Court Opinion

ID: 9714564
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:40:31.391669+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:27.122037
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE BRESLIN, dissenting in part: In my view, the Property Tax Appeal Board (PTAB) may dismiss an appeal or impose other appropriate sanctions against a landowner based upon the landowner’s refusal to provide taxing districts access to its property for the purpose of obtaining an appraisal. I dissent from the majority decision to the extent it holds otherwise. An administrative agency may exercise not only powers expressly granted to it under its enabling statute, but also any implied powers which are necessary to assist the agency in carrying out the objectives for which it was created. (See O’Grady v. Cook County Sheriff’s Merit Board (1994), 260 Ill. App. 3d 529, 632 N.E.2d 87.) Neither the Revenue Act of 1939 nor its successor, the Property Tax.Code, gives the PTAB the express authority to compel taxpayers to provide taxing bodies access to the subject property for appraisal purposes. Nonetheless, these statutes must be read to impliedly grant the PTAB the authority to take appropriate sanctioning measures in cases where the taxpayer’s refusal to grant access to its property impairs the taxing body’s ability to develop evidence necessary to prove its case. The legislature created the PTAB to hear appeals from board of review decisions regarding property tax assessments. (35 ILCS 200/ 16 — 160 (West 1994).) The PTAB must render its decision in an appeal based upon equity and the weight of the evidence. (35 ILCS 200/ 16 — 185 (West 1994).) Toward this end, the PTAB is authorized to promulgate rules to ensure that each party has a fair opportunity to present relevant evidence. See 35 ILCS 200/16 — 170, 16 — 180 (West 1994). An interested taxing body has standing to contest the assessed valuation of a property (35 ILCS 200/16 — 160 (West 1994)) and may intervene in appeals brought by dissatisfied taxpayers (86 Ill. Adm. Code § 1910.60 (1994)). In either case, the taxing body must support its position with "substantive, documentary evidence of legal argument.” (86 Ill. Adm. Code §§ 1910.63(b), (d) (1994).) Where an appeal concerns the subject property’s market value, proof of market value may consist of an appraisal as of the assessment date. 86 Ill. Adm. Code § 1910.65(c) (1994). Since taxing bodies appeal or intervene to challenge the accuracy of a property’s assessed valuation, they often seek to conduct their own appraisals to disprove the county assessor’s figures. In the absence of their own appraisals, taxing bodies may be left with little substantive evidence on which to base a meaningful challenge. This is especially so in cases involving large industrial properties, since the market value of such properties often cannot be ascertained from comparable sales or other evidence apart from an appraisal. Under the majority decision, a taxpayer may deny a taxing body access to its property for appraisal purposes and thereby obstruct the taxing body from developing evidence favorable to its position. If taxpayers are permitted to act in this manner, the PTAB will be unable to render decisions based upon equity and the weight of the evidence. Such an outcome would be inconsistent with the objectives sought to be achieved under the Revenue Act of 1939 and the Property Tax Code. Therefore, the only sensible reading of those statutes is that the PTAB has the authority to level appropriate sanctions against a landowner which refuses to grant appraisers access to its property. It may be argued that taxpayers’ privacy rights will be infringed if they are compelled to grant taxing districts access to their property. Privacy rights are not absolute, however, and must be weighed against the rights of taxing districts to exact legislatively mandated taxes based upon accurate property assessments. It seems to me that, in weighing these rights, it is reasonable to subject taxpayers to a limited instruction for appraisal purposes, particularly where it is the taxpayer who puts the value of its property at issue by bringing an appeal. At the very least, if the taxpayer is unwilling to submit to an appraisal, then the taxpayer should forfeit its opportunity to present evidence to the PTAB. This will assure that the PTAB’s decision will be grounded upon equity and the weight of the evidence fairly submitted. For these reasons, I respectfully dissent.