Opinion ID: 853576
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Objecting to the Tax Levy

Text: The State Board points to two administrative remedies that it contends must be pursued before the taxpayers may bring suit. First, pursuant to Indiana Code § 6-1.1-17-5(b), Ten (10) or more taxpayers may object to a budget, tax rate, or tax levy of a political subdivision . . . by filing an objection petition with the proper officers of the political subdivision not more than seven (7) days after the hearing. Under Indiana Code § 6-1.1-17-3, a political subdivision is required to hold a public hearing after it has formulated its estimated budget. If an objection petition is subsequently filed, then the political subdivision must, along with its budget, adopt a finding regarding the petition. [9] This provision appears in the general property tax statutes. It is not, in our view, an administrative remedy required to be exhausted before a taxpayer may challenge an unlawfully collected tax. Theoretically, each property's valuation and every amount budgeted affects the levy of each political subdivision. The effect of a requirement that each taxpayer who wishes to challenge, for example, the assessment of his property, must object to the budget or levy would be to cause a large volume of essentially pro forma objections to no practical purpose. This could not have been the intent of the legislature. The tax code otherwise allows petitions for reassessment of real property. See Ind.Code § 6-1.1-4-5 (1998). In addition, the State Board has the discretion to revise an assessment of all or a portion of the property located in this state [i]n order to maintain a just and equitable valuation of real property. Id. § 6-1.1-4-9. There is no comparable provision for the property owner who wishes to challenge the assessment of the HCI levy, and even if a property owner challenges the levy with nine other taxpayers, the formula for calculating the HCI tax levy is statutorily prescribed, and therefore the State Board cannot alter it.