Hiland Crude, LLC v. State

Justice Beth Baker delivered the Opinion of the Court.

***44¶ 1 Hiland Crude, LLC, filed a declaratory action in the First Judicial District Court, Lewis and Clark County, challenging the tax classification of its crude oil gathering pipelines in Montana. Beginning in 2013, the Department of Revenue centrally assessed Hiland Crude's property and classified all of its pipeline systems within the State as ***45class nine property. Hiland Crude maintains that its flow and gathering systems are properly classified as class eight property, regardless of whether the property is centrally assessed.…