Opinion ID: 853199
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Pragmatic Remedy

Text: In State ex rel. State Board of Tax Commissioners v. Marion Superior Court, 271 Ind. 374, 379, 392 N.E.2d 1161, 1166 (1979), we said, The sole relief a court may grant when an administrative decision is found to be unlawful is to vacate the decision and remand the matter to the agency for a further determination. This rule applies likewise to actions by the State Tax Board. We cited, among other authorities, Indiana Code Ann. § 6-1.1-15-8, which in 1992 required remand to the Board for reassessment and further proceedings in accordance with law when a court reverses a Board decision. 271 Ind. at 379, 392 N.E.2d at 1166. We recognize, however, the practical difficulty the Lodge would face in trying to prove charitable facility usage ten years after the fact in accordance with a different standard than the one the Board led the Lodge to originally document. Equity demands a remedy that does not put the taxpayer at such an agency-created disadvantage. We note also that the record does contain some evidence of facility usage. Hearing Officer Hudson testified that he prepared a 1992 usage analysis similar to the 1988 analysis because nothing had changed in the Lodge's operations. His figures bear this out, showing only a small decline in charitable usage percentage (from sixty-seven percent in 1988 to sixty-three percent in 1992). The Board has cited no evidence in this proceeding to justify its rejection of the hearing officer recommendation. We therefore conclude that the available evidence satisfies the predominant use requirement of the statute and entitles the taxpayer to partial exemption. We remand to the Board for a final determination regarding the Lodge's 1992 exemption application, with evidence limited to the hearing officer's recommendation.