As someone who loathes airports almost as much as I dread the middle seat, I’m kind of jealous of the ultra-rich who fly around on private jets.
If I ever win the Powerball, I won’t hang out in trendy restaurants or buy fancy cars, but I’ll definitely leave commercial air travel to the proletariat.
So it’s with mixed emotions that I share this delightful and infuriating story by my colleague Rebecca Ellis on people accused of failing to pay taxes on the ultimate, winged status symbol.
Turns out, Los Angeles County assesses a 1% tax on the value of private planes that are “habitually situated” here, regardless of where they’re registered or where their owners claim to live.
The unpaid taxes add up to about $38 million, according to the county assessor’s office. That’s a lot of money to you and me but less than 0.1% of the county’s $50-billion budget.
Who has failed to pay up?
Still, it’s fascinating to see who has failed to pay that 1% and imagine their reasons.
For example, billionaire real estate developer Stan Kroenke, who owns a long list of professional sports franchises including the L.A. Rams and recently agreed to buy the Angels, lists his primary residence in Columbia, Mo.
I was born in Missouri and went to grad school in Columbia: It’s a lovely place in those very, very brief interludes between the sweltering summer and the long, gray winter.
So I’m not shocked that the county assessor says Stan and his jets — two of them — are habitually situated in glorious Southern California. His outstanding tax bill: about $290,000 that could help fund local schools and infrastructure.
A representative for Kroenke did not respond to Ellis’ inquiries about the planes.
Rams owner Stan Kroenke
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Similarly, Jeff Bezos, who founded Amazon in rainy Seattle and now lists his residence on an exclusive private island off the coast of Miami — think Alcatraz for the rich — got hit with a notice that he owed $244,000 in taxes and fees on his plane, another habitual L.A. aircraft.
How to track the planes
Tracking planes is pretty routine: Each one transmits its location, speed and altitude whenever it flies — mostly to avoid collisions. That data also make it easy to figure out where a plane is parked. That’s how the county assessor figured out who is behind on their plane taxes.
The real challenge is figuring out who owns the planes because so many are listed as the property of cryptically named limited liability companies.
Ellis requested a list of the planes with unpaid taxes. It included the tail number, the assessed value of the plane and the name of the LLC that owns it. Then, using data compiled by a company called JetSpy, she tracked down the real owners.
Sometimes, even the scant information she received from the assessor’s office contained clues. A jet with the custom tail number “N1KE” belongs to Nike co-founder Phil Knight. He’s about $89,000 behind in taxes, according to the assessor.
A jet registered to “DORA13” is linked to famed MLB slugger Alex Rodriguez. Dora is ARod spelled backward, Ellis notes, and he wore number 13 for the New York Yankees.
With such big names on the list, you have to wonder: Why do people who obviously have money to burn get behind on such relatively modest (for them) taxes?
Former Major League Baseball player Alex Rodriguez.
(Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press)
Judge Judy pays the ‘numbnuts’
Ellis put that question to the owner of the plane registered to Her Honor, Inc. — Judy Sheindlin, better known as Judge Judy.
Sheindlin, 83, told Ellis the plane is based in Florida and she simply didn’t know she was supposed to pay taxes on it in Los Angeles, where she filmed her TV show.
When she found out, did she pay up?
“Begrudgingly,” she told Ellis over the phone. She considered fighting until she realized paying the tax might be cheaper than paying her lawyers to argue with “these numbnuts” at the county assessor’s office.
“I’m not going to stress myself if I don’t have to,” Sheindlin said.
Sound judgment, Your Honor.
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Commentary and opinion
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Things to do
Today’s recipe
(Rebecca Peloquin/For The Times)
This date, banana and almond “smoothie” may be the answer to “Can I please just have a milkshake every day?” It has a little texture, with half of the smoothie ingredients completely pureed into a smooth mixture, but then the remaining dates and almonds pulsed in so the smoothie is speckled with chewy bits of date and crunchy raw almonds.
Question for you
What is your favorite California song? Email us at [email protected], and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.
John S. says, “[Wang Chung’s] ‘To Live and Die in L.A.’ from the movie with the same title. I grew up in the Bay Area, but I’ve always loved the City of Angels.”
Sue H. says, “‘California’ by Tom Petty.”
Photo of the day
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Games
Here’s today’s mini crossword, plus our other free, daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and jigsaw games.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Jack Dolan, investigative reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
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