978 ARTICLE 4.

on the proper assessment, or classification, of the property for the year
involved in the appeal; and neither the action, nor the record of the
proceedings, of the judges of the Appeal Tax Court in the premises shall
be held to be, or declared void for any reason whatsoever; provided due
notice of the proceedings shall have been given to the parties entitled by
said judges of the said Appeal Tax Court; and the said State Tax Com-
mission shall assess anew, or classify anew, as the case may be, the prop-
erty forming the subject of the appeal; provided, however, that in the
absence of any affirmative evidence to the contrary, the assessment or
classification appealed from shall be affirmed. The said State Tax Com-
mission shall cause the proceedings and decisions on said appeals to be
entered in the book containing the record of proceedings of the said Com-
mission duly certified by the Commission, and the book to be transmitted
to the judges of the said Appeal Tax Court, which shall be final and con-
clusive in every respect, unless an appeal be taken to the Court of Appeals.
Such record book or copy of the proceedings therein, or any part of such
proceedings, whether in or out of court certified by the judges of the said
Appeal Tax Court, under seal of said city, shall be evidence in any court
in this State, and the State Tax Commission shall have full power, in its
discretion, to require the cost of any appeal or any part thereof to be paid
by all or any of the appellants or by the city, as the circumstances of each
appeal, in its opinion, shall justify. In no case shall any such appeal stay
or suspend the power or duty of the city to levy or collect taxes upon the
property involved in said appeal, but such levy and collection shall pro-
ceed in all respects as if no appeal had been taken. If a final judgment
shall not be given in time to enable the assessors, judges of the Appeal
Tax Court, or other officers to make a new or correct statement of the
assessment, or classification, for the use of the proper authorities in levy-
ing taxes, and if it shall appear from such judgment that said assessment
was unequal or said assessment or classification was illegal or erroneous,
then there shall be audited, allowed and paid to the petitioner by the
Comptroller the amount, with interest thereon from the date of the pay-
ment, in excess of what the tax should have been, as determined by said
judgment, or order of the State Tax Commission, and if on appeal by
the city, the Commission should decide that the valuation and assessment
was lower than it should have been, or that the classification .was erroneous
and at a lower rate than it should have been, or that the property should
be assessed or classified, the Commission shall ascertain and fix the valua-
tion and assessment, or classification, of said property, then the Comp-
troller shall audit and charge the respondent or respondents with the differ-
ence in said valuation, assessment or classification, as fixed by the State
Tax Commission and that fixed by the Appeal Tax Court, which amount
of difference shall be a lien on the property involved in the proceedings.
An appeal may be taken to the Court of Appeals by either the petitioner
or petitioners, or the city, within ten days after the rendition of said
judgment or order by the State Tax Commission, and the record shall be