L.A. County Targets Satellites in Out-of-This-World Tax Plan. The LA County assessor wants to impose property taxes on several highly-valued satellites owned by an LA-based corporation. The move is legal, say his tax attorneys: “While the satellites are in Earth orbit, they nonetheless have a situs for tax

purposes in Los Angeles County, California.” Hughes Corp., the satellites’ owner, counters that they were launched from Cape Canaveral or from French Guyana and never pass over California territory. LA Times