Who can tax a satellite?

Auerbach insisted that he was not pushing for a tax on the satellites but was simply doing his job and trying to determine whether they should be taxed.

``I'm neutral on the whole thing,'' he said. ``My job is to make sure all property that's taxable gets assessed and I'm going to follow the law. If the law says its not taxable it's not taxable. If it is taxable I will assess it.''

I suppose, as with any racket, whoever has the ability to knock the satellites down or render them inoperable could levy a "tax" on them.