Wharton v. Borough of Birmingham
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Error to the Common Pleas of Allegheny county. This was an action of assumpsit before a justice of the peace by Oliveretta Wharton, against the Burgess and Town Council of East Birmingham, and came into the Common Pleas by appeal.
Read the full summary
Error to the Common Pleas of Allegheny county. This was an action of assumpsit before a justice of the peace by Oliveretta Wharton, against the Burgess and Town Council of East Birmingham, and came into the Common Pleas by appeal. The plaintiff was the owner of certain vacant and unimproved town lots in the borough of East Birmingham, which had come to her by partition of an estate to which she was heir; but she exercised no ownership over them, except paying taxes, and, from time to time, offering them for sale. In 1859, a tax of $12.50 was assessed on these lots for borough purposes, which,…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered, by
Woodward, J.
This was an action of assumpsit to recover money paid under protest to the collector of borough taxes in discharge of a borough tax.
All our tax laws are founded on the principle, that every citizen shall have a right of appeal from assessments to the taxing power, before he pays his taxes. That is his remedy for an unfair or illegal assessment. If he waive his right of appeal, the collector has no power to relieve him. With a duplicate in his hands, charging the plaintiff with $15.10 of borough taxes for the year 1859, it was his duty to…
2Cited by4 opinions
- Edes v. BoardmanSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1879
- Susquehanna Collieries Company's AppealSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1939
- Stratford v. Franklin Paper Mills Co.Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1917
- Guthrie v. Pittsburg Dry Goods Co.Superior Court of Pennsylvania · 1911