370 Mass. 36 | Mass. | 1976
Under G. L. c. 59, § 5, Eighteenth, as amended through St. 1965, c. 620, § 2, the following property is exempted from taxation: “Any portion of the estates of persons who by reason of age, infirmity and poverty are in the judgment of the assessors unable to contribute fully toward the public charges.” The taxpayers applied for the exemption and the assessors denied the application. On the taxpayers’ appeal, the Appellate Tax Board ruled that the taxpayers were entitled to the exemption and granted an abatement of tax. We hold that the board had no jurisdiction over the case and order the taxpayers’ appeal dismissed.
The exemption in question is based on hardship, as are the exemptions in G. L. c. 59, § 5, Seventeenth and Twenty-Second. Opinion of the Justices, 324 Mass. 724, 732 (1949).
The decision of the Appellate Tax Board is reversed and the case is remanded to the board. The taxpayers’ appeal is to be dismissed.
So ordered.