The ADS-B-based property tax collection effort by the Los Angeles County Assessor could net the city as much as $38 million in taxes, according to the department. As we reported in August, Assessor Jeff Prang said he’d identified about 1,000 aircraft that might be subject to the 1% property tax on aircraft that are considered to be based in the county. That means aircraft with a combined value of $3.8 billion had been deemed taxable by Prang’s office thanks to his analysis of their movements using ADS-B. Many of the aircraft were registered in other states, but by using ADS-B data Prang was able to determine they spent enough time in L.A. County to be assessed the tax. Among those who received tax bills were Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ($244,000), Rihanna ($104,000), and Judge Judy (Judith Sheindlin), along with various other sports, business, and show business celebrities.
When we ran the original story, Prang was among the many commenters and he stressed it was his job to identify taxable assets so the county can levy the appropriate tax. He said he considered ADS-B to be an acceptable tool in identifying those assets in the aviation world. “If the argument is that government should be prohibited from using lawfully available information to identify taxable property that has been concealed or has otherwise escaped assessment, the practical result is to make it easier for people to successfully avoid paying property taxes they legally owe,” Prang wrote. “That is an absurd public-policy outcome.”
AOPA spokesman Jim Coon reiterated his organization’s stance that ADS-B is a flight safety technology and its use to facilitate the collection of fees and taxes could prompt operators to turn off their transponders to avoid those expenses. “And it is even more clear now that rather than tracking and invading one’s privacy by demanding the use of aviation safety technology to collect more money, state and local tax collectors should examine whether existing tax structures and property-tax requirements are fair, efficient, and appropriately designed,” Coon said at the time.
Surprise surprise surprise…
What a great opportunity for AOPA to actually do something as opposed to just commenting on it.
Eh, if the standards for having taxes assessed are easily found this makes sense. Enough people play games with registering aircraft in states they might not have even visited that tax assessors should probably have unannounced hangar access rights along with ATC reports to determine how much someone has their plane near them rather than across the country.
This is also in a specific county where there’s an absurd concentration of larger jets. If this is a concern to you, you’ve can see those tax bills are a mouse fart compared to the operating costs of said jets.
Sounds like another win for fractional programs.
I bet there’s a whiteboard at NetJets trying figure out how the half a jet owned by CA Resident A can never actually be used by Resident A while always having the jet half owned by Delaware Resident B always available for use in CA….
Now we see the real reason for AOPA’s position
Big Brother is watching
This is exactly what I feared would happen when ADS-B was mandated years ago. I was an early adopter for my RV-8 aircraft and I love the system. ADS-B IN has been blessing for me on numerous occasions here in the crowded DFW airspace. But the curse is that government politicians will exploit any means available to raise more taxes. If politicians really want to be fair, then any money collected from ADS-B should be strictly dedicated to use for aviation related purposes. Period.
Judge JUDY??? Oh, the humanity…
“I disagree with the suggestion that federal aviation data collected for public safety purposes should categorically be unavailable to other government agencies with legitimate public purposes.”
As I understand it, the “routine use” exception of the Public Privacy Act of 2020 would beg to differ. It allows for government sharing of data so long as “…the use of such record [is] for a purpose which is compatible with the purpose for which it was collected.”
For example – EZ-Pass is an automatic highway toll system widely used in the Northeast. Its purpose is toll collection. And even though it would be child’s play, the data gathered is NOT used by law enforcement, such as issuing speeding tickets by noting the time it took to travel between toll stations. Now, if a person was suspected of criminal activity then a court order can be used to obtain their EZ-Pass data. But it is not a general surveillance tool.
Similarly, ADS-B is used for safety (collision avoidance) and traffic management. Indeed, the FAA took pains to say the data would only be used for that purpose. “Property Assessment” is not “compatible with the purpose for which it was collected.”
Worse, you are presupposing guilt. Rather than targeting specific scofflaws with court orders you are hoovering up everyone’s data, (indirectly) levying taxes, then requiring people to prove their innocence.
Time to establish data rights for this (ADS-B Out and other current parallel issues in the non-aviation world…Flock, AI learning, doorbells, car manufacturer telemetry, etc).
For stated purpose of install or Court order, free access; for those that want to vacuum up because they can…fee for service. Want to use my ADS-B Out for non-safety use? $2000 annual subscription fee to cover install and ongoing maint/cert.
I was cynical enough to install UAT ADS-B w/anonymous VFR capability…not to hide, because with a 1 Hz geo update if someone wants to find me they can, but to make it less convenient to be misused…and unfortunately my “tinfoil hat” mentality was proven correct along with a guilty (billed) until proven otherwise approach.
For those who say “if doing nothing wrong you have nothing to worry about”, plz see US Constitution, or move someplace “safer” where everyone’s actions are observed/reviewed so the “more equal” among you can decide the outcome…and private flying is a freedom probably not tolerated.
Soapbox yielded.
“if doing nothing wrong you have nothing to worry about”
My rebuttal is always “don’t confuse privacy with secrecy.” And then ask if they close the door when using the bathroom. And if so, why, what are they hiding?
As our eldest Founding Father said “He who would give up ANY personal liberty for for temporary security deserves neither”
“….but by using ADS-B data Prang was able to determine they spent enough time in L.A. County to be assessed the tax. Among those who received tax bills were Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ($244,000), Rihanna ($104,000), and Judge Judy (Judith Sheindlin), along with various other sports, business, and show business celebrities.”
As I and several other commentators questioned is what exactly does determine Mr Prang’s assessment “they spent enough time in LA County”. By his own comments, he has not, in any way precisely defined how he has decided how “they spent enough time in LA County”. I believe he has been purposefully vague in his use of the English language to make sure while the debate goes on, so does the tax collection process. Besides, it’s easy to hate on the “Bezos’s” of the world because we know $244k is nothing but a pimple on his financial landscape. In this way, the average aviation ignorant folks can be rallied by this vague language to go after those “fatcats”, a more recent rallying cry attached to corporate jets lumped into the “Learjet” imagery of high finance and debauchery.
But this is the proverbial “nose of the camel entering into the tent”. Once the camel’s nose is in the tent, the rich has a better idea how to execute the next tax avoidance scheme with the present, vague mechanism in place. However, it’s the perfect time…with this vagueness…for getting into the average GA pilot/owner pocketbook that actually pays over time, the bulk of the taxes. Here is the Monthly Treasury Statement…fiscaldata.treasury,gov…for July 2026. Read it and weep.
USA INCOME for July 2026
Individual Income Taxes Collected….$173 billion dollars
Social Insurance and Retirement…….$139 billion dollars
Corporate Income Taxes………………..$14 BILLION dollars
Excise Taxes………………………………….$10 Billion dollars
Estate and Gift Taxes……………………..$4 Billion dollars
Misc Taxes…………………………………….$3 Billion Dollars
Customs Duties……………………………..$ MINUS 9 Billion Dollars
Total Monthly Deficit………………………$432 Billion Dollars
When you hear the bladder splatter that corporations are paying far more than their fair share…TY Elon for your Bravo Sierra, you can clearly see that is not true. Anyone can access this website to see month for month who pays in and where does this money go. Plus, one can see how bad this cumulative deficit spending is as of July 2026. In a couple of weeks we can see how skewed this income and expense report for August 2026 is. This will give you how bad this kind of income/spending disparity, actually is.
Therefor, ADS-B data is another avenue within our political system’s attempt to stick a finger in the leaking Hoover Dam of deficit spending. With the endless promise this tax on the “fatcats” will go to education. With these fuzzy, feel good promises, we should have the best students on the planet.
Our political leadership, local, nationally, and federally…and I use that word leadership very, very lightly…is out of fiscal control on steroids. Blue or Red in the saddle makes absolutely no difference. One can easily see this over the last 2 decades via the Monthly Treasury Report. Classic example of do what I say, not what I do.