Gerald A. Fisher | Derk W. Beckerleg | Secrest, Wardle, Lynch, Hampton, Truex and Morley | 30903 Northwestern Highway | Farmington Hills, MI 48333 | 248-851-9500

The Michigan Tax Tribunal’s March 21, 2001, Opinion and Judgment and its holding that the 2000 personal property multipliers could be applied retroactively to the subject property for the 1999 tax year violates the mandate of the Michigan Constitution for “uniform taxation of property”. In the instant case, the Petitioner-Appellee failed at trial before the Michigan Tax Tribunal to sustain its legally mandated burden of proof in establishing the true cash value of the subject property for the 1999 tax year. All of the Petitioner-Appellee’s witnesses at trial testified that they did not tour the Petitioner-Appellee’s facilities and did not examine the subject property. In addition, the Petitioner-Appellee did not prepare and file with the Michigan Tax Tribunal a Prehearing Valuation Disclosure/Appraisal of the true cash value of the subject
property for the 1999 tax year (and/or any other tax year for that matter). Despite the fact that none of the Petitioner-Appellee’s witnesses were able to testify at Trial as to their opinion of the specific true cash value of the subject property for the 1999 tax year, and also despite the fact that the Petitioner-Appellee did not file a Prehearing Valuation Disclosure/Appraisal valuing the subject property for the 1999 tax year, the Michigan Tax Tribunal incredulously still managed to find that the Petitioner-Appellee carried its burden of proof as a result of the BDO study that resulted in the new multipliers (which did not even become officially effective until December 31, 1999 for the 2000 tax year).

Respondent appeals as of right from the Tax Tribunal’s (Tribunal) opinion and judgment in favor of petitioner, holding that the personal property multipliers effective for tax year 2000 could be used to determine the true cash value of the subject property for tax year 1999. We affirm.

This case arises out of the Petitioner-Appellee Valassis Communication’s appeal of the true cash values, assessed values and taxable values for the 1999 tax year of certain personal property owned by the Petitioner-Appellee in the City of Livonia, Michigan. Specifically, the Respondent-Appellant City of Livonia is appealing to this Court the Michigan
Tax Tribunal’s March 21, 2001, Opinion and Judgment in which the Michigan Tax Tribunal held that the new personal property multipliers established by the Michigan State Tax Commission
for the 2000 tax year and subsequent tax years applied retroactively to the Petitioner-Appellee’s personal property for the 1999 tax year.