Learn About the Law
Get help with your legal needs
FindLaw’s Learn About the Law features thousands of informational articles to help you understand your options. And if you’re ready to hire an attorney, find one in your area who can help.
JAPAN FOOD CORPORATION, a California Corporation, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO, California, and City of Sacrameto, et al., Defendants and Appellants.
This is an action for refund of personal property taxes paid by the plaintiff corporation under protest. (See Rev. & Tax. Code, § 5136 et seq.) The complaint sought a refund of taxes assessed by the defendant county for the taxable year 1972–1973 and also for refund of escaped taw assessments levied and collected by the defendant for the taxable years between 1968 and 1972. (See Rev. & Tax.Code, § 531 et seq.)1 The theory of recovery was that the taxed goods were exempt imports under the Constitution of the United States. After a court trial, judgment was rendered in favor of the plaintiff. The defendants county and city appeal.
The facts are not in dispute and may be summarized as follows: Plaintiff Japan Food Corporation is a California corporation with its principal office and headquarters located in San Francisco, and is engaged in the business of selling specialty Asian foods throughout the United States at a wholesale or jobber level.
Plaintiff carries on its business operations from the following branch offices: San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Baltimore and Houston. The San Francisco branch operates a subsidiary branch is Sacramento. The instant action concerns taxation of goods stored in the Sacramento warehouse.
Plaintiff directly imports almost all of the foreign-produced goods which it sells. Generally, the goods imported are packaged by the foreign manufacturer (prior to shipment) in individual cans, bottles, or plastic or paper bags. The individual packages are then packed in pasteboard cartons, wooden boxes or metal containers, and marked with the required shipping information.
In recent years, most of the imported goods are shipped from the foreign country via ocean-going vessels in what are commonly referred to as sea vans or cargo containers. A sea van is generally described as a large shipping box with doors, somewhat similar in appearance to a truck trailer without wheels or running gear. The pasteboard boxes, wooden boxes, or metal containers are loaded into the sea van without being placed on pallets, banded, or otherwise packaged for shipment, and when fully loaded the doors are closed and sealed for loading aboard the cargo vessel.
Sea vans shipped to the San Francisco branch generally contain goods destined for plaintiff's branches other than San Francisco, both in and out of California. After the sea vans are unloaded from the vessel at the Oakland Cargo Container Terminal, the vans are trucked to plaintiff's San Francisco warehouse. There the vans are opened, customs inspection is made and the cartons are removed from the van and placed on pallets in plaintiff's warehouse. The goods ordered by and destined for other branches are shipped by common carrier to the appropriate branch.
The merchandise at the San Francisco branch is stored by category of goods and ease of material handling. Domestic and foreign-produced goods are found side by side in separate stacks and, is some instances, on the same pallet.
Goods are trucked weekly from the San Francisco branch to the Sacramento branch. When a truck arrives in Sacramento the cartons, boxes and containers are unloaded from the truck and placed in the warehouse on wooden pallets. The incoming merchandise, both foreign and domestic, is stacked separately on a single pallet. Domestically produced goods are not segregated from imported goods within the warehouse. Segregation is done only to deep like goods with like goods.
The Sacramento branch serves a designated area and does not directly receive any imported goods, nor does it ship goods to other branches. The customers are wholesale and retail grocers and restaurants, with very limited sales to commissaries.
On the tax lien date for the tax year set forth below, plaintiff had stored in its Sacramento warehouse imported goods in the original, unopened pasteboard cartons, wooden boxes or metal containers in which the foreign manufacturer had packaged and shipped the goods. These goods had the following assessed valuation:
The plaintiff claimed (on the tax statement filed for each of the above years) that these goods were imports and thus exempt from local taxation. Plaintiff paid all of the assessments under protest, and then brought this action for the recovery of the taxes paid.
The court rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiff, holding that the goods in question were in fact imports on the lien date and thus were protected from local taxation by the import clause of the United States Constitution. Thus, this ruling necessarily rendered moot the plaintiff's claim that is was entitled to the inventory exemption.
Initially, defendants contend that the plaintiff had failed to exhaust its administrative remedy before the assessment appeals board prior to bringing suit in the superior court, and therefore the trial court erred in overruling the general demurrer to the first cause of action.2 (See Stenocord Corp. v. City etc. of San Francisco (1970) 2 Cal.3d 984, 987, 88 Cal.Rptr. 166, 471 P.2d 966; Star-Kist Foods, Inc. v. Quinn (1960) 54 Cal.2d 507, 509–511, 6 Cal.Rptr. 545, 354 P.2d 1; Security-First Nat. Bk. v. County of L. A. (1950) 35 Cal.2d 319, 320–321, 217 P.2d 946.) As a general rule, subject to certain exceptions, a taxpayer seeking relief from an erroneous assessment must exhaust available administrative remedies before resorting to the courts. (See authorities cited above.)
For the tax year 1972–1973, defendants assessed property tax upon plaintiff's business inventory with a total assessed value of $10,760. Of this amount, plaintiff claimed that $5,878 was exempt from taxation since it represented imported goods held by the plaintiff in the original packages as shipped by the exporter.
Plaintiff concededly did not apply for equalization to the local assessment appeals board. (See Rev. & Tax.Code, § 1605.) It was, and is, the plaintiff's position that it was not required to file an application for tax reduction of an assessment on its property where the assessment is a nullity as a matter of law since the property is tax exempt and no factual questions exist regarding the valuation of the property. (Stenocord Corp. v. City etc. of San Francisco, supra, 2 Cal.3d at p. 987, 88 Cal.Rptr. 166, 471 P.2d 966; Star-Kist Foods, Inc. v. Quinn, supra, 54 Cal.2d at pp. 510–511, 6 Cal.Rptr. 545, 354 P.2d 1.)3
The defendants' corollary argument that resort to the assessment appeals board was necessary because plaintiff's inventory consisted of both exempt and nonexempt goods is without merit. ‘The necessity of recourse to the board is properly determined by the nature of the issues in dispute, and not by whether an assessment is attacked in part or in toto.’ (Original emphasis. Star-Kist Foods, Inc. v. Quinn, supra, 54 Cal.2d at p. 510, 6 Cal.Rptr. at p. 546, 354 P.2d at p. 3.) The defendants further contend that prior to the hearing on the demurrrer there was no agreement between the parties on valuation, and thus it was necessary for the plaintiff to exhaust its administrative remedies. The plaintiff, on the other hand, avers that there never was any dispute over valuation of the goods. The defendants retort that this is an attempt by the plaintiff to mislead this court since there was, in fact, a dispute over valuation.
The facts leading up to this seeming impasse are as follows: On March 7, 1973, the defendants demurred to the plaintiff's first cause of action on the basis that, among other things, there was no allegation it had exhausted its administrative remedy. On March 21, 1973, the trial court overruled the demurrer without comment and ordered the defendants to answer. The defendants filed an answer on March 29, 1973, in which they raised this issue as an affirmative defense. On April 18, 1974 (one day before commencement of the court trial), the parties agreed by stipulation to the assessed valuation of goods claimed to be exempt. Thus, this issue was never before the trial court during the trial itself.
The defendants, on this appeal, apparently are attempting to place this court in the unenviable position of belatedly having to decide a question of fact (i. e., was there ever a dispute over valuation), a task which we are ill-equipped to do. (See Tupman v. Haberkern (1929) 208 Cal. 256, 280 P. 970; Crofoot Lumber, Inc. v. Lewis (1962) 210 Cal.App.2d 678, 681, 27 Cal.Rptr. 443; in general, see 6 Witkin, Cal.Procedure (2d ed. 1971), Appeal, § 570 et seq.) We are of the opinion that the defendants may not now raise the point on appeal. Prior to trial the parties entered into a binding stipulation with regard to the matter of valuation for the tax year 1972–1973, which, in effect, was an agreement between themselves as to a matter involved in a judicial proceeding. (See 1 Witkin, Cal.Procedure (2d ed. 1970), attorneys, §§ 124–125.) The stipulation was also binding upon the court (In re Marriage of Carter (1971) 19 Cal.App.3d 479, 488, 97 Cal.Rptr. 274), and hence the court was precluded from making a ruling on the issue. Whether based on a theory of estoppel or waiver, the defendants, through their conduct in the court below, have failed to save the point for appeal. (See, 6 Witkin, Cal.Procedure (2d ed. 1971), appeal, § 266 et seq.) It is therefore unnecessary to further discuss the question posed, and we turn to the merits of the case.
Imports are exempted from local taxation by the Constitution of the United States. (Art. I, § 10, cl. 2.) From the inception, the fundamental question faced by the courts in interpreting and applying the import clause, has been to delineate that point at which an item originally imported loses its character as an import and becomes subject to taxation. (See, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Bowers (1959) 358 U.S. 534, 539–549, 79 S.Ct. 383, 3 L.Ed.2d 490, 495–500.) Thus, when this matter was tried in the superior court and briefed and argued there on appeal, the primary thrust of the arguments revolved around the traditional ‘original package’ doctrine. (See Brown v. Maryland (1827) 25 U.S. (12 Wheat.) 419, 6 L.Ed. 678.) For example, the defendants contended the sea van was the original package, the opening of which constituted a breaking of the bulk, thereby making the goods subject to local taxation. (See Volkswagen Pacific, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles (1972) 7 Cal.3d 48, 101 Cal.Rptr. 869, 496 P.2d 1237; Craig Corp. v. County of Los Angeles (1975) 51 Cal.App.3d 909, 124 Cal.Rptr. 621.) The defendants also argued that the intent of the importer as expressed by his action determined the taxability of imported goods and not the physical package. Hence, they maintained that the plaintiff (as the importer) had so acted upon the goods that they have been incorporated or mixed with the general mass of property in the state. Thus (so the argument goes), the goods have lost their distinctive character as imports and are subject to state taxation. (See, May & Co. v. New Orleans (1900) 178 U.S. 496, 20 S.Ct. 976, 44 L.Ed.2d 1165; Singer Co. v. County of Kings (1975) 46 Cal.App.3d 852, 864, 121 Cal.Rptr. 398.)
However, much (if not all) of this argument has become irrelevant in light of the opinion of the United States Supreme Court in Michelin Tire Corporation v. Wages, Decided on January 14, 1976. —— U.S. ——, 96 S.Ct. 535, 46 L.Ed.2d 495, 44 U.S.L.W. 4070. In general, the Court in Michelin held that a state's assessment of a nondis-criminatory ad valorem property tax against a corporation's local inventory of imported tires maintained at its wholesale distribution warehouse was not within the prohibition of the Import-Export Clause against imposts or duties on Imports by the states.
In so holding, the Court found it unnecessary to address the question whether the Georgia Supreme Court was correct that the tires had lost their status as imports. In addition, the Court expressly overruled its decision in Low v. Austin (1871), 80 U.S. (13 Wall.) 29 [20 L.Ed. 517], ‘the leading decision of this Court holding that the States are prohibited by the Import-Export Clause from imposing a nondiscriminatory ad valorem property tax on imported goods until they lose their character as imports and become incorporated into the mass of property in the State.’ —— U.S. at ——, 96 S.Ct. at 539, 44 U.S.L.W. at p. 4071. The court has now made it abundantly clear that a nondiscriminatory ad valorem property tax is not prohibited by the Import-Export Clause. —— U.S. at ——, 96 S.Ct. 535, 44 U.S.L.W. at p. 4077.
The facts in Michelin are very similar to the facts in the instant case and do not bear repeating here. In our opinion, the decision in Michelin is determinative of the central issue, i. e., the taxability of the goods imported by plaintiff. If appears that the tax in question is a nondiscriminatory ad valorem property tax which does not single out imports as such, and therefore is not prohibited by the Import-Export Clause of the United States Constitution. It follows that the trial court erred in holding the goods were protected from local taxation by this clause.4 Hence, the goods were not exempt imports, the tax was properly levied, and the refund was improperly allowed. Accordingly, the judgment must be reversed.
This leaves us with one issue which has not yet been resolved. Assuming that the goods claimed to be exempt were subject to taxation, then the plaintiff strongly urges it should be entitled to the inventory exemption provided for in section 219 of the Revenue and Taxation Code. Defendants, on the other hand, contend a taxpayer is not entitled to the business inventory exemption where failure to report property accurately caused the property not to be assessed.5 As previously noted, the trial court never reached this question since it erroneously ruled the goods were protected from local taxation by the Import-Export Clause. (See, fn. 1).
Section 219 of the Revenue and Taxation Code exempts 30 percent of the assessed value of business inventory through the 1972–1973 fiscal year. This exemption, however, does not apply to business inventories assessed as escaped property under the provisions of sections 531.3 (failure to report cost of personal property accurately), 531.4 (failure to report taxable tangible personal property accurately), and 531.5 (misclassifying as business inventories property not includable in that category) of the Revenue and Taxation Code if such errors were willful or fraudulent.
The assessor applied the business inventory exemption for the 1972–1973 fiscal year but did not apply the exemption to the earlier years in which escape assessments had been made.
The escape assessments were made pursuant to Revenue and Taxation Code section 531.4, which requires assessment where the property statement filed ‘fails to report any taxable tangible property accurately, regardless of whether this information is available to the assessee, to the extent that this failure causes the assessor not to assess the property or to assess it at a lower valuation than he would enter on the roll if the property had been reported to him accurately . . ..’
Plaintiff reported the property as exempt on the property tax form. The reporting was inaccurate, thus allowing property to escape assessment. Therefore, the defendants argue plaintiff is not entitled to the inventory exemption.
On the other hand, plaintiff argues section 531.4 of the Revenue and Taxation Code is inapplicable to it for the reason that plaintiff reported its property accurately. Plaintiff merely reported the property as being imports which were exempt from the property tax. In filing its reports for the earlier years, plaintiff claims it honestly believed such goods to be imports qualifying for the import exemption.
We agree with plaintiff's argument. The pertinent part of section 219 provides as follows: ‘The exemption provided for in this section shall not apply to business inventories assessed as escaped property under the provisions of Sections 531.3, 531.4 and 531.5 where (1) the omission is willful or fraudulent, (2) the failure to report the property accurately is willful or fraudulent, or (3) the exemption was incorrectly allowed because of erroneous or incorrect information submitted by the taxpayer or his agent with knowledge that such information was erroneous.’ The assessor apparently did not consider the reporting of plaintiff to be willful or fraudulent since he did not add penalties pursuant to the provisions of sections 531.3, 531.4 or 531.5. Thus it would appear that the assessor erred in denying plaintiff the exemption for the earlier years.
It has long been recognized that the inventory tax has inherent inequities and economic liabilities. (See 2 Pacific L. Journal 81.) We therefore think the exemption provision should be construed broadly and it should not be lost in the absence of a clear finding that the taxpayer's actions were done willfully or fraudulently or with guilty knowledge. (Rev. & Tax. Code, § 219.) We conclude the exemption should have been allowed for the years in which escaped assessments were made.
In reaching this result, we are aware that the trial court never took evidence on this particular point and, in fact, never met the issue. However, it appears clear from the record that there never was any claim of wrongdoing on plaintiff's part in claiming the exemption, and thus it would be an idle act to send the case back for an evidentiary hearing on this narrow point.
The judgment is reversed. The trial court is directed to enter judgment in favor of the defendants with the provision that plaintiff shall be entitled to the business inventory exemption in accordance with the views expressed herein. Each party shall bear its own costs on appeal.
FOOTNOTES
1. With regard to the causes of action relating to escaped assessments, the plaintiff also alleged the tax was illegally levied and assessed for the further reason that defendant county did not grant to plaintiff the business inventory exemption provided for in Revenue and Taxation Code section 219. Since the trial court ruled the goods were protected from local taxation by the import clause of the United States Constitution, the plaintiff's claim of business inventory exemption was rendered moot.
2. The first cause of action was for refund of taxes assessed by defendant county against plaintiff for the taxable year 1972–1973. The remaining causes of action were for refund of escaped tax assessments. The defendants used the failure to exhaust administrative remedies as the basis for a general demurrer only as the first cause of action.
3. In Parrott & Co. v. City & County of S. F. (1955), 131 Cal.App.2d 332, 342, 280 P.2d 881, 887, the court states: ‘The function of a County Board of Equalization, at its name implies, is to increase or lower an assessment in order to equalize property assessment on the local rolls, and to make the assessment conform with the true value of the property. [Citation.] In the instant case evaluation or reevaluation is not involved at all. Here the foreign imports were segregated from the other properties of the taxpayer, and separately assessed. The taxpayers claim, and properly so, that this total assessment was a nullity—beyond the power of the taxing officials to impose. In such a case there is no question of valuation that must be presented to the Board of Equalization for correction before judicial review may be sought. [Citation.]’
4. It is only fair to note that the trial court did not have the benefit of the decision in Michelin when it made its ruling. Nor, of course, did counsel. Thus, the arguments of counsel on both sides have no bearing on the resolution of the main question before us. They have lost their significance in view of the high Court's ruling. (Cf. Craig Corp. v. County of Los Angeles, supra, 51 Cal.App.3d at p. 916, 124 Cal.Rptr. 621.)
5. The defendants appear to argue that since plaintiff's reporting was inaccurate, it is not entitled to the inventory exemption since such reporting allowed the property to escape assessment. In addition, they maintain that it was only through audit that facts were discovered indicating the goods had lost their status as exempt imports.
REGAN, Associate Justice.
PUGLIA, P. J., and PARAS, J., concur.
A free source of state and federal court opinions, state laws, and the United States Code. For more information about the legal concepts addressed by these cases and statutes visit FindLaw's Learn About the Law.
Docket No: Civ. 14980.
Decided: March 23, 1976
Court: Court of Appeal, Third District, California.
Search our directory by legal issue
Enter information in one or both fields (Required)
Harness the power of our directory with your own profile. Select the button below to sign up.
Learn more about FindLaw’s newsletters, including our terms of use and privacy policy.
Get help with your legal needs
FindLaw’s Learn About the Law features thousands of informational articles to help you understand your options. And if you’re ready to hire an attorney, find one in your area who can help.
Search our directory by legal issue
Enter information in one or both fields (Required)