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2000-2004 General Overview: General Information

2000. TAX COLLECTOR'S DUTIES
"The tax collector shall collect taxes on unsecured property" (Rev. & Tax. Code §2903).

The authority of a board of supervisors is limited to those express and implied powers granted to the board by statutes. Since the Legislature has provided the tax collector a specific duty to collect all of the taxes, the board of supervisors has no authority to transfer this function to any other officers of the county or to any private person or company, except in accordance with provisions of Government Code section 26220.

In lieu of seizure and sale, the law provides a method for assigning delinquent unsecured taxes to a collection agency. Such assignment may be made 90 days after the lien is due and delinquent (Gov. Code §26220(b)). Such assignment requires a four-fifths vote by the board of supervisors and approval by the tax collector.

Government Code section 26220(b)also requires the tax collector to declare that seizure and sale procedures will not be used in collection of the subject lien. Secured roll taxes may not be assigned (Gov. Code §26220(c)).

NOTE: No injunction or writ of mandate or other legal or equitable process shall issue in any action or proceeding in any court against any county, or district, or any officer thereof, to prevent or enjoin the collection of property taxes sought to be collected (Rev. & Tax. Code §4807).

Revenue and Taxation Code section 4807 does not prevent injunctions or restraining orders by bankruptcy or other federal courts, where such actions are permitted by federal rules and case law.

2001. DEFINITION
"Unsecured property" is property on which taxes:

1) Are not a lien on real property sufficient, in the assessor's opinion, to secure payment of the taxes (Rev. & Tax. Code §134);

2) Were secured by real estate on the lien date, which real estate was later acquired by a public agency and the taxes transferred to the unsecured roll pursuant to Revenue and Taxation Code sections 2921.5 or 5090.

Most possessory interests, goods in transit not secured by any lien on real property, improvements assessed pursuant to the provisions of Revenue and Taxation Code section 2188.2, and unsecured property not secured by a lien on any real property, as defined, constitute unsecured property and are subject to assessment on the unsecured roll (Rev. & Tax. Code §§107, 2191.3). Possessory interests may be placed on the secured roll at the discretion of the county board of supervisors, but tax collection is enforced through unsecured measures.

The taxes on possessory interests and on improvements assessed pursuant to Revenue and Taxation Code section 2188.2 constitute a lien against such interests and property. However, if the real property subject to the possessory interests or upon which such improvements are located is not tax-exempt land, the fact of such lien must be indicated on the secured roll where such real property is listed (Rev. & Tax. Code §2190.2).

Leasehold estates in exempt property for the production of gas, petroleum, and other hydrocarbon substances as defined in Revenue and Taxation Code sections 107.2 and 107.3 are subject to assessment on the secured roll as possessory interests. However, for enforcement of the collection of taxes thereon, they are subject to seizure and sale like unsecured property (Rev. & Tax. Code §§107, 2189.5, 2951-2963; Gottstein v. Adams, 202 Cal. 581; also see Picchi v. Montgomery, 261 Cal. App. 2d 246).

2002. TYPES OF UNSECURED ASSESSMENTS
Typical items assessed and collected on the unsecured roll include:

1) Boats, with the exception of those excluded by Revenue and Taxation Code section 228;

2) Airplanes;

3) Improvements on the real estate of others;

4) Business property;

5) Most possessory interests, except those to which a homeowners' exemption applies (M-2011);

6) Escape and supplemental assessments against former owners of real property;

7) Change of ownership penalties imposed on former owners of real property;

8) Special levies against former owners of real property; e.g., weed abatement;

9) Mining rights; and

10) Some fixtures.

2003. PAYMENT LIABILITY
The lien for unsecured taxes is against the assessee. The assessee can be any person owning, claiming, possessing, or controlling the property on the lien date (Rev. & Tax. Code §405). Enforcement is against the property owned by the assessee (Rev. & Tax. Code §§2186, 2191.3).

2004. MISTAKE IN THE NAME OF PROPERTY OWNER
If there is a mistake in the name of an owner or supposed owner of property on the unsecured roll that does not prevent the person from reasonably ascertaining that he/she is the assessee, the error does not invalidate an assessment or a tax sale (Rev. & Tax. Code §613).