ORS 308.505
Definitions for ORS 308.505 to 308.674

Text
Annotations 6

As used in ORS 308.505 (Definitions for ORS 308.505 to 308.674) to 308.674 (Exemption equal to difference between real market value of company’s centrally assessable property and 130 percent of cost of company’s centrally assessable real and tangible personal property):

(1)

“Car” or “railcar” means a vehicle adapted to the rails of a railroad.

(2)

“Centrally assessed” means the assessment of property by the Department of Revenue under ORS 308.505 (Definitions for ORS 308.505 to 308.674) to 308.674 (Exemption equal to difference between real market value of company’s centrally assessable property and 130 percent of cost of company’s centrally assessable real and tangible personal property).

(3)

Intentionally left blank —Ed.

(a)

“Communication” includes telephone communication and data transmission services by whatever means provided.

(b)

“Communication” does not include the services of television and radio stations licensed by the Federal Communications Commission that use primarily earth-based transmitters to broadcast programming via radio waves to television or radio receivers that use indoor or outdoor antennas for reception, including, but not limited to, rabbit ear, whip, loop, Yagi and log-periodic antennas.

(4)

“Data center” means an online service data center or an independent data center.

(5)

“Data transmission services” does not include providing electronic mail accounts or search engine services solely by means of contractual agreement with another company that owns the transmission property if providing such accounts or services are the only data transmission services provided by the company in Oregon.

(6)

“Historical or original cost” means all costs incurred by a company in placing property in service for the property’s intended use by the company, including, but not limited to, purchase price, freight, engineering fees, legal fees, materials, labor, overhead, taxes, interest, entrepreneurial profit and other fees, expenses and charges related to construction or installation.

(7)

“Independent data center” means real and personal property consisting of buildings or structures specifically designed or modified to house networked computers and data and transaction processing equipment and related infrastructure support equipment, including, without limitation, power and cooling equipment, used primarily to provide, as a service to persons other than the company operating the independent data center, data and transaction processing services, outsource information technology services and computer equipment colocation services. For purposes of this subsection, the primary use of property is based on the relative proportion of the original cost of property used for all purposes.

(8)

“Inland water” means all water or waters within the State of Oregon, all interstate rivers touching Oregon and all tidewaters extending to the ocean bars.

(9)

“Interstate” means transit between the State of Oregon and:

(a)

Another state;

(b)

A district, territory or possession of the United States; or

(c)

A foreign country.

(10)

“Large private railcar company” means a private railcar company with personal property with a real market value for the tax year that exceeds $1 million.

(11)

“Locally assessed” means the assessment of property for property tax purposes by the county assessor that is not conducted under ORS 308.505 (Definitions for ORS 308.505 to 308.674) to 308.674 (Exemption equal to difference between real market value of company’s centrally assessable property and 130 percent of cost of company’s centrally assessable real and tangible personal property).

(12)

“Online service data center” means real and personal property consisting of buildings or structures specifically designed or modified to house networked computers and data and transaction processing equipment and related infrastructure support equipment, including, without limitation, power and cooling equipment, used primarily to provide, to a single user, including the user’s affiliates, customers, lessees, vendors and other persons authorized by the user, data and transaction processing services. For purposes of this subsection, the primary use of property is based on the relative proportion of the original cost of property used for all purposes.

(13)

“Person,” “company,” “corporation” or “association” means any person, group of persons, whether organized or unorganized, firm, joint stock company, association, cooperative or mutual organization, people’s utility district, joint operating agency as defined in ORS 262.005 (Definitions for ORS 262.015 to 262.105), syndicate, entity formed to partner or combine public and private interests, partnership or corporation engaged in performing or maintaining any business or service or in selling any commodity as set forth in ORS 308.515 (Department to make annual assessment of designated utilities and companies), whether or not the activity is pursuant to any franchise and whether or not the person or other entity or combination of entities possesses characteristics of limited or unlimited liability.

(14)

“Property”:

(a)

Means all property of any kind, whether real, personal, tangible or intangible, that is used or held by a company as owner, occupant, lessee or otherwise, for the performance or maintenance of a business or service or for the sale of a commodity, as described in ORS 308.515 (Department to make annual assessment of designated utilities and companies);

(b)

Includes, but is not limited to, the lands and buildings, rights of way, roadbed, water powers, vehicles, cars, rolling stock, tracks, office furniture, telephone and transmission lines, poles, wires, conduits, switchboards, machinery, appliances, appurtenances, docks, watercraft irrespective of the place of registry or enrollment, merchandise, inventories, tools, equipment, machinery, franchises and special franchises, work in progress and all other goods or chattels; and

(c)

Does not include items of intangible property that represent:

(A)

Claims on other property, including money at interest, bonds, notes, claims, demands or any other evidence of indebtedness, secured or unsecured; or

(B)

Any shares of stock in corporations, joint stock companies or associations.

(15)

“Property having situs in this state” means all property, real and personal, of a company, owned, leased, used, operated or occupied by it and situated wholly within this state, and, as determined under ORS 308.550 (Valuing property of company operating both within and without state) and 308.640 (Assessment and taxation of personal property of small private railcar companies), the proportion of the movable, transitory or migratory personal property owned, leased, used, operated or occupied by a company, including but not limited to watercraft, aircraft, rolling stock, vehicles and construction equipment, as is used partly within and partly outside of this state.

(16)

“Small private railcar company” means a private railcar company with personal property with a real market value for the tax year that does not exceed $1 million.

(17)

“Transportation” means carrying, conveying or moving passengers or property from one place to another.

(18)

“Vehicle” means any wheeled or tracked device used in transportation under, on or in connection with the physical surface of the earth. [Amended by 1957 c.711 §1; 1969 c.12 §2; 1973 c.102 §1; 1973 c.722 §12; 1977 c.888 §38; 1997 c.154 §31; 2005 c.94 §52; 2009 c.128 §3; 2015 c.23 §9; 2021 c.421 §1]

Source: Section 308.505 — Definitions for ORS 308.505 to 308.674, https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors308.html.

Notes of Decisions

Definitions for “person” and “corporation” include municipal corporations. P.U.D. No. 1 of Snohomish County v. Dept. of Revenue, 17 OTR 290 (2004)

To be user of property taxpayer must have some degree of control, but not necessarily absolute control, over property at issue. Pacificorp Power Marketing v. Dept. of Revenue, 340 Or 204, 131 P3d 725 (2006)

“Data transmission services” as used in this section means services that provide means of any sort to send data regardless of origin between computers or computer-like devices in coded electronic form. Comcast Corporation v. Dept. of Revenue, 356 Or 282, 337 P3d 768 (2014)

Internet services and cable television services that facilitate transmission of electronically coded information between computers or computer-like devices are “data transmission services” as used in this section. Comcast Corporation v. Dept. of Revenue, 356 Or 282, 337 P3d 768 (2014)

Taxing intangible property only of isolated, targeted group of centrally assessed companies, nearly half of which are involved in railroad industry, but not intangible property of other commercial and industrial taxpayers, and absent any equivalent tax on noncentrally assessed companies, constitutes prohibited tax discrimination against railroads under Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act. BNSF Railway Co. v. Dep’t of Revenue, 358 F. Supp. 3d 1129 (D. Or. 2018), aff’d 965 F3d 681 (9th Cir. 2020)

Law Review Citations

26 WLR 711, 734 (1990)

California:	Codes
Colorado:	C.R.S.
Nevada:	NRS
New York:	Laws
Oregon:	OAR, ORS
Texas:	Statutes
World:	Rome Statute, International Dictionary

ORS 308.505 Definitions for ORS 308.505 to 308.674

(1)

(2)

(3)

(a)

(b)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

(a)

(b)

(c)