9 canonical passages across 8 cases, quoted by 35 opinions in total. These passages cluster together because the same opinions keep quoting them side by side — they state parts of one doctrine. The anchor passage is from Esgar Corp. v. Commissioner.
| # | Case | Flag | Canonical passage | Citers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Esgar Corp. v. Commissioner Anchor | green | “the highest and best use inquiry is one of objective probabilities.” | 6 |
| 2 | United States v. 69.1 Acres Of Land | green | “an asserted highest and best use differs from current use, the use must be reasonably probable and have real market value.” | 5 |
| 3 | Palmer Ranch Holdings Ltd v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Service | green | “to determine a property's highest and best reasonably probable use, the court focuses on 'the highest and most profitable use for which the property is adaptable and needed or likely to be needed in the reasonably near future.” | 4 |
| 4 | Boltar, L.L.C., Joseph Calabria, Jr., Tax Matters Partner v. Commissioner | green | “concept 'is an element in the determination of fair market value, . . . it does not eliminate the requirement that a hypothetical willing buyer would purchase the subject property for the indicated value.” | 4 |
| 5 | TOT Property Holdings, LLC v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue | green | “where, as here, the parties proposed different uses, we consider 'if there is too high a chance that the property will not achieve the proposed use in the near future,' in which case 'the use is too risky to qualify.” | 4 |
| 6 | Comm'r | green | “each assumption, whether large or small, carries with it 'some risk of error.” | 3 |
| 7 | Comm'r | green | “when the income approach is used, the court must examine the plausibility of the critical assumptions made by the appraiser.” | 3 |
| 8 | Trout Ranch, LLC v. Comm'r | green | “the theory behind an income approach is that an investor would be willing to pay no more than the present value of a property's anticipated future net income.” | 3 |
| 9 | Wolfsen Land & Cattle Co. v. Commissioner | green | “because no two properties are ever identical, the appraiser must adjust the sale prices of the comparables to account for differences between the properties (e.g., parcel size, location, and physical features) and the terms of the sales (e.g., proximity to valuation date and con…” | 3 |
A red or yellow flag on a member means the underlying case has negative treatment — for those, check the case page before relying on the passage.