Riverside County Board OKs Assessor's Airline Tax Proposal

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA - The Board of Supervisors Tuesday authorized Riverside County Assessor-Clerk-Recorder Peter Aldana to partner with assessors statewide to come up with a centralize way to tax airlines, without making carriers file returns in every California county where they may land.

In a 4-0 vote without comment, the board signed off on the Airline Assessment Memorandum of Understanding submitted by Aldana and his staff.

The MOU paves the way for the county to join 18 other counties in returning to a practice in effect until the end of last year.

"The (Airline Assessment) MOU will benefit the commercial aircraft carriers operating in Riverside County by only subjecting the carriers to a single valuation and audit within the state, as has been the case, thus reducing the time and labor necessary to cooperate with the property taxation process," the assessor wrote in a document posted to the board's agenda.

Under a law in effect from Jan. 1, 2006, to Dec. 31, 2016, commercial air carriers were permitted to designate a "lead county assessor" with whom they filed their property taxes, calculating the value of their fleet, ground equipment and other possessions. Tax rates are based on various factors, including revenue per seat mile, net load, arrivals, departures and aircraft ground time, according to the state Board of Equalization.

The prior law permitted the lead county assessor to process the tax filings and distribute the information to counties in which carriers operated, and tax revenue was then shared based on those filings. Any discrepancy was resolved by the lead county assessor, who also handled audits.

The methodology, which was the result of a legal settlement in the early 2000s between the airline industry and several counties, became invalid after Dec. 31 due to a sunset date built into the settlement. Now carriers are required to file tax statements in every county where they have even a marginal presence.

Aldana said that a "cooperative valuation procedure" will reduce assessor workloads, saving money and time.

The MOU will be the first step toward establishing a joint powers authority for assessing air carriers statewide, according to Aldana.

– By City News Service / Patch file photo by Renee Schiavone