67-5-306 - Fines and penalties. - Tennessee Statutes

67-5-306. Fines and penalties.

(a)  It is unlawful for any assessor or deputy assessor willfully or knowingly to assess any property subject to taxation in the names of or in the initials of any other than the person to whom the property should be lawfully assessed. Each violation of this subsection (a) is a Class C misdemeanor.

(b)  It is unlawful for any assessor or deputy assessor willfully or knowingly to permit or allow any property subject to taxation to be or remain unassessed or omitted from assessment, or willfully or knowingly to assess any property at less than the percentage of value required by law. Each violation of this subsection (b) is a Class C misdemeanor.

(c)  Each assessor or deputy assessor or member of the county board of equalization who violates, neglects, or fails, or refuses to comply with any of the provisions of this chapter or chapter 1 of this title, unless otherwise expressly made punishable as a misdemeanor, shall pay and forfeit to the state the sum of not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) nor more than one hundred dollars ($100) for each offense, which penalty shall be recovered of the offender and sureties on such person's bond, in the case of assessors and deputies, and of the members of the board of equalization personally, in any court of record in the county or before any general sessions court of the county, by motion on five (5) days' notice or by suit instituted for the purpose.

(d)  It is the duty of the district attorneys general, upon the information or at the request of any reputable citizen of the state, to investigate and prosecute, ex officio, all the offenses defined in subsection (c).

(e)  It is the duty of each district attorney general, county auditor, and county mayor, when such person learns, or has reasonable grounds to believe, that the provisions of subsection (c) have been violated, to institute proceedings by motion or suit to recover the penalties prescribed.

(f)  It is unlawful for any assessor or deputy assessor or any member of any county board of equalization to draw or receive any compensation for services, or for any county mayor to issue any warrant for the same, until such assessor or deputy assessor or member of such board shall have fully kept and performed each and every one of the requirements of subsection (c), and the failure to keep and perform any of the same shall be held and deemed a waiver of any right to any compensation for services.

(g)  Any county mayor or county clerk, or district attorney general, or county auditor, who fails, neglects, or refuses to obey and observe the requirements imposed by subsection (c) commits a Class C misdemeanor.

[Acts 1907, ch. 602, §§ 33-35, 37; Shan., §§ 972a2-972a5, 972a8; mod. Code 1932, §§ 1684-1687, 1689; modified; Acts 1973, ch. 226, § 6; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), §§ 67-641, 67-642, 67-1710 67-1714; Acts 1989, ch. 591, § 113; 2003, ch. 90, § 2.]