Form Pt 05-34 - Property Tax Claim - Charitable Ownership/use Page 14
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16treasurer did not present an accurate financial record there; or (3) SPI held a Board of
Trustees meeting in 2003, its treasurer presented an accurate financial record there, but
that report was not kept by SPI or its treasurer. Any of those alternatives means that SPI
was not operating pursuant to the requirements of its official charter.
Notwithstanding its admitted failure to keep written books and records as required
by Illinois’ General Not For Profit Corporation Act and its own Bylaws, SPI argues that
the sworn testimony of its witness regarding SPI’s financial operations during 2003,
establish, at least, that no private benefit accrued to anyone as a result of SPI’s
organization or its use of the property. Tr. pp. 91-92. This, however, is a tax case, where
testimony alone is generally insufficient to rebut the Department’s factual determinations,
like the ones made in the Department’s denial issued here. See Copilevitz v. Department
of Revenue, 41 Ill. 2d 154, 157-58, 242 N.E.2d 205, 207 (1968) (testimony alone is
insufficient to rebut the Department’s determination that certain transactions were not
exempt from taxation); PPG Industries, Inc. v. Department of Revenue, 328 Ill. App. 3d
st
16, 33, 765 N.E.2d 34, 48 (1
Dist. 2002) (testimony alone is insufficient to rebut the
Department’s determination that certain transactions were subject to Illinois tax).
In a property tax exemption case, the burden is on the claimant to prove its
entitlement to an exemption by clear and conclusive evidence (Gas Research Institute v.
st
Department of Revenue, 154 Ill. App. 3d 430, 434, 507 N.E.2d 141, 144 (1
Dist. 1987)),
and clear and convincing evidence has been defined as “the quantum of proof which
leaves no reasonable doubt in the mind of the fact finder as to the veracity of the
st
proposition in question.” In re Jones, 285 Ill. App. 3d 8, 13, 673 N.E.2d 703, 706 (1
Dist. 1996). Here, Grandin’s testimony on particular subjects like the primary source of
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