Assessing Zen

Larry Ellison, No. 12 on the Forbes Richest list and CEO of Oracle, asked the San Mateo County's Tax Assessor's office for a tax break for his $200,000,000.00 23 acre Woodside, CA estate.

Ellison modeled the estate after a 16th Century Japanese emperor's country compound. It is replete with a five acre lake, two waterfalls, and two bridges. The lush landscaping includes hundreds of trees.

The county estimated that it would take $167m to duplicate and valued it accordingly. But Ellison begged to differ. He felt that his home value had actually depreciated in the San Francisco Bay market where high end homes continue to go up in value despite the mortgage crisis.

He claimed that his new estate suffered from "significant functional obsolescence." It was over-improved and too costly to maintain. Ellison argued that there is a limited market for high-end homes and an even smaller market for 16th Century Japanese country estates.

The county agreed and sliced his valuation by $100m, bringing the valuation of the $200m estate to $67m. Ellison has saved $3m a year for the past three years that the tax assessment has been reduced. The hit to the local school district alone is $1.4m per year in lost revenue.

Way to consult the Oracle, Ellison! Refuse to fund the education of a poor Silicon Valley upper middle class and/or rich kid! That will help develop better math and science graduates to work at Oracle in the future.

Now, if one of his neighbors would put solar panels in the shadow of his trees, we might have some fun out of this.