Nickey v. Mississippi

Background

Nonresident owners held tracts in Tunica County, Mississippi, assessed for 1928 local and state taxes. They failed to pay tax on one tract. The state sued in chancery court to recover the unpaid tax as a debt and attached other lands where tax had been paid. The bill said owners were cutting timber on the unpaid tract and sought an injunction to protect tax revenue. The owners appeared, posted a $10,000 bond to release the attachment, and raised two constitutional objections: that the assessment occurred without notice or a hearing, and that enforcing payment from other in-state lands or imposing personal liability violated due process.

Reasoning

The Court accepted the Mississippi Supreme Court’s view that a tax suit treats an assessed tax as a debt and that the assessment roll is only prima facie evidence, so the assessment’s correctness may be challenged in the suit. The Court said the Constitution does not require notice before assessment; what matters is that defendants can raise defenses in court before the tax is finally enforced. The Court also held a state may collect a tax assessed on one parcel from other parcels owned by the same person inside the state, even if the owner is a nonresident. Because the owners posted a bond larger than the tax, the State is enforcing the personal liability on that bond rather than the attached property.

Real world impact

The ruling allows states to bring in-court actions to recover delinquent property taxes from nonresident owners and to enforce payment against other property inside the state or against a posted bond. It does not require prior notice before an assessment so long as the owner can contest the tax in court. The decision leaves open questions about decrees exceeding bond amounts or cases where a bond was not posted.