Franchise Tax Board in California is like a Gila monster if it thinks it can tax you. It clamps its jaws into you and will not let go.

I parked a personal aircraft at a California airport for a year while I went to a one year civilian graduate school tour of duty ON AIR FORCE ORDERS out of Wright Patterson AFB. The USAF paid out of state tuition costs for me and after getting a Master's I moved on to my next assignment.

I got a total of five letters, the last three threatening wage garnishment AND a lien on the aircraft if I didn't pay them excise tax on the AC, despite each letter being answered by first the base JAG x2, the JAG at Wright-Patt, the JAG at my MAJCOM, and finally the HQ USAF legal people at Bolling citing chapter and verse of the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act informing them that their claim on me was not consistent with federal law and that I owed them nothing and that under no circumstances would the Air Force permit them to garnish my wages and would in fact go to the FAA AND federal court if necessary on my behalf for relief if an attempt was made to put a lien on the aircraft in defiance of the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act.

The whole process took about 18 months, almost twice as long as I had lived in California, and I never did receive any final acknowledgement that From the Franchise Tax board that I did not owe them money. The dunning letters just stopped.

If you get based in CA, I'd really suggest commuting.