Montgomery Ward & Co. v. State Board of Equalization

272 Cal. App. 2d 728, 78 Cal. Rptr. 373, 1969 Cal. App. LEXIS 2332
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 12, 1969
DocketCiv. 25220
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 272 Cal. App. 2d 728 (Montgomery Ward & Co. v. State Board of Equalization) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Montgomery Ward & Co. v. State Board of Equalization, 272 Cal. App. 2d 728, 78 Cal. Rptr. 373, 1969 Cal. App. LEXIS 2332 (Cal. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

SIMS, J.

The State Board of Equalization, which is charged with the administration of the California Sales and Use Tax Law (Rev. & Tax. Code, div. 2, pt. 1, §§ 6001-7176, particularly §§ 7051-7057, and see §20) has appealed from a judgment which awarded plaintiff retailer a refund of $21,251.61 with interest, representing payment made in satisfaction of an assessment for use taxes which it is claimed the retailer should have collected for the State of California during the period from April 1, 1957 to January 1, 1961 on sales of goods delivered on credit at its Klamath Falls, Oregon, and Reno, Nevada stores to customers who hold charge accounts bearing an address in California.

*733 The parties stipulated to the facts concerning the sales, and the nature of the business activities conducted by plaintiff in California, in Klamath Falls, and in Reno, respectively. These facts are alluded to as they bear upon the various contentions of the parties.

In support of the judgment the retailer contends that the exaction levied, whether a tax or a debt (see Rev. & Tax. Code, §§6203 and 6204; 1 and Bank of America v. State Board of Equalization (1962) 209 Cal.App.2d 780, 799-802 [26 Cal.Rptr. 348]), violates the interstate commerce clause (art. I, §8, cl. 3) and the guarantees of due process of law, and equal protection of the laws of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution; and also was unauthorized under the California Constitution (art. I, § 11) and the California Sales and Use Tax Law. From the stipulated facts, the trial court made findings of ultimate fact and conclusions of law which support each of the retailer’s theories. The board attacks all of the conclusions of the trial *734 court, and contends that the levy is authorized and directed by the applicable statutory provisions, and is constitutionally permissible.

“Since the issues here involve the applicability of taxing statutes to uneontradieted facts, we are confronted purely with a question of law and are not bound by the findings of the trial court [footnotes and citations omitted].” (Automatic Canteen Co. v. State Board of Equalization (1965) 238 Cal.App.2d 372, 381 [47 Cal.Rptr. 848], See also Western Contracting Corp. v. State Board of Equalization (1968) 265 Cal.App.2d 568, 575 [71 Cal.Rptr. 472]; Standard Register Co. v. Franchise Tax Board (1968) 259 Cal. App.2d 125, 129-130 [66 Cal.Rptr. 803]; Bank of America v. State Board of Equalization, supra, 209 Cal.App.2d 780, 793.) It is determined from such a review that although the Use Tax Law purports to burden the retailer with the questioned exaction, in doing so it offends existing constitutional principles. The judgment awarding the refund must be affirmed.

Statutory Provisions

The California use tax is an excise tax 11 on the storage, use, or other consumption in this State of tangible personal property purchased from any retailer . . . for storage, use, or other consumption in this State. ...” (§6201.) “Every person storing, using, or otherwise consuming in this State tangible personal property purchased from a retailer is liable for the tax. His liability is not extinguished until the tax has been paid to this State except that a receipt from a retailer engaged in business in this State or from a retailer who is authorized by the board, under such rules and regulations as it may prescribe, to collect the tax and who is, for the purposes of this part relating to the use tax, regarded as a retailer engaged in business in this State, given to the purchaser pursuant to Section 6203, is sufficient to relieve the purchaser from further liability for the tax to which the receipt refers.” (§6202 (italics added), as amended Stats. 1957, eh. 807, § 1, p. 2019; ef. Stats. 1941, ch. 36, § 1, p. 538; and see § 6203, fn. 1, supra.)

Section 6203 (fn. 1, supra), which lies at the heart of this controversy, imposes on the retailer the duty to collect the tax; and section 6204 (fn. 1, supra) makes the tax required to be collected a debt due to the state. Failure to collect the tax is a misdemeanor (§6207). Retailers who sell tangible per *735 sonal property for storage, use, or consumption within the state are required to register and give the board such information as it may require (§ 6226; and see §§ 6453, 7053, 7054 and 7055). “. . . for purposes of the use tax a return shall be filed by every retailer maintaining a place of business in the State and by every person purchasing tangible personal property, the store, use, storage, use or other consumption of which is subject to the use tax, who has not paid the use tax due to a retailer required to collect the tax. . . .” (§ 6452, as amended Stats. 1946, eh. 567, § 2, p. 1557. The words “engaged in lousiness in this State” were not substituted until 1963 by Stats. 1963, ch. 612, § 1, p. 1491.) 11. . . For purposes of the use tax, in case of a return filed by a retailer, the return shall show the total sales price of the property sold by him, the storage, use, or consumption of which property became subject to the use tax during the preceding reporting period; . . . [and] the amount of the taxes for the period. . . .” (§ 6453.) The retailer is required to “deliver the return together with a remittance of the amount of the tax due to the office of the board.” (§ 6454.) Failure to make a return is a misdemeanor (§ 7151).

“There are exempted from the taxes imposed by this part the gross receipts from the sale of and the storage, use, or other consumption in this State of tangible personal property the gross receipts from the sale of which, or the storage, use, or other consumption of which, this State is prohibited from taxing under the Constitution or laws of the United States or under the Constitution of this State.” (§6352.) “The storage, use, or other consumption in this State of property, the gross receipts from the sale of which are required to be included in the measure of the sales tax, is exempted from the use tax.” ( § 6401, prior to its amendment by Stats. 1965, First Ex. Sess. 1965, eh. 2, § 23, p. 5451 which concerns interests created by a lease.) During the years in question no provision was made for credit or apportionment with respect to retail sales taxes or use taxes paid to another state, political subdivision thereof or the District of Columbia. (Cf. § 6406, as added Stats. 1966, ch. 2, § 4, p. 176, as amended.) There is no provision for compensating the retailer for his services in collecting the tax. (See §7101.)

The Legislature has adopted presumptions to aid in the proper administration of the Sales and Use Tax Act and to prevent evasion. (See §§6091-6095, and 6241-6249.) Section *736

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Town Fair Tire Centers, Inc. v. Commissioner of Revenue
911 N.E.2d 757 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2009)
Engs Motor Truck Co. v. State Board of Equalization
189 Cal. App. 3d 1458 (California Court of Appeal, 1987)
Williams v. Vermont
472 U.S. 14 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center v. State Board of Equalization
162 Cal. App. 3d 1182 (California Court of Appeal, 1984)
Consolidated Accessories Corp. v. Franchise Tax Board
161 Cal. App. 3d 1036 (California Court of Appeal, 1984)
Northrop Corp. v. State Board of Equalization
110 Cal. App. 3d 132 (California Court of Appeal, 1980)
Collins v. Adair Roofing, Inc.
104 Cal. App. 3d 806 (California Court of Appeal, 1980)
Estate of Mears
90 Cal. App. 3d 885 (California Court of Appeal, 1979)
Cory v. Brown
90 Cal. App. 3d 885 (California Court of Appeal, 1979)
National Geographic Society v. State Board of Equalization
547 P.2d 458 (California Supreme Court, 1976)
L.A.J., Inc. v. State Board of Equalization
38 Cal. App. 3d 549 (California Court of Appeal, 1974)
Ladd v. State Board of Equalization
31 Cal. App. 3d 35 (California Court of Appeal, 1973)
Southern Pacific Equipment Co. v. State Board of Equalization
16 Cal. App. 3d 302 (California Court of Appeal, 1971)
Chase Brass & Copper Co. v. Franchise Tax Board
10 Cal. App. 3d 496 (California Court of Appeal, 1970)
Estate of Legatos
1 Cal. App. 3d 657 (California Court of Appeal, 1969)
Flournoy v. Bank of California
1 Cal. App. 3d 657 (California Court of Appeal, 1969)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
272 Cal. App. 2d 728, 78 Cal. Rptr. 373, 1969 Cal. App. LEXIS 2332, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/montgomery-ward-co-v-state-board-of-equalization-calctapp-1969.