Opinion ID: 853967
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Use of Property Wealth Evidence

Text: The Tax Court ordered the State Board to make future real property assessments for purposes of taxation under a system that incorporates an objective reality, St. John III, 690 N.E.2d at 398, although the Tax Court did not set a deadline for compliance with this mandate. The court also ordered the State Board to consider all competent real world evidence presented to the State Board by persons filing appeals [with county boards of review] on or after May 11, 1999, St. John IV, 691 N.E.2d at 1390, and that, in the interim: (1) real property tax assessments shall be made in accordance with the current system, (2) any challenges to real property tax assessments shall be governed by the existing law, and (3) real property tax assessments are not subject to challenge on the ground that the True Tax Value system violates the Indiana Constitution. St. John III, 690 N.E.2d at 398-99. Arguing that it is already in the process of drafting and promulgating a rule to implement a new assessment system under which all properties will be reassessed by March 1, 2001, the State Board asks this Court to permit assessments and appeals to continue under the existing rules until the new system is operative and to reverse the Tax Court's order requiring real world evidence after May 11, 1999. We grant equivalent relief on other grounds. As explained supra, the Property Taxation Clause of the Indiana Constitution does not establish a substantive right to individual assessments evaluating property wealth, nor does it mandate the consideration of independent property wealth evidence in individual tax appeals. Because persons filing tax appeals possess no constitutional entitlement to present what the Tax Court described as competent real world evidence, we reverse the Tax Court's order that the State Board must consider such evidence. The State Board's request that the deadline be vacated is thus moot.