Norcross v. Inhabitants of Milford

Tax — Non-resident — Personal Property — Payment under Protest — Abatement. If certain distinguishable items of a tax upon personal property, assessed by a town to non-residents, are improperly assessed there, the only remedy is by an application for an abatement under the Pub. Sts. c. 11, § 69.

Contract to recover the amount of certain taxes on personal property, paid under protest. The case was submitted to the Superior Court on an agreed statement of facts, which, so far as material, is as follows. The plaintiffs are building contractors, doing business under the firm name of Norcross Brothers, with a principal place of business in Worcester, and with stone yards in that city and in Boston, where they cut and deal in stone. They own land in the defendant town, which contains a quarry of stone, and other land along a railroad not far from the quarry, with the buildings on it, which they use for a stone yard. They also own and use, both at the quarry and at this yard, machinery for the quarrying, cutting, and polishing of stone. They also employ horses and oxen in the yard, and keep them there throughout the year. Some of the stone quarried by them in Milford is dressed in. the yard there before shipment, and the rest is shipped in the rough to their yards in Worcester and in Boston. In the year 1886 the plaintiffs were assessed in the defendant town for machinery, boilers, and engines, and for “stone quarried and dressed and in the year 1887, for machinery, boilers and engines, horses and oxen, and for “ stock in trade.” These taxes were paid by the plaintiffs after a protest in writing, and after demand upon them by the collector of taxes. Judgment was entered for the plaintiffs, with interest, for the amount of the taxes paid in those years on the “ stone quarried and dressed,” and on the “stock in trade”; and the defendant appealed to this court.