Court Opinion

ID: 9657086
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 20:13:12.053145+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:40.685623
License: Public Domain

T. E. Brennan, J.
(concurring). I concur solely on the ground that in light of the need for stability in local government, there was no clear abuse of discretion by the State Tax Commission in failing to order a full investigation.
I disagree, however, with the proposition that an individual taxpayer, assessed at 50% or less, ought to bear the burden of seeking review on the premise that the assessment exceeds the “weighted average” of all assessments in his community. Since the taxpayer must seek review on or before the second Monday in March (MCLA § 211.30 [Stat Ann 1971 Cum Supp §7.30]), which review is a condition precedent to appeal to the State Tax Commission (MCLA § 211.152 [Stat Ann 1971 Cum Supp § 7.210]), and since the equalization process at the *358county level does not begin until April (MCLA § 211.34 [Stat Ann 1971 Cum Supp § 7.52]), how is the taxpayer to know in March that the April equalization will produce a “weighted average” less than his own level of assessment?
In In re Appeal of General Motors Corporation, 376 Mich 373, we said, “As a practical matter, unequal assessments must be reduced to the average level of assessment if the taxpayer is to have a remedy.”
This may be true as far as it goes. But I would say that, “as a practical matter, unequal assessments must be reduced to a previously ascertained, fixed and published average level of assessment, if the taxpayer is to have a remedy.” Constitution 1963, art 9, § 3, provides, inter alia, “ * * * The legislature shall provide for the determination of true cash value of such property; * * * .” This wording is new. The Convention Comment explains :
“The first part of the second sentence of this section represents a major change, eliminating the present constitutional requirement of assessment at cash value found in Sec. 7, Article X. The present cash value standard is almost universally ignored.
“The important constitutional objective is uniformity of assessment, regardless of the level at which property is commonly assessed. Permitting the legislature to fix the standard offers the possibility of moving to a more realistic level such as the 50 per cent of cash value currently used by the State Tax Commission. On this basis actual uniformity could be achieved and a taxpayer aggrieved by an assessment over the level prescribed by law could obtain relief. This section provides that the standard set by the legislature shall not exceed 50 per cent.” Const 1963, art 9, § 3, MCLA, Convention Comment, p 513.
*359We shall continue to have these thorny problems until the legislature declares a mandatory statewide level of assessment.
T. Gr. Kavanagh, J. concurred with T. E. Brennan, J.
Black, J. did not sit in this case.