Request By:
Mr. Kenneth V. L. Miller
1412 Fincastle Road
Lexington, Kentucky 40502
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By Alex W. Rose, Assistant Attorney General
This is in response to your letter of March 22, 1982, to the Attorney General in which you stated that you have received property tax bills from both Fayette and Rowan Counties for a sailboat which is registered in Fayette County where you reside, but moored at Cave Run Reservoir in Rowan County. You have requested an opinion from this office as to which county is legally entitled to collect the property tax on the sailboat.
KRS 132.220(1) provides, in pertinent part, as follows:
"It shall be the duty of all persons owning or having any interest in any property taxable in this state to list or have listed such property with the property valuation administrator of the county where it is located, between January 1 and March 1 in each year, except as otherwise provided by law." (Emphasis added)
In
Ashland Oil and Refining Company v. Department of Revenue, Ky., 256 S.W.2d 359 (1953), the Kentucky Supreme Court (then Court of Appeals of Kentucky) was concerned with the taxable situs of commercial boats owned by a resident corporation. In interpreting the above-quoted statute the Court, at page 360, stated as follows:
"The 1906 statute was similar to our present KRS 132.220(1), which requires the listing of property in the county 'where it is located'. In construing the statute, this Court has consistently held that in order for tangible personal property to have a taxable situs in a county different from the domicile of its owner, such property must be permanently located at the place where it is sought to be taxed." (Citations omitted) (Emphasis added)
Following the reasoning of the