Facts
Franz Baselgia purchased a residential house in Ilanz in 1949 for 150,000 francs, invested 20,000 francs in renovations, and resold it in 1963 for 200,000 francs. The municipality of Ilanz taxed the real estate gain based on the difference between the selling price and the average tax value of the last three assessment periods, increased by 10%, in accordance with Art. 12 of the Municipal Tax Act (GStG). This resulted in a taxable gain of 74,900 francs, while the actual gain calculated by the cantonal tax authorities was only 7,370 francs. Baselgia contested this taxation before the cantonal authorities, who rejected his appeal. He then filed a public law appeal with the SCC.Considerations
The SCC considers that the regulation of Art. 12 GStG, which uses the average amount of the tax value of the last three assessment periods instead of the actual acquisition costs, violates the principle of equality under Art. 4 Cst. Indeed, this calculation method leads to the taxation of purely fictitious gains, without any connection to the economic reality, and treats taxpayers unequally according to the tax value of their…