Posted on 04/12/2008 1:30:23 PM PDT by BenLurkin
MOJAVE - Businesses at the Mojave Air and Space Port are receiving notices for a tax on their facilities for which they previously had not been billed. Kern County is stepping up its collection of possessory interest taxes, evaluating which businesses at the airport qualify and calculating the value of those businesses.
The possessory interest tax applies when a private party is given exclusive use of a publicly owned property for private benefit.
Because the Mojave Air and Space Port is government-owned - by the East Kern Airport District - and the hangars and other facilities are leased for the exclusive use of its tenants, those facilities fall under the possessory interest category.
Other examples of such taxes are campgrounds, ski resorts and grazing rights on public lands.
"This is an assessment we have been assessing throughout Kern County," said county Assessor Jim Fitch.
Kern County hasn't been aggressive in collecting these taxes in the past, but now is searching for additional revenues, airport General Manager Stu Witt said.
"Kern County has been very lax in collecting this tax," he said.
However, the assessor's office is working with Witt and airport officials to review the current leases and determine which firms will be added to the tax rolls.
"We rely on the government agency to report this information to us," Fitch said. Otherwise, the county has no means of discovering which properties qualify for the possessory interest tax.
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