concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I concur with the opinion of the court, except that I believe the exemption granted by the statute in question should apply to the assessments of real property for the year 1971.
On the effective date of the new constitution the provisions of the constitution of 1870 ceased to exist and the constitutionality and validity of legislative enactments were thereafter judged in the light of the provisions of the 1970 constitution. On July 1, 1971, the assessments procedure provided for by statute had not been completed. The taxes for the year 1971, payable in 1972, would not, as of that date, have been levied by the various taxing bodies and could not have been extended by the county clerk against the taxable property. After July 1, 1971, the levies of the taxing bodies and the extention of the taxes for the entire year of 1971 would have to be made pursuant to laws and ordinances not inconsistent with the new. constitution. (Ill. Const. (1970), Transition Schedule, sec. 9.) Section 4(a) of article IX of the new constitution provides that taxes upon real property should be levied uniformly by valuation ascertained as the General Assembly shall provide by law. The legislature, in anticipation of this provision, as well as the provision of section 6 of article IX relative to homestead exemptions, provided in the statute in question for a homestead exemption limited to “a $1500 maximum reduction from the value, as equalized or assessed by the Department of Local Government Affairs ***.”
Before the 1971 taxes could be extended, the value of taxable property had to be ascertained, and the law in effect at the time for extending the taxes provided for the homestead exemption reduction from the value as equalized or assessed. I do not .see the problem of retroactivity which seems to bother my colleagues in this application of the exemption statute. It should have been applied to the 1971 assessments prior to extending the taxes against the taxable property for that year.
The assessment date of January 1 of each year referred to by the court was not constitutionally established but is a legislative designation which provides that the real estate shall be assessed in the name of the owner as of January 1 (Ill.Rev.Stat. 1971, ch. 120, par. 508a) at the value as of January 1. (Ill.Rev.Stat. 1971, ch. 120, par. 524.) However, section 30 of the Revenue Act of 1939 (ch. 120, par. 511) provides that the values of the property against which taxes are extended are such assessments as modified or equalized or changed as provided by law. The statute in question provides by law for a change in the assessed valuation by deducting therefrom the homestead exemption.
MR. JUSTICE GOLDENHERSH joins in this partial concurrence and dissent.