Opinion ID: 2085567
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: analysis

Text: The Illinois property tax scheme is grounded in article IX, section 4, of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, which provides in pertinent part that real estate taxes shall be levied uniformly by valuation ascertained as the General Assembly shall provide by law. Ill. Const. 1970, art. IX, § 4(a). Uniformity requires equality in the burden of taxation. Kankakee County Board of Review v. Property Tax Appeal Board, 131 Ill.2d 1, 20, 136 Ill.Dec. 76, 544 N.E.2d 762 (1989). This, in turn, requires equality of taxation in proportion to the value of the property taxed. Apex Motor Fuel Co. v. Barrett, 20 Ill.2d 395, 401, 169 N.E.2d 769 (1960). Thus, taxing officials may not value the same kinds of properties within the same taxing boundary at different proportions of their true value. Kankakee County Board of Review, 131 Ill.2d at 20, 136 Ill.Dec. 76, 544 N.E.2d 762. The party objecting to an assessment on lack of uniformity grounds bears the burden of proving the disparity by clear and convincing evidence. Kankakee County Board of Review, 131 Ill.2d at 22, 136 Ill.Dec. 76, 544 N.E.2d 762. Here there can be no question that plaintiffs have established, by clear and convincing evidence, that the uniformity clause of the Illinois Constitution has been violated. The evidence presented by both the board of review and the plaintiffs disclosed that sales-assessment ratios for other Pekin Township properties ranged from 7% to 68%. This astonishing range of assessed values, as a percentage of true values as evidenced by recent sales prices, results directly from Tazewell County's utilization of the mass appraisal valuation method since 1957. At the time of the Pekin Township assessor's 1992 assessments, many Pekin properties had assessed values unrelated to their true fair cash values. Some properties were overvalued, while others were undervalued. The Herget House fell into the latter category, enjoying a sales-assessment ratio of 11.5% at the time the Pekin Township assessor applied the Department of Revenue's 11.7% assessment-sales factor appreciation figure to the Herget House for the 1992 general assessment year. To the extent that Pekin Township's assessed valuations bear little relationship to true fair cash value, they result in the unequal sharing of the collective tax burden and thus violate the Property Tax Code, as well as the Illinois Constitution's uniformity clause. 35 ILCS 200/9-145 (West 1996) (requiring valuations at 33% of fair cash value); Ill. Const.1970, art. IX, § 4(a) (requiring that taxes be leveled uniformly by valu[e]  (emphasis added)). That having been said, it must be noted that the uniformity clause restricts the manner by which Tazewell County may attempt to correct such disparities. The Illinois Constitution's uniformity clause requires not only uniformity in the level of taxation, but also in the basis for achieving the levels. Kankakee County Board of Review, 131 Ill.2d at 20, 136 Ill.Dec. 76, 544 N.E.2d 762. Simply put, Tazewell County must use the same basis for determining assessed valuations for all like properties. Kankakee County Board of Review, 131 Ill.2d at 20, 136 Ill.Dec. 76, 544 N.E.2d 762. A necessary corollary to this most basic of principles is that Tazewell County must likewise apply any attempts to alter the basis for assessing values in a uniform manner. Accordingly, Tazewell County cannot use the recent sales price of the Herget House to calculate the assessed value of plaintiffs' property without doing so for all other like properties. In an attempt to sidestep this precept, the Property Tax Appeal Board argues that the Herget House is a unique historical property without any like properties for purposes of comparison. But even assuming this to be the case, such is immaterial in the instant context. The plaintiffs do not contest the fair cash value ascribed to their property, readily conceding that it is $355,000. Rather, they contend that the Tazewell County board of review has arrived at an assessed valuation of their property on a different basis than that employed for the vast majority of other Pekin Township properties, thus resulting in plaintiffs arbitrarily paying property taxes on a greater percentage of their property's fair cash value than do other property owners. This violates the uniformity clause prohibition against taxing properties at different proportions of their true fair cash value. Apex Motor Fuel Co., 20 Ill.2d at 401, 169 N.E.2d 769. Tazewell County's utilization of the mass appraisal method to calculate Pekin Township assessed valuations for 40 years has resulted in many Pekin properties enjoying sales-assessment ratios below the statutory 33% of fair cash value. These properties thus contribute less than their fair share of the collective tax burden, in conflict with article IX, section 4(a), of the Illinois Constitution. Ill. Const.1970, art. IX, § 4(a); Apex Motor Fuel Co., 20 Ill.2d at 401, 169 N.E.2d 769. Notwithstanding, the Tazewell County board of review may not adjust plaintiffs' assessed valuations to reflect 33% of its true fair cash value without doing so for all like properties. [The] great central and dominant idea of the constitution is uniformity of taxation, and no power exists or should exist in any corporate authority to go counter to this command of the fundamental law. Therefore one person cannot be compelled to pay a greater proportion of taxes, according to the value of his property, than another, and where assessors have disregarded the injunction of the law and made an assessment of property far below its real cash value, their misconduct must also follow the principle of uniformity and their assessments of all persons must be at the same proportional value. (Emphasis added.) People's Gas Light & Coke Co. v. Stuckart, 286 Ill. 164, 173, 121 N.E. 629 (1918). To hold otherwise would sanction assessed valuations on different proportions of like properties in direct contravention of the uniformity clause. Ill. Const.1970, art. IX, § 4(a); Kankakee County Board of Review, 131 Ill.2d at 20, 136 Ill.Dec. 76, 544 N.E.2d 762. Logic and taxation may not be the best of friends ( Sonneborn Brothers v. Cureton, 262 U.S. 506, 522, 43 S.Ct. 643, 648, 67 L.Ed. 1095, 1103 (1923) (McReynolds, J., concurring)), but until such time as Tazewell County systematically ascribes true fair cash value to all like properties, plaintiffs are entitled to the benefits they have accrued under a uniform, though flawed, basis of valuation. The judgment of the appellate court is affirmed. Appellate court judgment affirmed.