Tax

Anaheim's living wage ordinance applies to any business that receives a city subsidy--that is, a right to receive a rebate of any city tax.  This decision holds that defendant is such a business because it had a right to receive a rebate of certain city taxes if they exceeded the amount needed to repay bonds issued to revitalize the Anaheim… Read More

The county's sale of plaintiff's condo at a tax sale to collect delinquent taxes plaintiff owed.  The sale netted a sum greater than the taxes owed.  The county kept the surplus sale proceeds.  That was a taking of plaintiff's property that violated the Fifth Amendment even though state law allowed the county to keep the surplus.  To determine the scope… Read More

A taxpayer may not pursue a court action for a refund of property taxes without first applying to the local board of equalization for a reduction and then filing an administrative claim for a refund. (Rev. and Tax. Code, §§ 1603, 5097; see Steinhart v. County of Los Angeles (2010) 47 Cal.4th 1298.)  Here, plaintiffs sought to bring a class… Read More

California's requirement that charitable organizations disclose to the attorney general Schedule B to their Form 990 filing with the IRS--a schedule that lists the organization's major donors--violates the First Amendment.  The disclosure causes a major intrusion on the donor's First Amendment right to freedom of association and is not justified by the public interest in preventing fraud or other wrongs… Read More

A private citizen group of taxpayers had taxpayer standing under CCP 526a to sue the District Attorney seeking an injunction to stop his office's confidential informant program, the principal aim of which was to secure confessions from criminal defendants in violation of their constitutional rights.  The suit was brought by taxpayers to enjoin waste of public funds on an illegal… Read More

Plaintiff stated a viable claim for unjust enrichment after it contracted with a property owner to appeal property tax assessments in return for 30% of any resulting refund, but the property was foreclosed upon by defendant before the tax refund came through. Read More

Under the Commerce Clause, the states’ power to impose sales taxes on sellers is limited only by the requirement of a substantial nexus to the taxing state; the seller’s physical presence in the state is no longer required for the imposition of sales tax. Read More

The California Constitution does not restrict the voters’ ability to impose or increase taxes by initiative measures, even though some restrictions do apply to local governments seeking to do the same.   Read More

A tax sale conducted in accordance with California law conclusively establishes that the price obtained at that sale was for reasonably equivalent value, so  the sale cannot be set aside as a fraudulent transfer in bankruptcy.  Read More

Nevada correctly allowed its citizen to sue California's Franchise Tax Board in Nevada state court, since it need not apply California law immunizing the Franchise Tax Board from such suits; but it was wrong to allow its citizen to collect more than $50,000 in damages from California's agency, when Nevada law prohibits damage awards in that amount against Nevada's own… Read More