(a) Except as provided in Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 7275), there shall be no recovery from the state for the imposition of any unconstitutional or otherwise invalid tax that is levied in conformity with this part.
(b) If a final and nonappealable decision of a court of competent jurisdiction determines that a district transactions and use tax is unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, the district, the county, or the city, as the case may be, shall transfer to the board the revenues derived from the unconstitutional or invalid transactions and use taxes necessary to reimburse claimants for the unconstitutional or invalid transactions and use taxes paid, including interest allowed under Section 6907. The board shall deposit these revenues in a segregated impound account in the Retail Sales Tax Fund, as described in Section 7275, and shall administer any refunds necessitated by the court’s decision in accordance with the guidelines set forth in Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 7275) to the extent feasible and practical.
(c) After the refund process described in subdivision (b) is completed, any revenue from an unconstitutional or otherwise invalid tax described in subdivision (a) that is paid to the board shall be transmitted by the board to the district or its successor in accordance with Section 7271. However, unless the ordinance specifies otherwise, if at the time the board is making those transmittals the district that imposed the tax has no successor, or has disbanded, dissolved, or is otherwise no longer functioning, the board shall transmit those revenues in the following manner:
(1) If the tax levied by the district was imposed on a countywide basis, the revenues shall be transmitted to the county’s general fund.
(2) If the tax levied by the district was imposed on a citywide basis, the revenues shall be transmitted to the city’s general fund.
(3) If the tax levied by the district was imposed on a basis other than in paragraph (1) or (2), the revenues shall be transmitted to the general fund of each taxing jurisdiction located wholly within the district, based on each taxing jurisdiction’s proportionate share of revenue from taxes imposed pursuant to the Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law allocated during the prior calendar year.
(d) The district, or any entity that participated in the formation of the district, shall reimburse the board for and hold the board harmless from any and all costs, losses, or refunds of any kind whatsoever, including preparatory costs incurred prior to implementation of the tax.
(e) In the case of any claim for refund of the transactions and use tax imposed by the San Francisco Educational Financing Authority, which was determined to be unconstitutional by the court in Hoogasian Flowers, Inc. v. State Bd. of Equalization, 23 Cal. App. 4th 1264, payment of any of those claims for refund shall be made from the revenues derived from the unconstitutional transactions and use tax collected by and in the possession of the board. When those funds and any other revenues derived from the unconstitutional tax still in the possession of the San Francisco Educational Financing Authority, the City and County of San Francisco, the San Francisco Unified School District, or the San Francisco Community College District are exhausted, any remaining payments of those claims for refund shall be paid from funds of the San Francisco Unified School District and the San Francisco Community College District which benefited from the illegal tax. The remaining payments shall be based on the method by which the San Francisco Educational Financing Authority distributed the proceeds of the tax to the San Francisco Unified School District and the San Francisco Community College District.
(Added by Stats. 1995, Ch. 495, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 1996.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018