reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 58a § 2 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title IX - Taxation|Chapter 58a - Appellate Tax Board|Section 2 - Principal Office; Meetings; Hearings

Section 2. The principal office of the board shall be in Boston but said board may sit at any place within the commonwealth. The time and place of its meetings shall be prescribed by the chairman, and the chairman shall assign all members for the hearings held outside of Boston on a rotating basis, taking into consideration the expertise, qualifications, travel involved and needs of the entire board when determining the rotation. The county commissioners shall provide the board with suitable rooms in courthouses or other buildings when necessary for hearings outside the city of Boston. Adequate offices and a hearing room in the state house or elsewhere in said city shall be provided for the board.
MA Gen L ch 58a § 3 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title IX - Taxation|Chapter 58a - Appellate Tax Board|Section 3 - Reports and Opinions; Publication; Sale

Section 3. The board shall provide for the publication and sale or distribution of such of its reports and opinions as are of public interest, in such form and manner as it may deem best adapted for public convenience and use, upon such terms and conditions as may be approved by the governor and council.
MA Gen L ch 58a § 4 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title IX - Taxation|Chapter 58a - Appellate Tax Board|Section 4 - Annual Reports

Section 4. The board shall report annually to the general court such suggestions and recommendations for the amendment, alteration and modification of existing laws relative to taxation and related matters, as it may deem desirable, and shall include in such report a statement of the number and type of matters handled by it during the preceding state fiscal year and the number of matters pending at the end of the year. Such report shall further provide the aggregate number and type of cases assigned to each member, the manner by which the case was disposed of and the average length of time for issuing a decision from the date of the close of the record.
MA Gen L ch 58a § 5 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title IX - Taxation|Chapter 58a - Appellate Tax Board|Section 5 - Traveling Expenses

Section 5. The members and employees of the board shall receive their necessary and reasonable traveling expenses and such other expenses, including subsistence actually incurred while traveling outside the city of Boston in the performance of their duties.  For purposes of this section, overnight accommodations for travel within a 50 mile radius of Boston shall not be considered reasonable.
MA Gen L ch 58a § 5a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title IX - Taxation|Chapter 58a - Appellate Tax Board|Section 5a - Appointment of Employees; Expenditures

Section 5A. Subject to appropriation, the chairman shall appoint five attorneys and may appoint such other employees, including clerks, and make such other expenditures including computer training, as he deems necessary in order to execute efficiently the functions vested in said board.  Any clerk or assistant clerk employed by the board as of July 1, 1996 shall hold office during good behavior, subject, however, to retirement under the provisions of any applicable general or special law relative to retirement systems. A clerk or assistant clerk may be removed by the chairman, upon notice and hearing, for neglect of duty, inability to perform duties, or malfeasance in office, but for no other cause. All clerks or assistant clerks hired after July 1, 1996 shall be deemed employees at will.  All expenditures of the board shall be allowed and paid out of moneys appropriated for the purpose of the board, upon presentation of itemized vouchers therefor, signed by the chairman or a person designated by the board for the purpose.
MA Gen L ch 58a § 8 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title IX - Taxation|Chapter 58a - Appellate Tax Board|Section 8 - Hearings

Section 8. A hearing shall be granted if any party to an appeal so requests, and upon motion of any party to an appeal, or by direction of the board, any appeal may be set down for a hearing. Hearings may be held before less than a majority of the members of the board and the chairman may assign members to hold hearings. Hearings before the board, or any member thereof, shall be open to the public and such hearings and all proceedings shall be conducted in accordance with such rules of practice and procedure as the board may make and promulgate; provided, however, that such rules and amendments thereto shall comply with the filing provisions of section 5 of chapter 30A and such rules and amendments shall not take effect until so filed. The chairman may direct that two or more petitions for abatement of the taxes assessed upon real estate situated in the same general locality of the same town be heard together, irrespective of the identity of the appellants.
MA Gen L ch 58a § 8a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title IX - Taxation|Chapter 58a - Appellate Tax Board|Section 8a - Discovery Procedure

Section 8A. Before the hearing of a petition for the abatement of a tax upon real estate, machinery or other tangible property, the appellant shall permit the appellee personally or by attorneys, experts or other agents, to enter upon such real estate or upon any premises where such personal property is situated and examine and inspect such real estate or personal property, including any property which the appellant claims is exempt from taxation. In case of doubt or uncertainty as to the identity of the property, the appellant shall point out to the appellee the property to which the appeal relates. In the event the appellant refuses to permit the appellee to inspect said property, the board may dismiss the appeal. Sections 61 to 70, inclusive, of chapter 231 shall apply to all appeals before the board except those conducted under the informal procedure provided by section 7A or under the small claims procedure provided by section 7B of this chapter. At least 30 days prior to the hearing of a petition for the abatement of a tax, upon a motion filed by either party and granted by the board, or by direction of the board, the appellant and appellee shall exchange appraisal reports concerning the property.  In any pending appeal where jurisdiction is established, the board, with the consent of all parties, may in its discretion employ alternative dispute resolution techniques including, without limitation, mediation and arbitration. Said alternative dispute resolution techniques shall be conducted upon such terms and conditions as are established by the parties with the approval of the board.
MA Gen L ch 58a § 9 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title IX - Taxation|Chapter 58a - Appellate Tax Board|Section 9 - Service of Process

Section 9. The mailing by first class mail, postage prepaid, to the address of any appellant as given on the petition upon appeal, or to the address of his attorney or agent of record, if any, or to the usual place of business of the commissioner or of the board of assessors, or its agent or attorney of record, shall be deemed sufficient service of any pleading, motion, order, notice or process so served in respect to proceedings before the board. The board may order that further notice or notice by other means be given in any case.
MA Gen L ch 58a § 10 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title IX - Taxation|Chapter 58a - Appellate Tax Board|Section 10 - Recording of Proceedings; Electronic Transcription; Costs; Waiver of Appeal

Section 10. At the request of any party made before any evidence is offered, or by direction of the board, the board shall order that all proceedings in a pending appeal be officially recorded. The board shall employ transcription methods including, without limitation, electronic transcription equipment, for the purpose of recording or reporting proceedings before the board. The board may contract for the reporting of such proceedings at the expense of the commonwealth in the first instance, but shall collect the cost thereof from the persons requesting that the proceedings be recorded. In such contract the board may provide that one or more copies of the transcript be supplied to the board without cost to the commonwealth, and may fix the terms and conditions upon which transcripts will be supplied to other persons and agencies by the official recorder. No proceedings shall be recorded or transcribed officially until an amount equal to the cost thereof, as estimated by the clerk, shall have been deposited with him at such times and in such manner as may be provided by the rules of the board. Any excess deposit over the actual cost shall be returned to the depositor by the clerk. If no party requests that the proceedings be reported, all parties shall be deemed to have waived all rights of appeal to appeals court or the supreme judicial court upon questions as to the admission or exclusion of evidence, or as to whether a finding was warranted by the evidence. The right of appeal upon questions of law raised by the pleadings or by an agreed statement of facts or shown by the report of the board shall not be deemed to be waived. For its own information only, the board may, subject to appropriation, have stenographic notes of hearings taken and may have transcripts thereof prepared in proceedings which are not officially reported at the request of a party.
MA Gen L ch 58a § 11 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title IX - Taxation|Chapter 58a - Appellate Tax Board|Section 11 - Oaths; Witnesses; Depositions

Section 11. Any member of the board, or any employee of the board designated in writing for the purpose by the chairman, may administer oaths, and any member of the board may summon and examine witnesses and require, by subpoena signed by the member, the production of all returns, books, papers, documents, correspondence and other evidence, pertinent to the matter under inquiry, at any designated place of hearing, and may require the taking of a deposition before any person competent to administer oaths, either within or without the commonwealth. In the case of a deposition, the testimony shall be reduced to writing by the person taking the deposition or under his direction and shall then be subscribed by the deponent.  Either party may summon witnesses or may require the production of papers in the same manner in which witnesses may be summoned and papers may be required to be produced for the purpose of trials in the superior courts of the commonwealth. Any witness summoned or whose deposition is taken shall receive the same fees and mileage as witnesses in said courts.
MA Gen L ch 58a § 12 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title IX - Taxation|Chapter 58a - Appellate Tax Board|Section 12 - Costs; Witness Fees; Service of Process

Section 12. Witness fees and expenses of service of process may be taxed as costs against the unsuccessful party to the appeal, in the discretion of the board. In the event that the commonwealth, or any official thereof, is the unsuccessful party to an appeal, the costs shall be paid from the state treasury upon certificate of a member of the board in such form as the board may prescribe by regulation. In the event that a subdivision of the commonwealth, or any official thereof, is the unsuccessful party to an appeal, the costs shall be paid from the treasury of such subdivision by the treasurer thereof upon the certificate of a member of the board in such form as the board may prescribe by regulation. In the event that costs are taxed against an unsuccessful taxpayer, a member of the board shall certify the amount of the same and the costs may be recovered in an action of contract by the state treasurer in the case of a tax assessed by the commissioner, or by the treasurer of the subdivision of the commonwealth in the case of a tax assessed by the subdivision.
MA Gen L ch 58a § 12a (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title IX - Taxation|Chapter 58a - Appellate Tax Board|Section 12a - Costs; Appeal

Section 12A. If the owner of a parcel of real estate files an appeal of the assessed value of said parcel with the board for either of the next two fiscal years after a fiscal year for which the board has determined the fair cash value of said parcel and if the assessed value is greater than the fair cash value as determined by the board, the burden shall be upon the appellee to prove that the assessed value was warranted and upon failure of the appellee to do so, the board may, in its discretion, tax as costs against the appellee, in addition to witness fees and expenses of service of process, the whole or any part of the reasonable expense of the taxpayer incurred in the preparation, entry and trial of his appeal. Should the board find that the assessed value was warranted, then it may tax such costs of the appellee against the appellant. Such costs shall be certified and paid as provided in section 12.
MA Gen L ch 58a § 12b (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title IX - Taxation|Chapter 58a - Appellate Tax Board|Section 12b - Evidence of Fair Cash Valuation or Classification of Property; Admissibility

Section 12B. At any hearing relative to the assessed fair cash valuation or classification of property, evidence as to the fair cash valuation or classification of property at which assessors have assessed other property of a comparable nature or class shall be admissible.
MA Gen L ch 58a § 12c (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title IX - Taxation|Chapter 58a - Appellate Tax Board|Section 12c - Appeals; Reports of Assessment Ratios; Admissibility in Evidence; Abatement

Section 12C. In any appeal relative to the assessed valuation of property, the reports of the ratios which assessments in the city or town bear to the fair cash value of each class of property therein and the ratio which the total assessed value bears to the total fair cash value therein as determined by the commissioner's report made pursuant to sections 10 and 10C of chapter 58 shall be admitted into evidence by the appellate tax board on its own motion and shall be prima facie evidence of the assessment practices of the city or town and the ratios at which property is assessed for the year for which said determination is reported by the commissioner and for each following year until a new determination is reported by said commissioner under said section 10C.  The board may give an abatement, provided the evidence so warrants, on the basis of a disproportionate assessment even though that issue has not been raised by the pleadings.
MA Gen L ch 58a § 12d (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title IX - Taxation|Chapter 58a - Appellate Tax Board|Section 12d - Electric or Gas Company Property; Abatement or Reclassification; Appeals

Section 12D. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, in any appeal under the provisions of sections 64 or 65 of chapter 59 from the refusal of the assessors to abate a tax or reclassify any real or personal property by an electric company or gas company, both as defined in section 1 of chapter 164, upon motion of any party after an appeal has been filed but before decision is rendered concerning real or personal property of an electric or gas company for any fiscal year certified or following certification for classification by the commissioner under the provisions of section 56 of chapter 40 or any determination of the commissioner made pursuant to section 1A of chapter 58, the board shall properly classify all the taxable property at issue as either real or personal and determine the fair cash value of such property, and the tax that should have been paid, notwithstanding the assessors' original classification of such property or the amount or form of the tax bill received and paid; provided, however, that upon a determination that any property should be reclassified, the taxpayer shall be allowed to file an appeal late concerning the valuation of such property, if an appeal has not been previously filed, within 30 days of such determination and order of the board.  In any determination made under this section, the board shall make subsidiary findings of the proper classification of all taxable property at issue, as either real or personal, the fair cash value and the total taxes that should have been paid for each parcel or item of such property, reduced by abatements, if any, for each fiscal year. Upon such determination, the board shall further find the taxes that were paid or owed for such property at issue as it was originally assessed and taxed, and shall then allocate and credit such taxes as part or all of the taxes that should have been paid for such property as properly classified by it, and such allocation shall be binding on the taxpayer and the assessor and shall be deemed to be the original tax assessed and owed, subject only to any appeal taken pursuant to section 13; provided, however, that if the total amount of taxes that should have been paid under the board's de novo determination under this section is equal to or greater than the amounts actually paid or owed, as determined under this section, the appellant shall not be entitled to an abatement, notwithstanding the local assessor's original tax classification of the taxable property or the form of the original bill received and paid. Upon a determination under this section, the existing official records of the city or town shall be amended and corrected, and assessments and tax bills shall be deemed to have been issued in conformance with the board's determination.
MA Gen L ch 58a § 14 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title IX - Taxation|Chapter 58a - Appellate Tax Board|Section 14 - Disproportionate Assessments; Measure of Damages

Section 14. In cases where the board finds that a taxpayer is being assessed disproportionately with respect to other properties within the same city or town, the board shall compute the measure of damages in the following manner:  (1) by computing an equalized tax rate by dividing the total taxes as assessed for that city or town for the year for which the finding was made by the fair cash value of the city or town, which shall in no event be higher than the equalized value as finally reported to the general court pursuant to section 10C of chapter 58 for that city or town in the year next preceding the year for which the finding was made.  (2) by applying the rate as computed in accordance with subsection 1 to the fair cash value of the property and thereby determine the taxes which should have been paid.  (3) by subtracting the amount of taxes which should have been paid from those actually paid or assessed.  In such cases within a city or town that has been certified for classification by the commissioner under the provisions of section 56 of chapter 40 and has implemented such classification system the measure of damages shall be computed on the basis of the tax rate of the class in which the property has been assessed or should have been assessed, as the case may be.
MA Gen L ch 59 § 2 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title IX - Taxation|Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes|Section 2 - Property Subject to Taxation; Exceptions

Section 2. All property, real and personal, situated within the commonwealth, and all personal property of the inhabitants of the commonwealth wherever situated, unless expressly exempt, shall be subject to taxation; provided, however, that the personal property of a person having neither his domicile nor a place of business in this commonwealth, which, upon its being brought or shipped into this commonwealth, is forthwith stored in the original packages in a licensed public storage warehouse, shall, while so stored, be deemed to be in transit and not subject to taxation under this chapter; but no portion of any warehouse which portion is owned or leased by a consignor or consignee of the personal property stored shall be deemed a licensed public storage warehouse.
MA Gen L ch 59 § 2c (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title IX - Taxation|Chapter 59 - Assessment of Local Taxes|Section 2c - Real Estate Sold by Governmental or Exempt Entities; Pro Rata Taxation; Computation; Collection Remedies

Section 2C. Except as provided in section sixty-three A of chapter forty-four, whenever in any fiscal year the United States, the commonwealth, or a county, city or town, or any instrumentality thereof, or any entity whose real estate is exempt under clauses Third, Four, Four A, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth and Thirteenth of section five, shall sell any real estate after January first in any year, the grantee of the real estate shall pay a pro rata amount or amounts, as hereinafter defined, to the city or town where such real estate is located in lieu of taxes that would have been due for the applicable fiscal year under this chapter if the real estate had been so owned on January first of the year of sale and, with respect to a sale between January first and June thirtieth, if the real estate had been so owned on January first of the year of sale and the preceding year. The pro rata amounts payable to the city or town shall be determined as follows:  (a) A portion of a pro forma tax for the fiscal year in which such sale occurred allocable on a pro rata basis to the days remaining in such fiscal year from the date of sale to the end of the fiscal year; and  (b) A pro forma tax for the succeeding fiscal year where the sales take place between January first and June thirtieth of any year.  The pro forma tax shall be computed by applying the tax rate or the appropriate classified tax rate of the city or town for the fiscal year in which such sale occurs, to the sale price after crediting any exemption to which the grantee would have been entitled under this chapter if the real estate had been so owned on January first of the year of sale.  Such amounts shall be paid by the grantee to the collector of the city or town within thirty days of the date of the issuance by said city or town of a notification of such liability to said grantee or the date by which a tax assessed upon real estate would otherwise be payable without interest for the applicable fiscal year, whichever is later. Any amount not paid by said date shall bear interest from said date at the rate per annum provided in section fifty-seven. The collector shall have for the collection of sums assessed under this section all remedies provided by chapter sixty for the collection of taxes upon real estate.  Sums received under this section shall not be subject to section sixty-three of chapter forty-four, but shall be credited to the general fund of the city or town.