Illinois State Bar Association

 

State and Local Taxation Section Council

 

Minutes

 

October 25, 2002

 

PricewaterhouseCoopers, Chicago, Illinois

                                                                                                                                           

 

I.          Call to Order:

           

Chair James W. Chipman convened the meeting of the SALT Section Council at 12:00 P.M. The Secretary recorded the following members in attendance:

 

 


 

James W. Chipman, Chair

John K. Norris, Vice Chair

John G. Locallo, Secretary

Katherine A. Amari

Patrice Ball-Reed

Adam Bosov

Louise M. Calvert

Stanley T. Cichowski

Mary Ann Connelly

Mark R. Davis

Karen J. Dimond

Thomas A. Jaconetty

Steven Kandelman

Stanley R. Kaminski

Allen L. Landmeier

Frederic S. Lane

Lisa A. Marino

Thomas J. McNulty

Martha A. Mills

Julie April Montgomery

Timothy E. Moran

Mary T. Nicolau

Dan O'Neill

Donald T. Rubin

William J. Seitz

Rodney C. Slutzky

Jacob M. Steinfink

 

Mary McDermott, Staff Liaison

 


 

 

Chair James W. Chipman stated that the following member was given an excused absence from the meeting: John B. Truskowski

 

 

 


II.         Guest Speaker: Timothy S. Bramlet, President, Taxpayers' Federation of Illinois gave a very interesting twenty minute speech detailing the relationships and dynamics of state income tax, property tax, state budgets, revenue funding, and the internet.  He discussed the fiscal challenges that will face the incoming governor.

 

III.       Administrative Matters:

 

            A. Approval of the minutes.  The minutes were approved from the prior meeting of September 7, 2002, after some minor changes.

           

            B. Roster Review.  The roster was reviewed for any changes.  Don Rubin and John Norris are now the firm of Rubin & Norris, phone number, 312-263-1360, fax, 312-263-1368.

 

C. Section Counts.  Chair Jim Chipman reported that the State and Local Taxation Section Council membership ranked 22nd out of 38 ISBA section councils.

 

IV.       Legislation: Chair Louise Calvert distributed the Illinois Department of Revenue Office of Legislative Affairs 92nd Illinois General Assembly 2002 Spring Session Public Acts, Revised October 17, 2002.  Louise also stated that there would be a meeting of the legislative subcommittee before the start of the legislative veto session.

 

V.        Newsletter: Mary Ann Connelly stated that the current issue of the newsletter is on the web site.  Mary Ann encouraged the submission of new articles and suggested synopses of recent cases.  Allen L. Landmeier stressed the importance of the articles to section counsel members.  Jim Chipman stated that so far we have published one article per month and he encouraged us to continue to do so for the rest of the year.

 

 

VI.       Standing Subcommittee Reports:

 

            A. PTAB/Cook County Board of Review:

            Don Rubin discussed the recent Bosch, Sears, and Lurie assessment cases.

 

            B. Case Law: Stan Kaminski summarized the following cases: J.I. Aviation v. Illinois Department of Revenue, (1st Division, 4th District)(Sept. 26, 2002).  The case concerned substance over form.

 

C. Membership: No report.

 

D. Unauthorized Practice of Law: John Norris reported that the subcommittee has not met since the last meeting. 

 

E. Exemption Streamlining: – Mark Davis announced that HB 1918 has passed and is now Public Act 92-0658.

 

F. Treasurers Refund Orders – Martha Mills reported that treasurer's office is current with Specific Objection and PTAB orders and is almost current with illegal rate objections.  The treasurer's office is currently working on legislation regarding tax sales and scavenger sales.  The treasurer's office is working on new Specific Objection Orders that will alleviate the resubmitting of orders due to minor changes.

 

 

G. Strategic Planning: Tim Moran stated that it is likely in the near future, all of the newsletters will be electronic.  At the strategic planning meeting, Tim suggested that we get volunteers from our section council to give a short presentation about our section counsel, accompanied with a specific targeted newsletter, to other section counsels at the midyear meeting.  The seminar committee will meet soon.

 

H. Web site Development: Mary Ann Connelly talked about the progress of getting more cases placed on the web site.  She also encouraged input from the section counsel members and requested them to fill out the web site development survey that was mailed out.

 

VII.      Liaison Report:

 

A. Administrative Code Recodification: No report.  Julie-April Montgomery passed out the City of Chicago Business Tax Brochure.

 

B. Civil Practice Section Council Liaison:  No report.

 

            C. Local Government Liaison:  No report.        

 

D. ISBA Bar News: John Norris encouraged everyone to contact Steve Anderson of the ISBA Bar Journal to report any news.

 

            E. Attorney General Opinions:  No report

 

VIII.     Old Business:

 

A. TIF Update: No report.

 

B. Status of PTAB Appeals Sales-Ratio Study Cases: Karen Dimond announced that the appellate court granted the City of Chicago and the Chicago Chamber of Commerce oral arguments, which will be heard at 10:00 on November 12, 2002.

 

IX.       New Business:

 

A.  New HUD RESPA rules.  Mary McDermott reported that the ISBA Real Estate Section Counsel and the Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Association (IRELA) are opposed to these rules.

 

B. SIU School of Law request for authors.  Jim Chipman said to call or write Christina Manuel if you are interested in authoring or giving input to the SIU/ISBA Survey of Illinois Law.

 

C. DOR Practitioners meeting wrap up.  Julie-April Montgomery stated that it was a very interesting meeting.  Among the topics discussed were computers and e-filings for individual returns.  The Department encourages these filings.

 

X.        Future Meetings: Jim Chipman announced that the next meeting would be Friday, December 13th at 9:30 a.m. at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers.

 

XI.       Informational Items: We distributed the ITIA Newsletter on tax increment financing, and materials from the National Conference of State Tax Judges.

 

XII.      Adjournment:

 

            The meeting concluded near the appointed closing hour:

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

John G. Locallo

Secretary