Tax Type
Property Tax
Description
Farm property;Exotic animals
Topic
Property Subject to Tax
Date Issued
01-20-1995
You ask whether exotic animals, such as ostriches, giraffes, camels and monkeys, are considered to be "farm animals' which are exempt from personal property taxation pursuant to § 58.1-3505 of the Code of Virginia. The situation you present involves a taxpayer who raises a number of different species of exotic animals, including ostriches, emus, llamas, camels, wallabies, walleroos, several different species of monkey, a giraffe and other species of animal.
Section 58.1-3505(B) authorizes the governing body of a county to adopt an ordinance exempting in whole or in part, or providing a different tax rate on, certain farm animals enumerated in § 58.1-3505(A)=horses, mules and other kindred animals, cattle, sheep and goats, hogs and poultry. §58.1-3503(A)(1)-(5). Article X, § 6(f) of the Constitution of Virginia (1971) provides that "[e]xemptions of property from taxation ... shall be strictly construed.'
Under the statutory construction principle known as "expressio unius est exclusio alterius',1 the legislature is presumed to have excluded everything not specifically enumerated in § 58.1-3505. See Grigg v. Commonwealth, 224 Va. 356, 364, 297 S.E.2d 799, 803 (1982). Thus, any animal that does not fall within the categories specified in § 58.1-3505(A) does not qualify as a farm animal under the statute.2
A prior opinion of the Attorney General determines that § 58-829.1:1, the predecessor statute to § 58.1-3505, does not include dogs within the meaning of farm animals:
- ogs, however, are not normally considered farm animals, and § 58.1-829.1:1(A) specifies horses, mules, cattle, sheep, goats, hogs and poultry as the only classes of farm animals to be exempted from taxation.1980-1981 VA. ATT'Y GEN. ANN. REP. 164, 165.
Although the determination of whether animals such as ostriches, giraffes, camels and monkeys fall within the exempt categories contained in § 58.1-3505(A) is a factual matter to be decided by the local commissioner of the revenue,3 it is my opinion that "exotic animals' such as giraffes, ostriches, camels and monkeys do not fall within the exempt classifications of farm animals in § 58.1-3505(A).4
1 Expression of one thing means exclusion of another.
2 Section 58.1-3506(A)(21) provides for a separate classification for taxation purposes for wild or exotic animals. "Wild animals' are defined as "any animals which are found in the wild, or in a wild state, within the boundaries of the United States, its territories or possessions.' Id. "Exotic animals' are defined as "any animals which are found in the wild, or in a wild state, and are native to a foreign country.' Id. The fact that the animals in question fall within these definitions is another indication that the General Assembly did not intend them to be included within the meaning of "farm animals' under § 58.1-3505.
3 See, e.g., VA. ATT'Y GEN. ANN. REP.: 1991 at 252; 1989 at 338, 338-39.
4 Exemptions from taxation are to be narrowly construed, and any doubt is to be resolved against allowing the exemption. See VA. CONST. art. X, § (6)(f); see also Commonwealth v. Wellmore Coal, 228 Va. 149, 153-54, 320 S.E.2d 509, 511 (1984). When, as in § 58.1-3505(A), the statute clearly enumerates the categories of exempt animals, and the animals in question clearly do not fall within those classifications, any doubt is to be resolved against allowing the exemption.
Attorney General's Opinion