TAX NEWS - 2010

LA Tax: OC Man Rallies Homeowners Against State's "Air Tax"

A Huntington Harbour homeowner is encouraging his neighbors to fight back against what he calls an "air tax."

The California State Lands Commission billed 75-year-old Frank Singer $680 for his deck extension that hangs over a waterway behind his house. The annual tax is based on the deck's square footage, the Orange County Register reported:

After some back and forth with the agency, a May 28 letter from the commission's chief attorney laid it out:

"You are being charged rent for the use of state land because your deck extends over your property line and onto state owned property," the letter reads. It says the state lands commission owns the "land" within the 2 main channels in Huntington Harbour, but not the other, smaller waterways in the harbor.

Singer is fine with a tax. His problem is with the amount of the tax.

"How do you put a value on air?" he told the Register. "The proper method would be to determine the value of the air the deck invades, not the value of what invades the air."

Singer has sent out a letter to his neighbors encouraging them to fight the tax, and even withhold payment if necessary.

"You are willing to pay a fair and reasonable fee for a cantilever deck, not a fee as if they own the deck and [are] renting it to you," he said in the letter obtained by the Huntington Homes blog.

Officials have warned that anyone refusing the pay would be in violation of the law and could face charges.