Court Opinion

ID: 9753847
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 19:32:53.992539+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:44.091109
License: Public Domain

*394Dissenting Opinion by
Judge Kramer:
I respectfully dissent. While I am in complete accord with the conclusion of the majority that the mailing of a petition for review of assessment is not the filing of the same, which principle was firmly decided in Walsh v. Tucker, 8 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 181, 302 A. 2d 522 (1973), I cannot agree with the result of the majority for the reason that I believe Section 234 of the Tax Reform Code of 1971 (Code), Act of March 4, 1971, P. L. 6, 72 P.S. §7234, violates the constitutional rights of Niemeyer Oldsmobile, Inc. (Niemeyer) under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Section 234 of the Code, 72 P.S. §7234 reads in pertinent part as follows: “Within sixty days after the date of mailing of notice by the department of the decision on any petition for reassessment filed with it, the person against whom such assessment was made may, by petition, request the Board of Finance and Revenue to review such decision. . . . Every petition for review filed hereunder shall state specifically the reasons on which the petitioner relies. . . .” (Emphasis added.) The record indicates that Niemeyer mailed its petition for review of assessment on the 59th day after the date on which the Board of Review’s decision was mailed to Niemeyer. The petition was received by the Bureau of Taxes for Education on the 61st day, and was forwarded by the Bureau to the Board of Finance and Revenue where it was received on the 63rd day. For the purpose of this dissent, the missing element not found in the record is the date on which Niemeyer received a copy of the decision of the Sales Tax Board of Review. The problem is highlighted if the facts are that Niemeyer received the decision in the mail five days or ten days after the mailing, in which event both Niemeyer’s mailing of its petition and the Board’s ultimate receipt of it were well within *395the 60-day appeal period intended by the Legislature. To zero in on the problem, this writer believes he can take notice of the fact that occasionally, although admittedly rarely, the United States Post Office delivers mail more than 60 days after mailing. If such were the case here, could anyone argue that Niemeyer was precluded from making any appeal for the reason that the postal service did not deliver his mail within the statutory appeal period? I think not.
As proof of the logic of this dissent, I will burden the reader with a quotation of just two short paragraphs taken from the reply brief of the Commonwealth in this case:
“It is of primary importance that the Department of Revenue, Bureau of Taxes for Education, be made aware of the taxpayer’s filing of his Petition for Review, because the enforcement procedures are set in motion by the absence of a filed petition. If no Petition for Review is filed within sixty (60) days from the date of decision, the Department of Revenue may initiate procedures to collect the tax due (72 P.S. §7241(2)). It is submitted that a great deal of confusion would result if the taxpayer were permitted to mail his petition on the 60th day since the petition may be temporarily delayed in the mail, or it may be permanently lost. However, the petition would still be considered to have been timely filed. Therefore, costly time and effort would have been wastefully expended upon the collection of these taxes if at a later time it is proved that the petition was mailed within the 60 day period allowed under the Code.
“Responsibility for filing a timely petition with the proper officials should properly rest on the petitioner. It is not beyond reason to expect the petitioner to take action necessary to insure the proper filing of his petition. (The petitioner and only the petitioner has the ability to properly file his petition. The peti*396tioner may request a return receipt thus having the ability to monitor the postal system. If the petitioner does not receive notice that the petition has been received, he is now in a position to personally deliver and file his petition. However, if mailing date is used as the filing date it is conceivable that a petition could be filed and never received. Accordingly, it is the Commonwealth’s position that requiring the Department to accept a petition as filed on the date of mailing would only impede the orderly administration of the law; whereas, continuing under the Department’s present interpretation does not result in prejudice to the taxpayer.)” What is the sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. If I just substitute Niemeyer for the Commonwealth in the above quotation, I find that the Commonwealth fully supports my argument. If great confusion is thrust on the Commonwealth by virtue of temporary delays in the mail, it is not hard to imagine the great confusion to the citizen who does not know how many days he has to take an appeal. The Commonwealth talks of responsibility on the citizen to timely appeal; but it is also the responsibility on the part of the Commonwealth to make certain that all of its citizens are treated equally in receiving notice of its adjudications so that they have the same time within which to take an appeal.
The obvious legislative purpose of any such direct notice to a citizen is to provide a means by which knowledge and information can be communicated to the party to whom the notice is directed. Issuance of a notice without reception is not notice. Notice mailed is not necessarily notice received. The statutory time given for the doing of an act after the giving of notice should not be reduced by that unknown period of time between which the notice is mailed to its intended recipient and the actual receipt of that notice. We are *397not dealing with implied or constructive notice, or notice by publication, or posting; but rather with actual or direct notice to a known party whose mailing address is part of the record. Such a direct notice is intended to inform the citizen of certain necessary knowledge and information so that he may take advantage of his guaranteed constitutional right to take an appeal. Such a notice must become effective only upon receipt, or at least upon delivery to the mailing address the intended recipient provides for the record. The time period provided for a response to such a notice should not start while the notice document is still in the mail. I believe I am permitted to take judicial notice that a mailing on any given date is very rarely received on the same date, and that mailings to different areas often do not spend the same amount of time in transit. The result is that a citizen who lives five mailing days removed from the mailing party will not receive the same statutory appeal period permitted another citizen who lives closer to the mailing party.
It is stated twice in the Commonwealth’s brief that Niemeyer should have filed his petition for review within the 60 days provided for such filing. Niemeyer could only have had 60 days to file if he received the notice on the very same day it was mailed. There are no facts before us from which we can draw that conclusion.
The Pennsylvania Constitution, Article Y, Section 9, now guarantees the right to take an appeal from an adverse adjudication of an administrative agency. That constitutional provision provides for, in addition to court appeal, “such other rights of appeal as may be provided by law.” From my point of view, once the Legislature grants the right to appeal within a specific period of time, it cannot thereafter inconsistently *398and vaguely reduce that appeal period by providing that the act of mailing controls the number of days during which an appeal may be taken. If the Legislature grants 60 days within which to take an appeal, can it possibly be reduced to some vague lesser time depending upon the speed of mail delivery? I think not. If the Legislature intended some period of time less than 60 days, then it may do so by a clear expression which would result in equal application to every citizen. To permit one citizen 60 days to take an appeal and another 59, and another 58, and another 57, etc., is constitutionally unacceptable.
It seems to this writer that the Department of Revenue itself acknowledges this problem when, by regulation, it permits the appealing party to forward by mail a notice of intention to file a petition for reassessment (Regulation 600.35) or a petition for reassessment (Regulation 600.63), and in both cases treats the petition as having been filed on the date of its postmark. Under the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, there are several instances where this problem is recognized. For instance, in Rule 26(e) we find, “Whenever a party is required or permitted to do an act within a prescribed period after service of a paper upon him and the paper is served by mail, 3 days shall be added to the prescribed period.”
I agree with the Commonwealth’s contention that the legislative intent was to give a citizen desiring to file a petition for review 60 days within which to file such a petition; but that 60-day period must be applied equally to all citizens who desire to file such a petition. Therefore, the 60-day period cannot commence to run until receipt of the notice of the Board’s decision, or at the very least until that point in time when receipt of such notice is made at the address of the recipient as is noted in the record of the case. Cer*399tainly statutory appeal provisions are intended for the protection of the losing party in an adjudication, and secondarily for the Board and its proper procedural matters. I have seriously considered the problem which might confront all administrative agencies and courts if we insist that notice become effective only upon receipt or at the very least delivery to the citizen’s last known address. I have resolved this problem in my mind with the thought that a person’s right of appeal is far more important and precious than any inconvenience which may be thrust upon regulatory agencies or courts by the requirement that registered mail, certified mail or personal service be made. It seems to me that if we maintain a strict method of service on original complaints, answers and other pleadings in a lawsuit, whereby we utilize the services of a sheriff or postal return receipt cards, so as to afford the parties their full statutory procedural rights for the filing of their pleading, then it is not too difficult a task to require this Board to be equally protective. If ordinary mail is to be used in the serving of notice or copies of decisions, then some proof of receipt of that notice should be shown to determine the running of any statutory appeal period. I reiterate that if Niemeyer in this case had received his copy of the decision of the Board on the 61st day after it was mailed, there is no way Niemeyer’s constitutional right to take an appeal could have been protected. Accepting that as a truism, one must accept the fact that there is something wrong constitutionally with an appeal period which runs from the mailing of the notice by the adjudicature. I would dismiss the appeal of the Department of Revenue.