COSEN INVESTMENT COMPANY, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION,
v.
H. E. OVERSTREET, AS TAX COLLECTOR, DADE COUNTY, STATE OF FLORIDA, AND VAN C. KUSSROW, AS ACTING TAX ASSESSOR OF DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA, ET AL.
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Cosen Investment Company challenged its property tax assessment in Dade County, arguing that its property was assessed at full cash value while similar nearby properties were assessed at only 75% of cash value, violating equal protection principles. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed dismissal of the injunction, holding that following the adoption of a homestead tax exemption, all property must be assessed at 100% of true cash value to ensure uniform and equal tax burdens.
The court held that the appeal must fail and the dismissal must be affirmed. Following adoption of the homestead tax exemption to the Florida Constitution, all property must be assessed at 100% of true cash value as required by statute to ensure uniform and equal tax burdens. Prior case law allowing uniform assessment at reduced percentages is no longer applicable because homestead exemptions create inequality unless all property is assessed at statutory value.
“the purpose of the law was to render the tax burden uniform, equal and just”
Establishes the fundamental purpose of tax assessment law
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceCosen Investment Company's property in Dade County was assessed at its approximate cash value, while nearby comparable property was assessed at approx…
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Appellant filed a bill against the tax collector of Dade County to enjoin the collection of a portion of the taxes assessed against its property upon the ground that its property had been assessed at its approximate cash value whereas other nearby property had been assessed at approximately seventy-five per cent of its cash value. From a decree dismissing the bill an appeal is taken. Appellant relies upon our opinion, Camp Phosphate Co. v. Allen, 77 Fla. 341, 81 So. 503. This case does not support appellant because, as was pointed out there, the purpose of the law was to render the tax burden uniform, equal and just and if all property was assessed at fifty per cent of its cash value the purpose of the law was carried out. Such logic is not now tenable because, by the adoption of Art. X, Sec. 7, to the Florida Constitution, homesteads to the extent of $5000.00 are exempt from taxation.
To perpetrate the practice of assessing all property at a less percentage than that directed by the statute (Chap. *41720722, Acts 1941) would necessarily result in favoring the homesteads. The logic of the opinion in Camp Phosphate Co. v. Allen, supra, is no longer applicable because the reduced value, even though uniformly lower, are no longer just. Subsequent to the adoption of Art. X, Sec. 7, the practice of assessing property has been in conformity with the statute that is at one hundred per cent of its true cash value.
To grant appellant’s request would require us to order a constitutional, official act contrary to the statute and by so doing the* effect of his act would result in rendering unequal the tax burden to the tax payers of Dade County.
The decree is affirmed.. '
BUFORD, C. J., TERRELL and BROWN, JJ., concur.
CHAPMAN and THOMAS, JJ., agree to conclusion.
SEBRING, J., concurs in conclusion.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By (15 total)
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State of Fla. ex rel. Jay G. Glynn & Betty Glynn v. McNAYR, 133 So. 2d 312 (Fla. 1961)…al estate is assessed at anything less than full cash value, then the constitutional provision which exempts homesteads up to five thousand dollars of valuation, results in an inequality in favor of the homestead owner. Cosen Inv. Co. v. Overstreet, 154 Fla. 416, 17 So. 2d 788. For example, contend the appellants, if property is assessed at fifty percent of full cash value, then a ten thousand dollar homestead would be assessed at five thousand dollars. The result would be that such a parcel would bear no p…
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The Deltona Corp. v. Bailey, 336 So. 2d 1163 (Fla. 1976)…r market value and a court may not reduce a taxpayer’s assessment below 100% on a mere showing that parcels of some other taxpayers are assessed at a lesser amount. See Walter v. Schuler, 176 So. 2d 81 (Fla.1965); Cosen Investment Co. v. Overstreet, 154 Fla. 416, 17 So. 2d 788 (1944); Sproul v. Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club, Inc., 143 So. 2d 900 (2d D.C.A.Fla.1962). It is only in very limited circumstances in which an exception to the general rule can be successfully maintained. Normally one whose propert…1 / 2
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Lanier v. Tyson, 147 So. 2d 365 (Fla. 2d DCA 1962)…e Florida Constitution providing for the exemption of homesteads, it has been held that assessments at less or greater than full cash value discriminate respectively in favor of and against exempt properties. Cosen Inv. Co. Inc. v. Overstreet, 1944, 154 Fla. 416, 17 So. 2d 788; Schleman [*373] v. Connecticut General Life Ins. Co., 1942, 151 Fla. 96, 9 So. 2d 197. Language in two ■cases serves to indicate that "full cash value” has come to be viewed as synonymous with “just valuation.” In Schleman v. Connec…
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- Camp Phosphate Co. v. Allen, 77 Fla. 341 (Fla. 1919)