Citation Numbers: 4 Or. Tax 508
Judges: CARLISLE B. ROBERTS, Judge.
Filed Date: 9/7/1971
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 1/13/2023
Submitted on stipulated facts and briefs. Decision for defendant rendered September 7, 1971. This is an appeal from the Department of Revenue's Order No. VL 70-177. The facts have been stipulated and the case tried on briefs. *Page 509
For the tax year 1968-1969, the plaintiffs made a timely application under ORS
For the tax year 1969-1970, the year in question, plaintiffs did not make application for the special farm use assessment and now complain that they did not receive notification from the county assessor of failure to file allegedly required by ORS
The issue on this appeal is whether the filing of an application for special farm use assessment for the tax year 1968-1969 and the denial of the same by the assessor excused the plaintiffs from filing an application for the tax year 1969-1970 while allowing the tax benefits of an approved filing. The plaintiffs claim that their application for farm use assessment for 1968-1969 should have been approved and, consequently, they are excused from reapplying for the special farm use assessment in 1969-1970.
1. The parties stipulated that the property in question was not in a farm use zone described in ORS *Page 510
"* * * in each year the county assessor shall notify by registered or certified mail each owner of farm land in that county who secured special assessment under subsection (2) of ORS
308.370 for the preceding year but who did not make application therefor on or before April 1 of the current year. * * *"
2. Plaintiffs plead that the assessor's failure to give the specified notice estops him from denying the farm use assessment for 1969-1970, citing Johnson v. Tax Commission,
3. The plaintiffs claim that, as a matter of law, the filing of the application required under ORS
"2. The assessor must consider all the requirements of ORS
215.203 and must be convinced that not only such requirements are met but, in addition, the land must be used in a manner that is reasonably designed and intended to give rise to a profit. Land so used is farm-use land. * * *"
Thus, entitlement to the farm use assessment is discretionary because the assessor must study the facts and make a determination before the application is accepted.
The plaintiffs urge lack of knowledge and lack of counsel but such arguments are necessarily meaningless if law is to function. Here it is clear that the proper action for the plaintiffs would have been to appeal the 1968-1969 denial of their application of the farm assessment or, in turn, to have reapplied in the year 1969-1970 and to have appealed that denial under the proper procedures of ORS
Order No. VL 70-177 of the Department of Revenue is affirmed. *Page 512