FREDERICK T. VAUX
v.
NORTH ST. LUCIE RIVER DRAINAGE DISTRICT
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The Florida Supreme Court affirmed a lower court's dismissal of a complaint seeking a refund of drainage taxes. The court held that taxes legally assessed and voluntarily paid cannot be recovered, even if other taxpayers later receive a reduction.
No, a taxpayer cannot recover taxes that were legally assessed and voluntarily paid when due, absent any question as to the reasonableness of the tax itself.
“but there is no authority to recover a tax legally assessed and paid when due, there being no question as to its reasonableness.”
Establishes the core legal principle that legally assessed and voluntarily paid taxes are not recoverable.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe appellant paid drainage taxes for 1934, which were legally assessed and due. Subsequently, the drainage district made material reductions to the t…
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This appeal is from a decree dismissing a bill of complaint seeking to recover a portion of the drainage taxes ¡paid by appellant to appellee for the year 1934. It appears that the taxes were legally assessed, were due, and were-voluntarily paid, but the theory on which recovery is sought is that after appellant paid- his’taxes-, appellee made *31material reduction on the taxes of other taxpayers in the district.
Appellant had a right to require other taxpayers to pay on the same basis that he did, but there is no authority to recover a tax legally assessed and paid when due, there being no question as to its reasonableness. Johnson v. Atkins, 44 Fla. 185, 32 So. 879; City of Orlando v. Gill, 128 Fla. 139, 174 So. 224.
Affirmed.
Whitfield, P. J., and Brown and Chapman, J. J., concur.
Terrell, C. J., concurs in opinion and judgment.
Justice Buford not participating as authorized by Section 4687, Compiled General Laws of 1927, and Rule 21-A of the Rules of this Court.
Thomas, J., disqualified. '
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- City of Orlando v. Gill, 128 Fla. 139 (Fla. 1937)
- Johnson v. Atkins, 44 Fla. 185 (Fla. 1902)