MINUTES

STATE AND LOCAL TAXATION SECTION COUNCIL

 

Friday, January 31, 2003

12:00 noon

ISBA Chicago Regional Office

20 South Clark, Suite 900

Chicago, Illinois

 

 

 

 

 

I.          Call to Order - 12:00 noon

 

 


James W. Chipman, Chair

John K. Norris, Vice Chair

John G. Locallo, Secretary

Timothy E. Moran, Ex-Officio

Katherine A. Amari

Patrice Ball-Reed

Thomas M. Battista

Adam Bosov

Louise M. Calvert

Stanley T. Cichowski

Mary Ann Connelly

Mark R. Davis

Karen J. Dimond

Thomas A. Jaconetty

Steven Kandelman

Thomas J. McNulty

Martha A. Mills

Julie A. Montgomery

Dan O'Neill

Donald T. Rubin

William J. Seitz

Iris E. Sholder

Rodney C. Slutzky

Jacob M. Steinfink

John B. Truskowski

Hon. Alexander P. White

Mary McDermott, Staff Liaison

Mr. Stanley R. Kaminski, Associate Editor

 

 

 


Excused absence: Mary T. Nicolau

 

II.         Administrative Matters

A.        Approval of minutes from prior meeting- December 13, 2002.

 

The minutes were approved.

 

B.         Roster Review


 

Previous corrections to the roster were noted.

 

C.        Section Count

 

Two section council members were added to the section.

 

III.                                                               Legislation (Calvert (Chair), Cichowski and Seitz)

IV.                                                               

A.        Update on General Assembly legislation.

 

Louise Calvert presented the following bills, which the Section Council voted on.

 

 

Bill Number

Vote

Position

Comments

HB 18

 

Oppose

 

HB 65

 

No position

 

HB 66

 

Oppose

 

HB 67

 

No position

 

HB 108

 

Oppose

 

HB 110

Hand count

No position

 

HB 125

 

No position

 

HB 187

 

Support

 

HB 212

 

No position

 

HB 237

 

Defer

Would like to receive Treasurer's comments on bill

HB 238

 

Oppose

 

HB 241

 

No position

 

HB 243

 

Oppose

 

HB 256

 

No position

 

HB 270

 

No position

 

HB 271

 

No position

 

HB 272

 

No position

 

SB 4

 

No position

 

SB 11

 

No position

 

SB 12

 

No position

 

SB 18

 

No position

Companion to HB 256

SB 46

 

No position

 

SB 68

 

No position

 

SB 72

 

Oppose

 

SB 79

 

No position

 

SB 80

 

No position

Companion to HB 270

 

To view these bills please go to www.isba.org (State & Local Taxation Section Council) (state and local tax links) under Illinois Legislative Information.

 

 

 

B.         Legislation proposals –Mills

 

Regarding the Cook County Treasurer's legislative initiative, Martha Mills stated that she met with the Section Council Treasurer's subcommittee, and they will meet with the CBA subcommittee.  (See below, (VI)(F)(Treasurer's Issues Report).  Mark Davis volunteered to attend this meeting.

 

Chair Jim Chipman said that he will put this on the agenda for the next meeting.

 

IV.                               Newsletter -- Landmeier, Connelly, Kaminski

 

Mary Ann Connelly announced that the 8th issue has been mailed.  The ISBA is in the process of sending the newsletters via e-mail.  Mary Ann stated that we need more articles for the three remaining newsletters for this term.  Those members who have not contributed in the last several years were urged to participate.

 

V.                                Continuing Legal Education

 

No report.


VI.       Standing Subcommittee Reports 

 

A.  PTAB/Cook County Board of Review - Rubin (Chair)  

 

Don Rubin reported that during their subcommittee meeting, they discussed and recommend the following procedural revisions for Full Committee Consideration at the next meeting.

 

1.         Direct exchange of documents for all attorney represented cases, with copies to the PTAB Clearinghouse responsibilities.

 

2.         Exchange of witness lists not later than 14 days prior to hearing.

 

3.         Exchange of all review/rebuttal appraisal reports not later than 21 days prior to the hearing or cannot be introduced or used as basis for oral testimony (exchange of memorandum and stipulations before hearing).

 

4.         Allowance of agreed extensions by the parties without prior PTAB approval with copies to PTAB.

 

5.         Establish a Chicago loop document drop-off location.

 

6.         Establish a better procedure for correcting errors more than 35 days after judgment is entered.

 

7.         Review the current 15-day response rule.

 

8.         Review the current state of continuance rules generally.

 

9.         Review the current state of intervener rules; filing length of time, notice and receipt.

 

10.       Review issues relating to government witnesses to evidence prepared by another employee.

 


Don Rubin also distributed the following case, National City Bank of Michigan/Illinois v. the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board, The Kankakee County Board of Review, and the City of Kankakee, 269 Ill.Dec. 219, 780 N.E.2d 691 (Ill.App. 3 Dist. 2002) (reviewing court is not to re-weigh evidence, reassess credibility of witnesses, or substitute an agency's judgment).

 

B.  Case Law - White (Chair)

 

Judge White discussed the following cases:

 

Colgate-Palmolive Company, Inc. & Subsidiaries v. Glen L. Bower, Director of the Illinois Department of Revenue (01 L 50195) (Apportionment formula and the Illinois Income Tax Act).

 

Matthew A. Davis v. Illinois Department of Revenue and Glen L. Bower of the Illinois Department of Revenue (99 L 51063) (Illinois Retailer's Occupation Tax Penalty)

 

Carpenter Technology Corporation v. Glen L. Bower, Director of the Illinois Department of Revenue (02 L 50787) (Mixed question of law and fact and standard of review; definition of investment company related to wholly owned subsidiaries, unitary business group).

                                                                       

Carl Groesbeck v. Glen Bower, Director, Illinois Department of Revenue (00 L 12082) (Adequate remedy under the Illinois Telecommunications Excise Tax Act).

 

Scott D. Radinksky and Darlenys Radinsky v. Denneth Zehnder as Director of the Illinois Department of Revenue and Judy Barr Topinka as Treasurer of the State of Illinois (96 L 51192) (Portion of definition of Compensation as defined by 304(a)(2)(B)(iii) violates Due Process Clause and Commerce Clause).

 

Sunguard Planning Solutions v. Glen L. Bower, as Director of the Illinois Department of Revenue and Judy Barr Topinka as Treasurer of the State of Illinois (99 L 50577) (Exemptions pursuant to the Illinois Use Tax Act)

 

The full text of these decisions can be found on our web site under recent decisions.

 

 

           C.  Membership - Battista (Chair)

 

No report.       

 


           D.  Unauthorized practice of law - Norris (Chair)

 

After John Norris' presentation, the section council voted to submit evidence to the ISBA unauthorized practice of law task force.

 

E.  Exemption Streamlining - Davis (Chair)

 

Judge White announced that next month's subcommittee meeting will discuss the future dialogue between the new governor's administration and the new Department of Revenue.

                                   

F.  Treasurer's Issues - Seitz (Chair)

 

Bill Seitz stated that the subcommittee discussed the following two issues:

 

1.         The legislative initiative of the Cook County Treasurer regarding (a) take notices change of format and (b) penalties against default buyers at time of sale.

 

2.         Updating the 2003 Scavenger Sale List.

 

G.  Strategic Planning - Moran (Chair)

 

Tim Moran reported that the seminar, would be one day instead of two, and would consist of separate and distinct morning and afternoon sessions.  The morning session would be multitasking; combining and discussing various subjects, including various non-property state and local taxation issues. The target group would be general practitioners and real estate practitioners.  Box lunches would be served with a question and answer session, hopefully including some elected officials (i.e. Board of Review Members, supervisor of assessments), to discuss topics of interest.  The afternoon session would address the current issues post the 2003 legislation.   The audience would be composed of practitioner's in this field.  They also would be encouraged to attend the luncheon and interact.

 

H.  Website Development - Connelly (Chair)

 

Mary Ann requested that if you are aware of a recent case please advise her so that it can be placed on our web site.  Judge White and Stan Cichowski discussed the potential posting of Rule 23 cases and downstate circuit court cases on the web site.

 

VII.                              Liaison Reports

 


A.   Administrative Code Recodification - White (Chair), Montgomery, Calvert

 

Judge White stated that by the next meeting he would contact the new administration to determine status of the Administrative Code Recodification.

 

B.   Civil Practice Section Council Liaison - Davis

 

No report.

 

C.   Local Government Liaison - Nicolau

 

No report.

 

D.   ISBA Bar News - Norris

 

No report.

 

E.   Attorney General Opinions - O'Neill

 

No new opinions.

 

VIII.                             Old Business

 

A.   TIF Update - White 

 

Judge White said that the latest TIF newsletter discusses the issues that occur at the termination of a TIF.  There is also an up coming annual workshop in Rockford discussing such issues.

 

B.  Status of PTAB Appeals (Bosch and Lurie Cases) - Seitz

 

No report.

 

IX.       New Business

           

A. Chicago Licensing Provisions - Kaminski

 

Stanley Kaminski and Julie Montgomery had a lively discussion regarding City of Chicago Licensing Provisions, tax debt, final assessments and refunds.

 

B.  VTS Interest Rulings


Rod Slutzky discussed VTS Interest Rulings and discussions with Judge Raymond Jagielski.

 

X.        Future Meetings

 

Jim Chipman announced that the next meeting is tentatively scheduled for Friday, March 14 at the ISBA headquarters in the Chicago office.

 

XI.       Informational Items

 

XII.      Adjournment

 

The meeting adjourned.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

John G. Locallo

Secretary