Los Angeles County Assessor Jeff Prang has issued $38 million in property tax bills to owners of luxury private jets, targeting high-net-worth individuals including billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, musician Rihanna, and Judy Sheindlin, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The tax enforcement action centers on an annual 1% property tax levied by California on aircraft that are “habitually situated” in the state for the majority of the year. According to records obtained by the Los Angeles Times and verified with aviation data firm JetSpy, the billing list includes high-profile figures across entertainment, sports, and business who failed to pay on time.
High-Profile Tax Bills and Amounts
Among the prominent individuals billed by the Los Angeles County tax collector is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who owes $244,000, according to the Los Angeles Times. Other notable figures on the list include Rams owner Stan Kroenke with a $290,000 bill, musician Rihanna owing $104,000, Nike co-founder Phil Knight facing an $89,000 charge, and South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone billed $95,000.
Most representatives for the celebrity jet owners told the Los Angeles Times they were unaware of the local tax requirement and settled the bills quickly after receiving them. However, records show that some owners, including Bezos and Knight, had not paid by the June 30 deadline.
Judy Sheindlin, widely known as “Judge Judy,” told the Los Angeles Times that she “begrudgingly” paid two bills covering 2022 and 2025 because fighting the charges with legal representation would cost more than the tax itself. “There are plenty of billionaires who say ‘I’m going to get into this because it’s not right,'” Sheindlin told the newspaper. “I’m not going to stress myself if I don’t have to.”
How Tax Officials Tracked Private Jets
Private aircraft are traditionally difficult for local tax assessors to locate because they are frequently stored in private hangars or on private property. To overcome this challenge, Prang’s office utilized ADS-B Out location data, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The satellite-based GPS positioning system broadcasts a plane’s location data once per second. While the Federal Aviation Administration mandates the technology to prevent mid-air collisions, using the data for tax enforcement has sparked privacy debates among lawmakers and aviation advocates who argue it could discourage pilots from utilizing tracking systems.
Aircraft owners are not required to live in California, and their planes do not need to be registered in the state, to be subject to the levy. The tax applies based on physical presence on the ground within the state. Property owners who believe they were billed incorrectly can file an appeal to reduce their assessment based on the exact amount of time their aircraft spent out of state, and tax officials anticipate a high volume of challenges.