? Dishnet and DTV on local tax books???

[wejones]

I just ran across something that seems strange to me. I live in a small town, with not many people on the tax books, and a fairly small set of plot maps. I was looking through the listing of property in the town, which usually has the name of the property owner, and references this to a lot on the plot map books. What I noticed was that on one page, both DirecTV and Dishnet (actually Echostar) were listed as being property owners, on a plot map R99. I got curious and tried looking up the map, but it doesn't exist. Ie there are only 9 maps, ie 1-9, and I couldn't find any reference to any actual lot owned by either DTV or Echostar. So it seems like for some reason DTV and Echostar seem to be on the tax books even though they don't own any actual property.

Does anyone have any idea of why this should be? Ie the only thing I can figure out is that in exchange for them getting permission to re-broadcast the local TV channels, perhaps they have agreed to pay local towns some fees in the form of a tax bill, or something like that. Seems very strange though. Has anyone heard of anything like this???

I haven't yet asked the local tax collector with respect to why they are on the books, and if they actually send our town any money, but I intend to ask next time I see her. I'm mainly just curious. I know that it took Dishnet a long time to work out agreements with the local channels, and I'm curious if that involved the state or local towns as well.

[yuzhanin]

I did a basic search on Google yesterday, and found a town in Maine with a few DirecTV properties. The property taxes on the properties were in the $10 range, and amazingly, they were delinquent.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by yuzhanin

I did a basic search on Google yesterday, and found a town in Maine with a few DirecTV properties. The property taxes on the properties were in the $10 range, and amazingly, they were delinquent.

Interesting. I still haven't had a chance to ask the tax lady here, but I definately will. I know that they aren't delinquent here, so whatever it is, they must be paying it. But like I said, it's listed as being on a map that doesn't exist, so it's kind of phantom property.
I'm going to try that google search though. That sounds interesting.

EDIT: I just did the Google, and the results were interesting. I found the $10 one you mentioned, and also found the list for Portland, which said that DirecTV was paying them almost $9,000 per year. The local address listed for the property was "VARIOUS". I went to another town's listing, and it indicated that the property was "machinery & equipment".
So somehow, it seems to me like DirecTV, and perhaps Echostar, must be paying local governments so tax or fee, perhaps for their property, receivers and dishes? I'll be interested is seeing whether our town actually is receiving anything from them.

[yuzhanin]

Originally Posted by wejones

EDIT: I just did the Google, and the results were interesting.

Sorry, I didn't prove a link in my previous reply. I didn't save it when I did the search and had no time to look it up when I replied. Here it is, in case if it wasn't the one you found:
Town of Gray, ME

Looks like they were delinquent both in 2005 and 2006. I think they were delinquent in 2005 on a different property as well:
Town of Gray, take two

Originally Posted by wejones

and also found the list for Portland, which said that DirecTV was paying them almost $9,000 per year. The local address listed for the property was "VARIOUS". I went to another town's listing, and it indicated that the property was "machinery & equipment".
So somehow, it seems to me like DirecTV, and perhaps Echostar, must be paying local governments so tax or fee, perhaps for their property, receivers and dishes? I'll be interested is seeing whether our town actually is receiving anything from them.

Now that you mention "machinery & equipment", I think there is something called tangible property tax. It is usually handled similarly to property taxes. tangible property tax "accounts" are even assigned numbers similar to folio/property ID numbers. Maybe this is what it is?

[wejones]

Thanks. Yeah, the Gray Maine thing was the same one I found too. Never heard of the tangible property thing. I don't think we have any such thing in our town, but I'll find out Tuesday. I'm really curious about this.

[yuzhanin]

Originally Posted by wejones

Thanks. Yeah, the Gray Maine thing was the same one I found too. Never heard of the tangible property thing. I don't think we have any such thing in our town, but I'll find out Tuesday. I'm really curious about this.

Ah, here we go:
"Tangible personal property is everything other than real estate that has value by itself. It includes such things as furniture, fixtures, tools, machinery, household appliances, signs, equipment, leasehold improvements, supplies, leased equipment and any other equipment used in a business or to earn income."
Tangible Property FAQ

And here are some examples (click on the DirecTV links, and you will see that they are tangible personal property):

Tax Roll Examples

[wejones]

Originally Posted by yuzhanin

Ah, here we go:
"Tangible personal property is everything other than real estate that has value by itself. It includes such things as furniture, fixtures, tools, machinery, household appliances, signs, equipment, leasehold improvements, supplies, leased equipment and any other equipment used in a business or to earn income."
Tangible Property FAQ

And here are some examples (click on the DirecTV links, and you will see that they are tangible personal property):

Tax Roll Examples

Thanks. Interesting. That sounds sort of like personal property taxes that I've seen in other states, like Illinois. I don't think that we have that here though, but I might be wrong. I think our town gets it's income from real estate taxes, which includes the land, buildings, and other permanent structures like a deck I built around our house, and a couple sheds. To my knowledge, the assessment didn't include satellite dishes, but I might be wrong. I know it didn't include property inside the house, except that which affected the value of the structure itself, ie like two sinks in a bathroom or something permanent like that, so I'm pretty sure that sat receivers whether owned or leased, wouldn't be included, however it's possible that if the dishes outside are leased, that they might fall into this category. Our town only has 3 businesses, 2 summer camps and a gun shop.
However, it may be that DN/DTV might report this to the town directly somehow, with a list of leased receivers or something. Interesting.
I'm almost embarrassed to say, that part of my reason for being interested, is that since my town is so small, I got shamed into volunteering to be a selectman, which is something similar to a town councilman. There are 3 of us who are supposed to be running the town, however we don't know what we're doing. Technically, as one of our duties, we're supposed to be the assessors for the town, but we pay a company to do that. Anyway, I'm going to check with our tax collector, to see if DN/DTV actually sends us any money, and for what.
Thanks for the info.

[yuzhanin]

Originally Posted by wejones

Anyway, I'm going to check with our tax collector, to see if DN/DTV actually sends us any money, and for what.
Thanks for the info.

Make the providers pay property tax on every leased dish they install in the town.