HomeMy WebLinkAboutLetter to Doug La Malfa - AB 658BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
ADMINISTRATION CENTER
25 COUNTY CENTER DRIVE, SUITE 200 - OROViLLE, CALIFORNIA 95965
TELEPHONE: (530) 536-7631
BILL CONNI=LLY
First District
LARRY WAHL
Second District
MAUREEN KIRK, Vice Chair
Third DIStrICt
STEVE LAMBERT, Chair
.....................Fourth.... Di5#riot...........................
KIM K. YAMAGUCHI
Fifth District
August 21, 2012
The Honorable Doug La Malfa
California State Senate
State Capitol Room 3070
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Senator La Malfa:
The County of Butte requests your "Aye" vote on AB 658 (Calderon}.
This measure makes a declaration of existing law that when goods are delivered from out of state by
common carrier, title passes out of state. AB 658 will maintain the current system of allocating use tax
revenues from out of state shipments to county pools of the customer's place of business rather than the
location of'in-state order desks. The result maintains the current broader distribution of the revenue
among local governments.
The provisions in AB 658 restate California's Bradley-Burns sales and use tax law which has been in
effect since Jaauary 1,-1956.
Recently, a Superior Court case Statement of Decision ruled that sales tax rather than use tax, should be
applied to out of state shipments so that the Bradley-Burns portion of the taxis allocated to the location
of in-state order desks and/or retailer administrative offices {even if such a location does not participate
in the individual sale) rather than shared via the county allocation pools. The result of this ruling is
twofold:
1. It upends 56 years of state sales and use tax law redistributing those revenues to just a few
cities in the state without any legislative review or action.
2. Bradley-Burns revenues shift away from 90 percent of California's local entities to just about
10 percent of the state's local entities.
Proponents of this court decision were rejected in previous efforts during mass appeals by the Board of
Equalization {BOE) staff, by the BOE Board, and ~as far back as 1994 in the Legislature. If proponents
wanted to sluff these revenues away from the overwhelming majority of local entities to just a few
winners, they should have gone through the legislative process in the first place.
The negative ruling in this case will change existing law without legislative review and could shift
more than $l0 million in local use tax each year prospectively among counties and cities.
We request your Aye vote on AB 658 (Calderon}.
..Sincerely,
~~
Steve Lambe
Chair of the Board of Supervisors
County of Butte
cc: Supervisor Bill Connelly, District 1
Supervisor Larry Wahl, District 2
Supervisor Maureen Kirk, District 3
Supervisor Steve Lambert, District 4
Supervisor Kim Yamaguchi, District 5
Paul Yoder, Shaw-Yoder