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S & R Properties v. Maricopa County9/28/1993
elco, the taxpayer first appealed from a classification error and later sought a refund for prior years. Here, argues the County, those taxpayers who did not follow the same appeal procedure are not entitled to recover. We disagree. In Telco, the taxpayer credit union did not discover until 1986 that its property had been placed by the County in class 3 instead of in class 4 with all other credit unions. The credit union then successfully appealed the property's valuation for the current tax year and requested a refund for excess taxes paid in error in three prior years. Although the taxpayer's appeal exposed the error and resulted in the County making the appropriate classification change, the decision appears to rest on the clear and indisputable nature of the erroneous assessment. Consequently, we believe the credit union in Telco would have been entitled to a refund even had it discovered the error after the deadline for an appeal had expired.
We agree that title 42 statutes contemplate that a taxpayer who objects to the classification or valuation of his property will appeal within the time limits set by those statutes. Generally, a taxpayer who fails to do so will have no remedy, even if he later discovers an error. Section 11-506, however, is a remedial statute that grants a remedy both to a taxpayer who successfully appeals in the current year and who paid excess taxes in prior years and to a taxpayer who has not appealed but who discovers a clear and indisputable error after November 1 of the current tax year. The latter taxpayer should receive a refund if he makes a claim within three years of the payment of excess taxes. "An honorable government would not keep taxes to which it is not entitled." Pittsburgh & Midway Coal v. Arizona Dep't of Revenue, 161 Ariz. 135, 139, 776 P.2d 1061, 1065 (1989).
Finally, our interpretation of the statutory scheme favors the taxpayer and is preferable to the County's construction. "Tax statutes are to be strictly construed against taxing authorities and any ambiguities are to be resolved in favor of the taxpayer." Jim Click Ford, Inc. v. City of Tucson, 133 Ariz. 97, 98, 649 P.2d 714, 715 (App. 1982). Adopting a liberal view of section 11-506 avoids clogging both the administrative appeal and the judicial appeal processes with easily resolved matters and is an additional avenue of relief for the taxpayer who may have paid excess taxes. See Rio Rico Properties, 172 Ariz. at 92, 834 P.2d at 178 (legislature intended section 11-506 as an administrative remedy outside title 42 judicial or quasi-judicial process for correcting indisputable mistakes of fact).
C. Attorneys' Fees Pursuant to A.R.S. Section 12-2030
1. County's Appeal
The County raises two arguments against the granting of attorneys' fees to the taxpayers. First, the County contends that the taxpayers were not entitled to an award of attorneys' fees under A.R.S. section 12-2030 because they were not the prevailing parties seeking mandamus relief in a civil action. The County points out that the taxpayers' original prayers for relief requested only refunds. We cannot agree, however, that because the taxpayers failed to obtain refunds, they were not prevailing parties under A.R.S. section 12-2030. The taxpayers' complaints necessarily involved a demand for enforcement of A.R.S. section 11-506 and thus asked for relief in the nature of mandamus. I
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