Public Utility and Common Carrier Property

In a recent case, the Tennessee Court of Appeals held that pipelines shall be treated as personal property for the purposes of ad valorem taxation.¹In response, the legislature amended T.C.A. § 67-5-501(9),²which now classifies certain property associated with utilities and railroads as real property for purposes of the property taxation. Examples include but are not limited to the following: surface, underground or elevated railroads, and railroad structures, substructures and superstructures, tracks and the metal thereon; telephone, broadcast, transmission and telegraph poles, supports, conduits, towers and enclosures for electrical conductors upon, above and underground and pipes and conduits used for wire, cables and lines buried underground; mains, pipes, pipelines and tanks permitted or authorized to be built, laid or placed in, upon, or under any public or private street or place for conducting steam, heat, water, oil, electricity or any property, substance or product capable of transportation or conveyance therein or that is protected thereby.