R.I. Gen. Laws § 44-5-12.1 — Assessment of tangible personal property

(a) All tangible personal property subject to taxation shall be assessed for taxation
based on the original purchase price (new or used) including all costs such as freight
and installation. Assets will be classified and depreciated as defined in this section.
(b) The following classification and depreciation table shall be used in determining the
assessed value of tangible personal property.
State of Rhode Island Tangible Property Classification
Class I
Class II
Class III
Class of Assets
Short Life
Mid-Life
Long Life
Age
1-5 yrs
6-12 yrs
13+ yrs
1
95
95
95
2
80
90
90
3
60
80
85
4
30
70
80
5
20
60
75
6
20
50
70
7
20
40
65
8
20
30
60
9
20
30
55
10
20
30
50
11
20
30
45
12
20
30
40
13
20
30
35
14
20
30
30
15+
20
30
30
Assets Shall Not be Trended
(c) Assets shall be classified on an annual basis by the Rhode Island Association of Assessing
Officers’ Personal Property Committee based on the following table:
 INDUSTRY GROUP IN YEARS
CLASS
 Agriculture machinery and equipment
II
 Aircraft and all helicopters
II
 Amusement and theme parks
II
 Apparel and fabricated textile manufacturing
II
 Automobile repair shops
II
 Bakeries and confectionery production
II
 Barber and beauty shops
II
 Billboards
III
 Brewery equipment not used directly in manufacturing
II
 Cable television, headend facilities:
II
Microwave systems
II
Program origination
II
Service and test
II
Subscriber connection and distribution
II
 Canneries and frozen food production
II
 Cement processing
III
 Chemical and allied production
II
 Clay products processing
III
 Cold storage and ice-making equipment
III
 Cold storage warehouse equipment
II
 Computers, personal computers (PC), laptops, tablets, cellphones,
 mainframe/servers, peripherals, keyboard, mouse
I
 Condiments, processing
II
 Construction equipment, general construction, backhoes,
 forklifts, loaders, cranes, unregistered vehicles
II
 Dairy products processing
II
 Data handling equipment, except computers
II
printers, copiers, bridges, routers and gateways
II
 Distilling
II
 Electrical equipment not used in manufacturing
II
 Electronic equipment
II
 Fabricated metal products/special tools
II
 Fishing equipment, excluding boats and barges, lines, nets
I
 Food and beverage production
II
 Fur processing
II
 Gas distribution, total distribution equipment
III
 Glass and glass products/special tools
II
 Grain and grain mill products processing
III
 Gypsum products
III
 Hand tools
II
 Hospital furnishings and equipment
II
 Hotel and motel furnishings and equipment
II
 Jewelry products and pens
II
 Knitwear and knit products, ex, work uniforms
I
 Laundry equipment
II
 Leather and leather products
II
 Logging, timber cutting
II
 Marine construction
II
 Meatpacking
II
 Medical and dental supply production
II
 Metalworking machinery processing
II
 Mining and quarrying
II
 Motion picture and television production
II
 Motor vehicle and parts/special tools
II
 Office furniture and equipment
II
 Optical lenses and instrument processing
II
 Paints and varnishes
I
 Petroleum refining
III
pipeline transportation
III
 Plastics manufacturing
I/II
 Plastic products processing/special tools
II
 Primary metals production, nonferrous and foundry products
III
special tools
III
 Primary steel mill products
III
 Printing and publishing
II
 Professional and scientific instruments
II
 Radio and television, broadcasting
II
 Railroad transportation equipment
II
locomotive
II
 Recreation and amusement
II
 Retail trades, fixtures and equipment
II
 Residential furniture
II
 Restaurant and bar equipment
II
 Restaurant equipment, fast foods
II
 Rubber products processing/special tools
II
 Sawmills, permanent/portable
II
 Service establishments
II
 Ship and boat building equipment/special tools
II
 Soft drink processing and bottling
II
 Stone products processing
III
 Telecommunications, local and interstate
II
analog switching
II
circuit, digital, analog, optic
II
information/origination equipment
I/II
smart phones
I
metallic cable
III
fiber cable, poles, conduit
III
all other equipment
II
 Telecommunications, cellular
analog/digital switching
II
radio frequency channel and control
II
power equipment
II
antennae
II
towers
III
transmission equipment
II
cellular phones
I
 Textile products, including finishing and dyeing
II
yarn, thread and woven fabrics
II
 Theater equipment
II
 Utilities/power production
III
generation, transmission, or distribution equipment
III
 Waste reduction and resource recovery
II
 Water transportation
III
vessels, barges and tugs
III
 Water utilities
III
 Wharves, docks and piers
III
 Wholesale trade fixtures and equipment
II
 Wood products and furniture manufacturing
II
(d) Any industry, group, or asset not enumerated in subsection (c) of this section, shall
be categorized as class II.