Court Opinion

ID: 9697854
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 19:34:37.981143+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:36.183970
License: Public Domain

LEADBETTER, Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the result reached by the majority. I fully agree with its analysis to the extent it holds that taxing authorities need not justify a difference in tax treatment of different classifications of entities based upon their use of municipal services. However, I do not read Mercadante to impose any such requirement. Rather, I believe that case stands only for the proposition that the taxing authority must articulate some manner in which the classifications it has drawn give rise to a rational basis for a difference in tax rates (unless, as here, such a nexus is self-evident). As the majority notes, “The test of uniformity is whether there is a reasonable distinction and difference between the classes of taxpayers sufficient to justify a different tax treatment.” F.J. Busse, 443 Pa. at 358, 279 A.2d at 19 [emphasis added]. Further, I do not believe Mercadante suggests any change in the well-settled law that the ultimate burden of persuasion remains on the taxpayer challenging the classification, nor suggests that the authority’s stated justification must be the subject of evidence. However, until the authority has proffered some basis for its classification, the taxpayer cannot possibly be expected to disprove the legitimacy of that basis. Conversely, if the authority has no basis at all, as in Mercadante, that fact alone satisfies the taxpayer’s burden.
Accordingly, I would not overrule Mer-cadante, but would simply clarify its holding in this regard.