Outer Harbor Dock & Wharf Co. v. County of Los Angeles

The action was brought to compel the defendant to refund taxes assessed and collected on a wharf and two warehouses constructed by plaintiff on certain lands at San Pedro, owned by the state of California, and leased to the plaintiff. The case, in some general respects, is similar to that by the same plaintiff against the city of Los Angeles ([Cal. App.], 193 Pac. 137 ), and we shall not repéat the facts therein set forth. The only contention of appellant herein is that said improvements are exempt from taxation by reason of the fact that, being attached to the land, they are in contemplation of law a part of the land, and, therefore, in the same" category as the land itself, which is not taxable, since it belongs to the state. In San Francisco v. McGinn, 67 Cal. 110 , [ 7 Pac. 187 ], the question, though, is directly met and unequivocally decided contrary to appellant’s claim. Therein a certain school lot in the city of San Francisco, which had been dedicated for school purposes forever (and therefore incapable of private ownership) was, pursuant to a special statute, leased to McGinn for a period of fifty years. The lease contained no provision relating to the construction of…