More private aircraft at regional airfields throughout L.A. County are being assessed under the new program. (photo by Edwin Folven )

Los Angeles County Assessor Jeff Prang has launched a program to prevent billions of dollars in property tax revenue from private airplanes from taking flight.

Prang implemented a new computer platform at the beginning of 2026, enabling the assessor’s office to meticulously track private aircraft that spend time hangered or parked at airfields in L.A. County, and assess owners’ property taxes on the planes. He said the new SitusHawk software has already paid major dividends.

“We put it into effect as of Jan. 1, and to date we have identified about 1,000 aircraft that had previously escaped assessment,” Prang said.

The planes are valued at approximately $3.5 billion in total. Taxes collected on the previously unidentified aircraft are projected to generate roughly $38 million this year in additional revenue to support public services, school districts and the 88 incorporated cities within L.A. County. Prang said the aircraft operate at large and small airfields throughout the county and can be taxed based on a ratio that takes into account the number of days an aircraft is physically located in the county.

“California law has, for decades, required aircraft owners to pay property taxes. It is taxed at the same rate as real property, at 1%. There is a formula about how much time they are habitually kept in Los Angeles, in California or Los Angeles County, or in California airspace, that constitutes that assessment,” Prang said. “We have become aware in recent years that we were missing a lot of aircraft for a variety of reasons. Some aircraft owners were unaware that they were required to pay, to be assessed and paid as tax. Some of them were deliberately taking steps to evade assessment. A lot of them would own them in under a legal entity instead of their name, under an LLC or corporation or some other legal entity, which makes it harder for us to track down some of them. Many people would register them in other states, oftentimes as a deliberate effort to mask them from us.”

Prang declined to name any owners of planes that evaded tax assessment, adding that the Assessor’s Office is responsible for identifying taxable property and assessing its value. The information is then forwarded to the Los Angeles County Treasurer and Tax Collector, which collects taxes from property owners.

A Los Angeles Times report named wealthy businesspeople such as Amazon owner Jeff Bezos, Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke, and the singer Rihanna as high-profile figures whose private planes were among those assessed under the new protocols. Prang said he was unaware the celebrities and business owners were among the aircraft owners until he read the Times report and noted that he is not singling out anyone in particular.

“We were not targeting any particular group of aircraft owners. We were targeting all aircraft owners. We didn’t single one particular group out in how we process. We process all those that have been deficient in their assessments and tax payments,” Prang said. “It is a big recouping, but the real story is we just we got better at our jobs. Technology has really helped us to be more effective. If we had not employed this technology, we probably would have lost a great deal more. So, it is actually a positive thing for the county. It demonstrates how technology can be really an important asset for us.”

Prang said comprehensive information about property tax assessment is available by visiting assessor.lacounty.gov.