It’s not unconstitutional to limit curtilage to one acre when calculating homestead property taxes, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Monday in a Lake County case.
“This is not only a positive outcome for Lake County, but for the state of Indiana as a whole,” said Lake County Assessor LaTonya Spearman in a statement.
A married couple, who own a two-story home on 3.981 acres of land in Crown Point, appealed their 2019 tax assessment after the Lake County Assessor classified one acre as the homestead at 1% and the remaining 2.981 acres as non-residential property with a 3% tax, according to the ruling.
Their home is located in a gated community with a security guard, according to the ruling, with access limited to those who live in the community and their guests. A fence surrounds the entire property, but the homeowners don’t have a fence or tree line around their property, according to the ruling.
The couple petitioned its 2019 assessment to the Lake County Property Tax Assessment Board of Appeals, arguing that the additional 2.981 acres of property is curtilage — or a yard, courtyard or other piece of ground included with a fence surrounding a dwelling house — and should be considered under the 1% tax cap, according to the ruling.
They argued that the one-acre limit on the homestead is unconstitutional because their curtilage is more than one acre, according to court records. The Lake County PTABOA rejected their claims, but the Indiana Board of Tax Review affirmed their argument, according to the ruling.
The tax court suggested a “case-by-case evaluation” for taxpayers with more than one acre of land to appeal their assessments to decide whether or not the extra acreage qualifies as curtilage, according to the ruling.
The Indiana Supreme Court ruled that the taxpayers failed to show how the homestead statute’s one-acre limit is unconstitutional as it was applied to their property.
“We hold that, even if a person’s curtilage could extend beyond one acre for tax purposes, the taxpayers here failed to show their excess property is curtilage and, thus, they failed to carry the burden of providing their constitutional claim,” according to the Indiana Supreme Court ruling.
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The Supreme Court decided to reverse the tax court’s decision and affirm the PTABOA’s determination in favor of the assessor.
The couple’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The assessor’s attorneys argued that lawmakers stated the 1% tax cap could be limited to one acre, according to the ruling.
“We remain committed to working with the Indiana County Assessors Association, Association of Indiana Counties and the Department of Local Government Finance to support legislation that reaffirms and supports the one-acre homestead provision,” Spearman said in the statement.