I hope they don't tax his colon!
SACRAMENTO -- Los Angeles County officials, realizing that there is no tax collector in outer space, hope to fill the void.
Reaching 22,300 miles above the equator, boldly going where no tax collector has gone before, Los Angeles County Assessor Rick Auerbach is angling to impose property taxes on several satellites.
Though never done before in California, the move is legal, say state and county tax attorneys. That's because, they say, nobody else is taxing the satellites and they are valuable property owned by a Los Angeles County-based company. Worth as much as $100 million each to Hughes Electronics in El Segundo, the satellites could bring in millions of dollars a year in taxes to schools and government. County officials are considering assessing at least eight satellites owned by Hughes.
The company is not happy about the tax collector's attempt to extend his jurisdiction beyond this world.
Brian Paperny, Hughes vice president of taxes, described the company's executives as "very concerned with the concept of a tax being assessed on a stationary object 22,300 miles away from the Earth, which is residing in a fixed parking slot . . . over the equator, far, far away from Los Angeles County and the borders of California."
latimes.com
Auerbach has to be a Dumocrat! |
