California Court of Appeal

In a dispute involving the collection and assessment of taxes, trial court's grant of summary judgment for defendant is affirmed where: 1) defendant has the right to tax plaintiff's possessory interests and landing rights at the San Francisco International Airport; 2) the tax treaty between the United States and the People's Republic of China does not prohibit defendant from taxing plaintiff's possessory interests at the airport, as nothing in the language of the treaty applies to taxation of possessory interests or exempts air transportation enterprises from property taxation; and 3) the tax does not violate the IRS code as it is a property tax not a tax on gross income.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/21/2009
• Published 05/21/2009

Judges

• RIVERA, J.

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker LLP Stephen L. Nelson, Esq., San Francisco, George N. Tompkins, Jr., George N. Tompkins, III, Margaret J. Elliott, for Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Michael P. Murphy, County Counsel, Eugene Whitlock, Deputy County Counsel, for Respondents.