DocketNumber: TC 4894.
Judges: HENRY C. BREITHAUPT, Judge.
Filed Date: 7/21/2010
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/6/2016
Taxpayer proposed to build an additional facility at the mill. Taxpayer sought to have this facility included in an enterprise zone so that property tax exemption would be obtained, beginning in the 2004 tax year. See generally ORS chapter 285C. The application of the taxpayer was approved. Construction of the improvement, referred to in this order as the exempt property or as the formerly exempt property, was begun in 2004 and completed in 2005. The application of taxpayer stated that the exempt property was neither an addition to nor modification of an existing building. (Def's 2d Supplemental Br in Supp of Def's Mot for Partial Summ J, Exs L-1 to L-3.) *Page 3 The application also stated that the exempt property did not involve reconditioning, refurbishment, upgrading, or retrofitting of other property. (Id.) The nonexempt property and the exempt property are included in the same property tax account.
A condition of retaining exempt status for the exempt property was the maintenance of certain employment levels throughout the exemption period. Taxpayer was unable to achieve this goal for the 2006 tax year and so notified the county. (Aff of Assessor at 3.) In accordance with ORS 285C.240(6), taxpayer made a tax payment in respect of the exempt property. (Id.)
For the 2007 tax year, taxpayer may also have failed to achieve required employment levels, and the status of the exempt property as exempt was revoked by the county. (Id.) The 2007 tax year is not included in this proceeding. For purposes of these motions, it is assumed that the revocation of exempt status was valid. In accordance with ORS 285C.240, the county assessed taxes in respect of the exempt property for the 2004 and 2005 tax years.
Taxpayer asserts that, assuming the revocation of exempt status was proper, the additional tax computed pursuant to ORS 285C.175 and assessed under ORS285C.240 was improperly computed. Taxpayer argues the correct computation must include a review and potential change to the real market value (RMV), maximum assessed value (MAV), and assessed value (AV) for the nonexempt property as well as for the exempt property for all years involved in the calculation of additional tax due.
The department and county defend the computation of the additional tax computed under ORS 285C.175 and assessed pursuant to ORS 285C.240. They maintain that no revision of the RMV, MAV, or AV for the nonexempt property is permitted. They have, however, taken the position that taxpayer may now challenge whether the RMV, MAV, and AV of the formerly *Page 4 exempt property were properly computed.2
Taxpayer and the department separated on the question of whether, in determining the additional tax due under ORS 285C.240, there must be a reconsideration of the RMV, MAV, and AV determined in the past for the nonexempt property. The time period for challenge to those amounts under any other statutes had expired at the time taxpayer began this challenge.
The department accepts Flavorland, but views it as only requiring consideration of the sum of the MAV determinations for each of the properties in a tax account when it becomes necessary to determine the lesser of that aggregate MAV and the aggregate RMV determinations for the account. It argues, however, that the MAV determinations and RMV determinations are to be made individually for each property in the account and then aggregated. Both aggregations are done, in the view of the department, for purposes of applying Article
A comparison of the arguments of the parties demonstrates that the application of the Flavorland decision to determinations under ORS 285C.175 is a major point that separates them.
Flavorland was a case in which a tax account contained two properties, land and an improvement to the land.
RMV MAV Land $691,130 $ 421,785 *Page 6 Improvement $2,080,030 $3,029,2693 Total $2,771,160 $ 3,451,054Id. at 566; see also Flavorland Foods v. Washington CountyAssessor,
The taxpayer in Flavorland argued that the MAV for the land in the account had to be applied separately in determining which was the lesser of the MAV or the RMV of the land.
In Flavorland, the department argued that an aggregate number for MAV was to be calculated for the account and that aggregate number ($3,451,054), composed of the sum of separately calculated MAVs for land and improvement, was then to be compared with the aggregate RMV for the properties in the account ($2,771,160).See id. at 566. The lesser of the two composite numbers would determine whether the requirements of Measure 50 (that AV is never to exceed RMV) had been satisfied. See id.; see also
ORS 308.146(2). However, if Measure 50 was satisfied on that aggregate comparison, it would not be a violation of Measure 50 if the AV for any particular property in the account was based on an RMV that exceeded the separately determined MAV for that property.
The holding of Flavorland is that Measure 50 protections, embodied in the rule that AV is the lesser of RMV or MAV for "each unit of property," are to be applied on a property tax *Page 7
account level, using an aggregate of the separately computed MAV and RMV numbers for each property in the account. Id. at 575. Nothing in Flavorland suggests that properties are to be "combined" in the process of determining the MAV or RMV numbers for the account so as to require revaluation of all property when the valuation of any property may be done. In fact, inFlavorland, the court specifically noted the separately determined values for each of the assets in the account.
Flavorland is fully consistent with the position that RMV and MAV of each asset in an account are determined separately, but the Measure 50 comparison of RMV and MAV is done by aggregating such determinations. Id. at 567-78. In Flavorland, the parties agreed on the value of the land and improvements in all years. Indeed, the parties in Flavorland agreed on the MAV numbers for the separate assets in the account. Seeid. at 566. The only issue in the case was whether the Measure 50 protections were applied on an asset by asset basis or on the basis of the combined numbers for all assets in the account. Seeid. at 567.
Importantly for this case, Flavorland did not involve a property tax account containing some previously exempt and some previously nonexempt property. Rather, the case involved a property tax account in which land and improvements were both taxable in all relevant years and had separate RMV and MAV values determined in all relevant years. See id. at 566. Flavorland did not involve any exemption, partial exemption, or special assessment program, or the rules for calculation of tax due upon the termination of an exemption, partial exemption, or special assessment. Finally,Flavorland did not involve a multiple-property account where RMV, MAV, and AV for one property had been determined in an earlier year, and such values for another property were subject to review in a later year. *Page 8
In short, Flavorland does not speak to most of the aspects of this case.5 The only teaching of Flavorland that is applicable to this taxpayer relates to an issue not before this court, at least at this stage and on these motions. That issue is whether, for any given tax year, the aggregate MAV for all property in the tax account is greater or less than the aggregate RMV for the same properties.
The court is of the opinion that, taking into account the apparent concession of the department as to the lack of finality to the earlier determinations of the county assessor of the AV of the previously exempt property, the constitutional and statutory provisions should be read to provide the following methodology in the computation of tax to be imposed on disqualification of property from exempt status, in the case of an account with historically nonexempt as well as exempt property:
*Page 91. The historically nonexempt property remains unaffected, except to the extent that a taxpayer may be permitted under other statutes to challenge the property tax computations for the year of disqualification or an earlier year. Absent any such statute, no increase or decrease in value or tax occurs. The settled expectations of taxpayers and governments are met.
2. For the historically exempt property, from the year of exemption forward, a determination of RMV, MAV, and AV is made for the disqualified asset for each year. MAV is determined using the rules of ORS 308.153 for the year the property was added to the account and pursuant to ORS 308.146 for years thereafter. The AV for each year is the basis for computation of the tax that would have been due if the exemption had not been granted. This, of course, could be the same as the amount that the assessor calculates and notes on the roll under ORS 285C.175. The aggregate of these amounts for the years when exemption had been granted is then assessed pursuant to ORS 285C.240.
3. The amount determined under point 2 above will not be more than would have been paid if the property had been taxable in the first place because, under ORS 285C.175, a calculation implicitly subject to Measure 50 limits is done.6
Although not at issue in this motion, the court notes that separately from any such tax "recapture" calculation and assessment under the enterprise zone statutes, there would be a need to calculate the MAV for the year that the formerly exempt property ceases to be exempt. The constitution and statutes specify how this computation of MAV is to be done. It is to be determined by multiplying the RMV of the disqualified property by the so called "changed property ratio" for the year the exemption terminates.See ORS 308.146(3)(e).7 This number is then added to the MAV of any other property not affected by the disqualification. ORS 308.156(5).8 *Page 10
Taxpayer argues that in determining the additional tax due under ORS 285C.240, the provisions of ORS 308.142, ORS 308.146, ORS 308.156, independently or together, require recalculation of the RMV, MAV, and AV for all property in a tax account for the years during which a portion of the property had the benefit of the exemption. Taxpayer's argument would mean that values that have been determined, that have resulted in tax payment, and that are beyond the relevant time limitations on appeal are nonetheless open for reconsideration.
Nothing in the language of ORS 308.142, ORS 308.146, or ORS 308.156 supports the contention of the taxpayer. Those are statutes directed at the computation of MAV for all assets in a tax account and the comparison of that value with the RMV for the same assets. Like Flavorland, the statutes specify what assets are to be taken into account. That does not answer the question of how the assets are accounted for, and particularly, whether settled values for some assets are to be reopened. Taxpayer argues that these statutes, none of which call into question or allow challenge to normally determined RMV amounts, nonetheless justify setting aside the already determined RMV for the nonexempt property in the account and the MAV and AV numbers derived from that RMV. Taxpayer appears to argue that Measure 50 requires such a reading.
In the adoption of Measure 50, the public is deemed to have been aware of the general property tax system affected by that referred measure. See Martin v. City of Tigard,
The system has also been characterized by limited time periods within which both taxpayers and governments may challenge the annually determined roll values for property and other values that are a function of such roll values. Certain statutes, such as ORS 305.288 and ORS 306.115, provide limited retrospective relief to taxpayers who believe they have been improperly treated and who have not availed themselves of challenges in the year of assessment or other adverse government action. Likewise, assessors may recover from certain errors made in the assessment process under the "omitted property" and "error correction" provisions of ORS 311.205 to 311.234.
Apart from such explicit statutory provisions or current appeal, roll values and tax obligations are fixed. The court sees nothing in the language of Measure 50 or the statutes implementing Measure 50 that change that basic and critically important feature of the property tax regime in Oregon. Most importantly, nothing in the Measure 50 provisions touching on disqualification of property from exemption or in the implementing statutes, or in the provisions of ORS chapter 285C suggest in any way that a taxpayer may let challenges to value determinations for nonexempt property pass and yet be able to raise them on the occasion of the disqualification of other previously exempt property in an account.
All of the protections of Measure 50 can be achieved without such special, and textually unsupported, retrospective challenge. Taxes on nonexempt property will, in all cases, either have been determined consistently with Measure 50, or the taxpayer will have had a remedy by due course of law in the year when any Measure 50 failure occurred under statutes such as *Page 12 ORS 306.115.9 In addition, any tax due under ORS 285C.240 in respect of the previously exempt property, however and whenever determined, must, under Measure 50, not exceed what would have been due, subject to Measure 50 limitations, if the property had not been treated as exempt. Even with separate consideration of the assets that are in the one tax account, all protections of Measure 50 will have been afforded. Nothing more is needed or required.
IT IS ORDERED that Defendant Department of Revenue's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment is granted; and
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiff's Cross-Motion for Partial Summary Judgment is denied.
Dated this ___ day of July, 2010.
THIS DOCUMENT WAS SIGNED BY JUDGE HENRY C. BREITHAUPT ONJULY 21, 201, AND FILED THE SAME DAY. THIS IS A PUBLISHEDDOCUMENT.
The RMV protection promised by Measure 50 is found in ORS 308.156(5). That language contemplates testing aggregate RMV against the aggregate MAV determined under subsection 5.See ORS 308.156(5). In all cases, such determinations are for the transition year and do not address prior years or tax calculations for prior years.