Gaumer

The County of Tehama has appealed from a judgment allowing recovery of real property taxes paid under protest.

This ease concerns the question whether the failure of an assessor to inform an assessee of an increased assessment of over 25 percent on the assessee’s land precludes collection of a tax based on the increase in assessed value. The trial court answered that question affirmatively. We agree with that holding. A statute requiring that such notice be given is mandatory. All administrative remedies having been exhausted, the taxpayers properly brought this action. Our opinion deals in detail with these declarations.

The statute with which the court is concerned is section 619 of the Revenue and Taxation Code. The section was first added to the code in 1961. It required the assessor, with the approval of the board of supervisors, to inform each assessee of real property on the assessment roll of the amount of any increase in the assessed value of such real property if the increase exceeded 10 percent of its assessed value on the preceding roll. The last paragraph of the section, however, as originally written provided that the failure of the assessor to inform the assessee…