Facts
The [A. AG] acquired a building right property in [U.] /BE from [H.] in December 1999 for CHF 2,900,000.--. The property had previously been created as a building right in 1974 and belonged to [B. AG] in liquidation of the estate. [A. AG] is also the owner of another building right property in [U.] , on which [D. AG] , a subsidiary of [A. AG] , operates a processing plant.
As part of the general revaluation of properties in the canton of Bern, the tax administration set the official value of the building right property No. xxx with effect from January 1, 1999, at CHF 8,938,100.--. This value was later corrected to CHF 7,596,100.--. In 2003, the tax administration carried out an extraordinary revaluation and set the official value at CHF 5,406,900.--.
[A. AG] lodged an objection against this assessment and requested that the official value be set at 70% of the purchase price of CHF 2,900,000.--. The Tax Appeals Commission of the Canton of Bern set the official value at CHF 3,107,500.--. The Administrative Court of the Canton of Bern overturned this decision and referred the matter back to the tax administration.
The tax administration dismissed the objection, and the Tax Appeals Commission confirmed the original official value of CHF 7,596,100.--. [A. AG] appealed to the Administrative Court, which set the official value at CHF 5,406,900.--.
[A. AG] appealed to the FSCA and requested that the official value be set at a maximum of CHF 2,900,000.--.
Considerations
The FSCA examined the appeal and came to the conclusion that the extraordinary revaluation of March 31, 2003, with an official value of CHF 5,406,900.--, was arbitrary. The tax administration had set the value without adequate justification, and the lower court had not evaluated the…