551 (1910)

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Illinois Central Railroad Company v. Kentucky

No. 16

Argued October 26, 27, 1910
Decided December 5, 1910
218 U.S. 551

ERROR TO THE COURT OF APPEALS

OF THE STATE OF KENTUCKY

Syllabus

If the law of the state permits it, the fact that the making of an assessment is delayed does not detract from the authority or the duty of the assessing power to make it.

The fact that the assessment is made by memoranda on the assessment envelope or jacket does not render it ineffectual as lacking in due process of law because not recorded in a permanent book, and where the state court has held that an assessment so made is good under the law of the state, this Court will not hold that it denied the party assessed due process of law or equal protection of the law. A construction by the state court that an assessment made by the board of assessors cannot enter into an arrangement with the parties assessed contemplating the nonpayment of the tax based thereon does not deprive those parties of any constitutional rights where no ground is shown for impugning the assessment so made.

The federal Constitution does not preclude a state from requiring a corporation actually controlling and exercising a franchise to pay the tax legally assessed thereon, although not the actual owner of the franchise.

When the record does not show that others similarly situated escaped the taxation imposed on the plaintiff in error, and the state court has declared that, if any escaped, they are still liable, this Court regards the contention of denial of equal protection of the law as without merit.

128 Ky. 28 affirmed.

The facts, which involve the validity of an assessment, are stated in the opinion.