Court Opinion

ID: 9674915
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 04:37:15.922953+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:30.179803
License: Public Domain

VANCE, Justice,
dissenting.
I join in the dissent of Justice Gant and in addition I would reverse the judgment because none of the appellees exhausted the administrative remedies which provide for relief from improper assessments. K.R.S. 133.120. Appellees contend that exhaustion of administrative remedies is not required where the constitutionality of an assessment is questioned. International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. v. Commonwealth, Ky.App., 610 S.W.2d 910 (1980). That case had nothing to do with the method of assessment of value of real property for ad valorem tax purposes. It dealt with one assessment of liability for underpayment or nonpayment of sales tax in a case where it was contended the tax was unconstitutional because no sale was involved. It is distinguishable on the facts and is not authority here.
This court has decided two cases directly on this point. In Kentucky Board of Tax Appeals v. Gess, Ky., 534 S.W.2d 247 (1976) the matter came before the court after the parties had properly exhausted their administrative remedies by appealing to the County Board of Assessment Appeals. In Parrent v. Fannin, Ky., 616 S.W.2d 501 (1981), it was held that the aggrieved taxpayers could not pursue a challenge to a tax assessment without first exhausting their administrative remedies.
Here, as in Parrent, there is no basis for appellees to complain unless their property has been assessed too high. They did not so contend through appeal to the County Board of Assessment Appeals and have offered no proof to that effect in this litigation. They simply claim that the method of assessment used by the P.V.A. would necessarily result in some inequitable assessments without showing that any of them have been adversely affected.
Tax assessment is not an exact or perfect science. Section 172 requires assessment for fair cash value, estimated at the price the property would bring at a voluntary sale. Nobody contends the fair cash value can be perfectly estimated even when the P.V.A. has the records of the sales price of comparable property.
The assessment of real property under Section 172A at its value for agricultural or horticultural use is infinitely more difficult and more imprecise because the sales price of comparable land does not necessarily reflect the agricultural or horticultural value of the land.
The plain fact is that there are fewer and fewer sales of property in which the price is not inflated to some degree by factors other than its value for purely agricultural and horticultural purposes. With good roads and the extension of water, electricity, and other utilities into hitherto-remote rural areas, the actual market value of a very substantial percentage of farm property reflects potential uses other than farming. Cf. discussion in Com., Dept. of Highways v. Siler, Ky., 411 S.W.2d 937, 938-939 (1967). Whenever farm property has a market value, or actually has sold for a price, greater than is justified by its income-producing capacity, then there is at the very least a strong suspicion that the excess reflects factors other than its value for purely agricultural and horticultural purposes. The excess market value reflected by those potential uses is the precise target Const. § 172A intends to eliminate from the taxing process. Kentucky Bd. of Tax Appeals v. Gess, supra at 249.
*691The P.V.A. in this case made appropriate studies of the productivity of various types of land in Fayette County, he divided the county into four geographic areas in which the land was of a similar type; his deputies visited each farm to ascertain that it conformed to the classification given to the area—and the land was assessed generally upon the basis of its value in relation to its productivity.
While this system may not be perfect, I believe it will come closer to the goal of uniformity than any other which I can envision. Certainly no better method has been suggested by appellees. And if any inequity does result from the method used, it is not too much to ask that those who claim to be aggrieved by the procedure demonstrate that they have been adversely affected by the assessment on their property by use of the administrative procedures provided by law.
While it can be argued with logic that the productivity of any given farm is not necessarily the same as an adjacent farm with the same general slope or contour of land, or of another farm a mile down the road— it can be argued with the same logic that different fields on any farm may not have the same fertility, or for that matter, each acre in a field might be more or less fertile than an adjoining acre. These factors do not render unconstitutional a reliance upon general characteristics of land which are a reliable index of value although not absolutely perfect in every case.
Because it is impossible to attain absolute perfection in assessments, I believe procedures which, when uniformily applied, are likely to reach an equitable result should pass constitutional muster and if any taxpayer is aggrieved thereby, he should exhaust administrative remedies available to him before resort is allowed to the courts.