Whiting v. Town of West Point
Supreme Court of Virginia
Petition for a mandamus by O. T. Whiting and others, “ taxpayers of the town of West Point,” to compel the town council to assess for taxation the property of the West Point Terminal Railway and Warehouse Company. On the 10th of June, 1882, an ordinance was passed exempting the property of the company so long as it should keep its principal office in Virginia within the corporate limits of the town.
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Petition for a mandamus by O. T. Whiting and others, “ taxpayers of the town of West Point,” to compel the town council to assess for taxation the property of the West Point Terminal Railway and Warehouse Company. On the 10th of June, 1882, an ordinance was passed exempting the property of the company so long as it should keep its principal office in Virginia within the corporate limits of the town. This ordinance was, on the 2nd of June, 1890, repealed, hut was afterwards “ revived and re-enacted ” by an ordinance passed on 1st of September, 1890. The principal ground upon which the writ was…
1Opinion of the Court
Lewis, P.,
delivered the opinion of the court.
The real question in the case is whether a municipal corporation has the inherent power to exempt from taxation any property which by its charter it is authorized to tax. The town of West Point, by the fourteenth section of its charter, is authorized to tax “ all the real and personal property ” in the town; and by the following section it is made the duty of the town council annually to appoint an assessor, whose duty it is to assess “ all personal property and all improvements put upon real estate ” in the town since the last preceding…
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