ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE
Steve Carter Larry J. Stroble
Attorney General Michael Rosiello
Jennifer A. Dunfee
Nandita G. Shepherd Barnes & Thornburg
Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis, Indiana
APPEAL FROM THE INDIANA TAX COURT
The Honorable Thomas G. Fisher, Judge
Cause No. 49T10-9609-TA-109
________________________________________________
March 21, 2003
Finding that legislation amending a state tax deduction statute violated the Property Taxation
Clause of the Indiana Constitution as applied in this case, the Indiana Tax
Court reversed the determination of the State Board of Tax Commissioners, granted the
taxpayer's motion for summary judgment, and remanded to the State Board with instructions
to grant the taxpayer's deduction claim.
Inland Container Corp. v. State Bd.
of Tax Comm'rs, 756 N.E.2d 1109 (Ind. Tax 2001). We reverse.
The facts of the case are undisputed and set out in detail in
the opinion of the Tax Court. Inland Container Corporation ("Inland") manufactures corrugated
cardboard containers. Its mill in Vermilion County, Indiana, disposes of waste materials
by converting them into recycled paper. In 1994, Inland applied for and
was granted a Resource Recovery System ("RRS") property tax deduction,
See footnote
which permitted Inland
to take a deduction for 95% of the assessed value of the Vermillion
County mill.
In 1995, the legislature amended the RRS statute to provide that, effective May
1, 1995, the RRS deduction "would only be available for systems certified for
the 1993 assessment year or earlier, and it phased out the deduction entirely
after the 1997 assessment year."
Id. at 1112. The 1995 amendment
further provided that any RRS "that was assessed in 1994 and deducted for
the first time in 1994" could not receive the deduction for property taxes
due and payable in 1995 or later, but could instead claim a significantly
smaller deduction as "new manufacturing equipment." P.L. 25-1995 § 104(b).
Inland did not pay the additional amount subsequently listed in the supplemental property
tax statement that reflected the changes implemented with the 1995 amendments. Instead,
Inland appealed to the Vermillion County Board of Review, which denied relief.
Inland then unsuccessfully appealed to the State Board of Tax Commissioners and thereafter
filed its original tax appeal with the Indiana Tax Court. On cross
motions for summary judgment, the Tax Court denied the State Board's motion and
granted Inland's motion, concluding:
When the legislature amended the RRS deduction statue in May 1995, it created
a classification based upon the date that a taxpayer first had its RRS
certified by IDEM. This classification, however, was arbitrary because it was not
based on differences "naturally inhering" within the RRS property itself. This classification
allowed some taxpayers with comparable properties to obtain the RRS deduction on a
phased out basis for the 1994 to 1997 assessment years, while other taxpayers,
such as Inland, were altogether denied the RRS deduction for the 1994 assessment
year. Because the classification created an artificial distinction, the assessed value of
Inland's RRS property is not equal or uniform with comparable RRS properties.
Accordingly, the amended RRS statute violates Article 10, § 1 of the Indiana
Constitution as applied to Inland.
756 N.E.2d at 1119 (included citations and footnote omitted).
We granted the State's petition for review.
Inland Container Corp. v. State
Bd. of Tax Comm'rs, 774 N.E.2d 509 (Ind. 2002). When we grant
review of a decision of the Tax Court, we address only the issues
presented in the petition for review. Boehm v. Town of St. John,
675 N.E.2d 318, 320 (Ind. 1996). Unlike our procedure on petitions for
transfer from the Court of Appeals,
See footnote
our grant of review of a Tax
Court case does not automatically vacate the opinion, but instead modifies it pursuant
to our opinion. Id.
The State contends that the 1995 amendment to the RRS statute does not
violate the Property Taxation Clause, Article 10, Section 1, of the Indiana Constitution,
which requires "a uniform and equal rate of property assessment and taxation."
The State primarily argues that tax deductions are not components of either
assessment or rate of taxation. Defending the Tax Court opinion, Inland
does not challenge the authority of the legislature to phase out the RRS
deduction, but asserts that by allowing RRS deductions (albeit gradually phased out) for
systems certified before 1994 and simultaneously denying them to systems first certified in
1994, the amendment violates the Property Taxation Clause's requirement for substantially uniform and
equal rates of property assessment and taxation. Inland argues that, "[w]hether a
taxpayer sought to qualify an RRS for the deduction in a prior year
is simply irrelevant to determining the qualification for the deduction in the current
year." Br. of Appellee at 21.
The alleged disparate treatment in this case arises because the legislature modified tax
policy and provided a transitional phase-out period for the prior policy. Here
the legislature changed tax policy by eliminating the RRS deduction beginning with systems
first certified for the 1994 assessment year and by allowing but gradually phasing
out the deduction for systems previously certified. While properties certified before 1994
are substantially similar to those first certified in 1994, the disparate tax treatment
results from the implementation of the change in tax policy.
Most, if not all, legislative changes in tax policy arguably create interim temporal
disparities. Article 10 contemplates legislative modifications of tax policies and is not
automatically violated whenever tax policies change. While many modifications in tax statutes
may create a point in time after which the same type of property
would be assessed and/or taxed at a different rate than that preceding the
change, this cannot prevent the legislature from enacting changes in tax policy.
Likewise, Article 10 is not violated when changes in a tax deduction statute
create inequalities because comparable property is treated differently during the same year due
to a transitional phase-out of prior deductions.
Despite possible resulting brief interim disparities, there is no constitutional violation simply because
tax policies applicable in one year are different from those applicable in another
year, or because tax legislation may employ a transitional or graduated elimination of
prior tax policies or implementation of new ones.
The amended RRS deduction statute as applied to Inland does not violate the
Property Taxation Clause, Article 10, Section 1, of the Indiana Constitution. We
reverse and remand to the Tax Court for further proceedings consistent with this
opinion.
SHEPARD, C.J., and SULLIVAN, BOEHM, and RUCKER, JJ., concur.