Tax Injunction Act Jurisdiction.

Byline: Derek Hawkins

7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: A.F. Moore & Associates, Inc., et al. v. Maria Pappas, Cook County Treasury, et al.

Case No.: 19-1971; 19-1979

Officials: FLAUM, HAMILTON, and BARRETT, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Tax Injunction Act Jurisdiction

The Equal Protection Clause entitles owners of similarly situated property to roughly equal tax treatment. Allegheny Pittsburgh Coal Co. v. Cty. Comm'n, 488 U.S. 336, 34546 (1989). A group of taxpayers asserts that the tax assessor for Cook County violated that guarantee by assessing their properties at the rates mandated by local ordinance while cutting a break to other owners of similarly situated property. The taxpayers pursued a refund in Illinois court, where they remain tied up in litigation after more than a decade. Frustrated, they turned to federal court for relief, arguing that Illinois's procedural rules for challenging property taxes prevent them from proving their federal constitutional claims in state court. The district court disagreed and held that the Tax Injunction Act, 28 U.S.C. 1341, barred their federal suit. The Act strips federal district courts of jurisdiction over challenges to state and local taxes as long as the taxpayer has an adequate forum in state court to raise all...