Opinion ID: 1868480
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: A Billboard Permit is Real Property

Text: ¶ 58 We address the issue of billboard permits first. Adams contends that billboard permits are either (1) an interest in real property under Wis. Stat. § 70.03 or (2) intangible personal property and not taxable as personal property under Wis. Stat. § 70.112(1). Either way, Adams concludes, the result is the same: the value of billboard permits cannot be included in the assessment of billboards. In response, the City contends the classification of the permits is immaterial, because the value attributable to the permits is inextricably intertwined with the billboard structures and therefore properly included in the assessments of the billboards. ¶ 59 We conclude that a billboard permit is a right or privilege appertaining to real property and thus falls within the definition of real property in Wis. Stat. § 70.03. A billboard permit is not tangible personal property within the definition of personal property in Wis. Stat. § 70.04. If a billboard permit were to be considered personal property, it would be exempted from property taxation as an intangible by Wis. Stat. § 70.112(1). ¶ 60 Whether the City could include the value of the billboard permits in its personal property tax assessments is a question of statutory interpretation. As always, statutory interpretation begins with the language of the statute. State ex rel. Kalal v. Circuit Court for Dane County, 2004 WI 58, ¶ 45, 271 Wis.2d 633, 681 N.W.2d 110. When the meaning of a statute is plain, the inquiry ordinarily stops. Id. We conclude the statutory scheme established by Wis. Stat. ch. 70 unambiguously precludes billboard permits from being taxed as personal property. ¶ 61 In determining whether a billboard permit can be taxed as personal property, the first question is whether permits are personal property. To answer this question we turn to Wis. Stat. § 70.04, which states: Definition of personal property. The term personal property, as used in chs. 70 to 79, shall include all goods, wares, merchandise, chattels, and effects, of any nature or description, having any real or marketable value, and not included in the term real property, as defined in s. 70.03. (1) Personal property also includes toll bridges; private railroads and bridges; saw logs, timber and lumber, either upon land or afloat; steamboats, ships and other vessels, whether at home or abroad; ferry boats, including the franchise for running the same . . . . Three aspects of § 70.04 demonstrate that a billboard permit, which represents an intangible right to use land in a specific manner, does not fall within the definition of personal property. ¶ 62 First, Wis. Stat. § 70.04 defines personal property by means of a list of general types of property, including goods, wares, merchandise, chattels, and effects, all of which have tangible characteristics and have real or marketable value because of their corporeal existence. By contrast, the value of a billboard permit lies not in the piece of paper qua paper, but in the right to construct a billboard upon designated land, which the paper represents. Applying the canon of ejusdem generis, [15] we interpret § 70.04 to include only tangible personal property, to the exclusion of intangible property such as permits, licenses, most franchises, patents, copyrights, trademarks, and the like. ¶ 63 Second, Wis. Stat. § 70.04(1) corroborates the conclusion that billboard permits do not fall within the definition of personal property. Subsection (1) lists specific examples of personal property. Of the list, only one item is not tangible  a ferry boat franchise. If personal property included permits, licenses, and franchises, the statute would not have listed a ferry boat franchise. To avoid rendering this provision surplusage, we interpret the term personal property (which is subject to property taxation) to exclude intangible property, with the exception of ferry boat franchises. ¶ 64 Third, Wis. Stat. § 70.04 excludes from the definition of personal property anything that falls within the definition of real property in Wis. Stat. § 70.03. In part, § 70.03 defines real property as not only the land itself but . . . all fixtures and rights and privileges appertaining thereto[.] Because a billboard permit confers a right or privilege to erect and operate a billboard on a designated piece of land and because a permit cannot be transferred to a different location, we conclude a billboard permit falls within the definition of real property. [16]