Property Tax Alert: Oregon

December 2007

A corporation's inventories of natural gas reserves and retail gas and electric appliances were exempt from Oregon property tax as items of tangible personal property consisting of inventory that is held for sale in the ordinary course of business. The corporation and the Department of Revenue stipulated that the property at issue was tangible personal property within the plain, natural, and ordinary meaning of that term, and the court agreed. The Department, however, argued that the phrase "tangible personal property" used in the statutory provision defining "inventory" excluded the corporation's inventory from exemption. Its argument was based on the premise that the inventory statute applies only to property described in another statutory provision defining "personal property" that, by its terms, does not apply to centrally assessed companies.

Please contact Rash & Associates for more information.