Facts
The community of heirs [A.] , deceased, consisting of [B.] , [C.] , [D.] , [E.] , and [F.] , filed an administrative court appeal against the decision of the Administrative Court of the Canton of Graubünden of July 6, 2004. The subject of the proceedings was the real estate capital gains tax, which had been determined based on the sale of a building plot in [G.] to [H.] for a price of CHF 1,170,000.--.
In 1992, the tax was determined at CHF 69,708.--, based on a sale price of CHF 1,170,000.--. After the buyer had not paid the full purchase price and the zoning plan of the municipality provided for a partial dezonation of the property, the contracting parties agreed in 1996 on a total purchase price of CHF 560,000.--.
The cantonal tax administration reduced the real estate capital gains tax to CHF 35,838.-- after the community of heirs had filed a request for reconsideration. In 1999, the plot was completely dezonated, and the community of heirs repurchased the property from [H.] .
The community of heirs filed another request for reconsideration, with which they requested the refund of the real estate capital gains tax of CHF 35,838.--. The Administrative Court of the Canton of Graubünden dismissed the appeal, and the community of heirs filed an administrative court appeal with the Federal Court.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the administrative court appeal as a constitutional complaint and reviewed the decision of the Administrative Court from the perspective of arbitrariness.
The appellants raised several objections to the facts, which were however rejected by the Federal Court. The court found that the contracting parties had determined the purchase price in the comparison before the Mediation…