ASSESSMENT OF REAL PROPERTY FOR TAXATION

Authors

Kenneth K. Luce, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

A taxpayer's suit to have the assessment on his real property lowered raises some of the oldest and most troublesome problems in the law of taxation. Invariably both the taxpayer and the government are in position to present convincing evidence and forceful argument regarding the fairness of the assessment. Moreover, to the lawyer the problems of appellate review involved in the taxpayer's suit are exceedingly complex. Except in the case of the public utility, the administrative process usually begins with the fixing of the assessment by the local assessing official. From his decision the taxpayer may in most jurisdictions appeal to a local board of review, and from there possibly to a higher tax tribunal. If the taxpayer is dissatisfied with the result reached in the administrative process, he may ordinarily bring suit in his local trial court, where the valuation placed upon his property will be approved, modified, or rejected, usually after findings by a referee. The trial court is sometimes a state, sometimes a federal, court, and this difference will naturally determine which course the case may take to the United States Supreme Court.

Recommended Citation

Kenneth K. Luce, ASSESSMENT OF REAL PROPERTY FOR TAXATION, 35 Mich. L. Rev. 1217 (1937).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol35/iss8/2